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Slugs and Snails in Hydroponics?!?!?! · Hydroponics Daily

• 0:00
  Hello welcome back to hydroponics daily with me
• 0:02
  dr russell sharp today we're going to be talking about
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  a subject i didn't think was a problem in
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  hydroponics but we had an inquiry this week
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  that proved otherwise and that is
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  slugs and snails in hydroponic systems
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  so we had a customer that had a pest a
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  they had slugs in their hydroponic system their
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  nutrient film technique their nft system it
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  was a pretty small scale grow but they were they seemed
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  to be attracting and growing lots of slugs and they weren't like
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  these sorts of aquarium aquatic snails
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  and things like this you can get when you when you're keeping fish in.
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  A fish tank they were proper slugs that were sort
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  of eating his plants and they're
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  sort of attracted to the damp conditions he was
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  using he wasn't using a base fertilizer he was
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  using seaweed extract but i've taken
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  that with a pinch of salt because there's a brand called
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  maxi crop here in the uk sold in a lot of garden centers
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  and sold as seaweed extract but it has a lot
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  of other additions to it to make it a fertilizer so probably
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  using one of those i would have thought to get a crop out of seaweed
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  extract anyway he was getting lots of slugs and he
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  asked for our advice and first thing
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  you could use beneficial nematodes you could
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  use there's a species with a fantastic name called phasma
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  haboditis hermaphrodita i remember
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  that because it's so complicated interestingly the people
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  who make that product bsf they introduced it they introduced a californian species
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  mainly because the patent was lost on hermaphrodita and so they could patent
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  the californian one but they said it was a better one they called it nemeslug
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  2.0 i don't believe that it was a better one i just think it was.
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  Patentable and so their share price was more was higher
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  because of it they also the only way
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  they could get it released in the uk and europe was if they if it was a native
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  species so they actually found this californian species in one location in wales
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  which is very convenient isn't it so then it was found to be a native species
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  of nematode so what nematodes do is they they.
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  Burrow into the slug and give it blood poisoning. What's the word for that?
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  That's not haemophilia is it what is it i'm going to stop this
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  podcast now and pretend like i'm just plug the
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  answer out the top of my head septicemia of course
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  or sepsis so the slug gets sepsis
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  and the bacteria that the slugs
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  need the bacteria are on them in order for them
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  to survive because the bacteria infect the
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  slug and and they
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  kill it off and then the nematodes can go in and eat all the dead decaying material
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  pretty gross however there's a downside to the nematodes is they don't always
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  work they drown so in an nft system that if you're attacking the roots though
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  the slugs then the the nematodes won't be able to get any of the root system.
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  And the other downside is they don't work in cold temperatures so
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  it's been pretty cold in the uk recently so they probably
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  wouldn't have worked the temperatures we've had over the easter break
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  and it's been really cold it's warming up a bit now
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  so they might start to work and also there's a supply and demand
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  often the nematodes aren't available for sale there is
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  another option in that you can protect your plants against it by
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  spraying ferric phosphate on them at
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  eutrema here we sell the only liquid ferric phosphate
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  solution that is available on the market if you're in america you
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  can't get it if you're in the uk you can currently from us
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  it's not registered as a slug killer because i
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  have to spend a million pounds to register it as a slug killer so it's a
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  it's a protector and you can buy
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  slug pellets these are also based on ferric phosphate however
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  they're not as good as the old style well they're
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  not as good they're not as effective as the old style slug pellets from
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  before like 2018 and they
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  don't attract slugs to them so if you
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  put slugs around your hydroponic system the
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  slugs wouldn't go to them and eat them and kill them like the old-style slug pellets
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  would so we believe our product is a better.
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  Product because you can spray it on the plant or you can spray it into
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  the soil where they actually the slugs are and the snails are
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  and they're very rarely just on the surface where the slug pellets are
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  so they're pretty useless there slug pellets slug old-style
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  slug pellets used to be made from a chemical called metaldehyde which
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  was really effective and it was actually discovered because it
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  was being metaldehyde was being used as a fuel by campers in
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  france and then the farmer noticed all these
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  slugs were dying around where the campus had been and so they developed it into
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  a slug pellet it was really effective i keep on saying good no it was really
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  effective because the slugs were attracted to it and then they ate it and they
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  were instantly killed and but the downside was metalihyde is crazy toxic,
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  And if your dog eats a slug pellet, it's the most horrific death.
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  I won't describe the death, but it's up there with, you know, 18, R18 films, you know.
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  It's like a horror movie. So, metaldehyde was banned because so many people
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  and so many pets were getting poisoned.
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  And also, one of the main reasons that pesticides get banned is because the
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  water companies couldn't take it out of tap water.
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  It was really, really difficult. and even now where
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  people use metaldehyde on their allotments and gardens where
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  there's people still got these slug pellets from before 2018 in
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  the uk then they still can pick that
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  up in the water system where they can locate where
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  people are using them not sure if it can still be used
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  in america metaldehyde based slug pellets you can also buy sheep
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  wool based things to keep plants off they don't
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  work copper bands because they think that the electrical signals
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  stop them that's nonsense they don't
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  slugs will walk straight over them beer traps are debatable
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  so you can put beer in a bowl and slugs
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  will come and eat it and then drown however if you actually put
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  a time-lapse camera on it you'll find that 95% of
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  the slugs just go for a bit of a drink get a bit drunk and
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  then wander off on their merry way and so only
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  a small subsection of the slugs will get or snails will get trapped that's a
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  problem because it's bringing slugs and snails into your garden into your grow
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  room or grow area and you might not be killing them so you're actually making
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  problem worse for yourself other options against slugs and snails is to go out at night with a hand.
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  Torch or a head torch and just crunch them under your foot and because they're nocturnal mostly,
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  it's important to kill them quickly as well because they are a mollusk and as
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  you know you might know that mollusks like octopuses and slugs they feel pain
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  and they have opioid receptors is in their nerves.
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  So they're not like insects or mites where they don't feel any pain, molluscs feel pain.
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  So if you're going to kill them, kill them fast, otherwise it's cruel.
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  And that's the reason you shouldn't pour salt on them as well.
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  Two reasons you shouldn't pour salt on them, it's cruel, it's a horrible,
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  painful death. And also, secondly, it's,
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  salt will poison the soil in the area for your plants. Plants hate salt as well.
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  Sodium is like arsenic to plants, I say, and it's really toxic,
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  so don't pour salt on them.
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  The quickest way, I used to pour salt on a tomato plant in front of my students,
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  and by the end of the lecture, after an hour, the tomato plant would be dead.
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  You couldn't do that with a weed killer, wouldn't be dead after an hour with
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  a weed killer, so pretty toxic sodium.
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  So that's the main methods of control of slugs and snails.
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  Slugs are the number one pest and disease of UK horticulture probably not the
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  same in America because you're not as wet and just constantly raining as here in the UK.
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  Plants that are particularly prone to getting attacked by slugs and snails are
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  hostas, lettuce, Chinese lanterns and delphiniums are also prone to attack by slugs.
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  Plants that are resistant to slugs and snails often
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  have a high caffeine content so and
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  then extracts of coffee coffee grounds tea just
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  cold tea often keep slugs and
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  snails off and plantago planchin that
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  not the banana type plant from the caribbean but
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  the plantain that he grows in the uk that that
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  has high levels of caffeic acid and that is
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  resistant to slugs and snails as well slugs normally
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  travel about 10 meters per day it's not
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  very fast is it we have a new species of slug in the
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  uk called the spanish slug and the spanish
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  slug is invading and it's thought to be even worse
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  for gardens then there's a lot more eggs tax native
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  slugs i think and just outcompetes everything and is
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  even worse for gardens and it prefers drier
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  and warmer conditions so with climate change that that could be more of a more
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  of a pest in uk gardens so our first for our customer that contacted us with
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  the slug problem on his nft system we recommended as a spray of the lower leaves
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  lower portion of the plants with the ferric phosphate solution which we call slugger,
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  he could potentially add the slugger to his nutrient solution but it wouldn't actually.
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  Have any effect on keeping slugs out of the
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  nft system there because it would be just diluted down and they
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  would just add nutrients to a solution it
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  is a product that i've recommended to a number of hydroponic growers
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  in the past when they get into flowering because i'm not a big fan of pk products
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  i think there's already enough potassium in hydroponic feeds and they build
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  up over time build up through the growth cycle but if you can add phosphorus
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  alongside iron iron builds weight and a product that's sold by weight iron is
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  a brilliant product so i always recommend people,
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  apply one of our iron products, either ultimate iron or slug or something like
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  that when they're in flowering.
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  And then you spray it on your leaves and you protect against slugs as well.
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  If you've had a problem with slugs and snails in your hydroponic garden, please do get in touch.
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  I'd love to know how you dealt with it and what you thought was the cause of it.
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  Word of warning as well, don't always assume that the big blob slimy thing eating your plants is a slug.
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  A lot of sawfly larvae also look like slugs.
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  So the cherry slug and the pear sawfly, on pears, cherries, anything in stone
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  fruits, orchard crops, but many other types of sawfly, their larvae will look like slugs.
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  They're just glutinous to stop birds from eating them.
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  Other sawfly larvae can look like caterpillars and
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  produce an ornate dances look amazing problem
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  with sawflies is that once they if you
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  do not know you've got a problem they eat the plant from the inside out
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  and so from the center of the sort of
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  plant to the outer leaves later so you can indense
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  canopies like gooseberries gooseberry sawfly once you
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  see them on the outside leaves game over the whole of
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  the plant's been destroyed so another reason so i
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  say on virtually every one of these podcasts check your
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  plants for pest and disease daily don't water your
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  plants every day if you're you're growing in
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  cocoa or um soil or
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  compost but do check them every single day
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  for pest and disease and if you've got an automated system you're going
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  to be growing into your grow room anyway you need something to do because everything's automated
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  that's the one thing that cannot be automated yet i don't
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  know of an automated ai camera that can spot spider
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  mites slugs thrips things like
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  that so check your plants for pest and disease now
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  and the best the worst case scenario is
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  you find a few pests and disease but the worst case scenario is you don't check
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  for them and you get an infestation that's been hydroponics daily for today
• 11:51
  slugs and snails in hydroponics who would have thought it click follow for for
• 11:55
  more absolute nonsense like this every single day of 2025 thank you very much
• 12:02
  for listening goodbye Thank you.