Keep monitoring for slugs – experts

• Protect cereal seedlings from attack

• Crops are more vulnerable for longer

• Consider baiting locations carefully

Wet autumn weather means growers should keep monitoring crops for slugs and reapply pellets where necessary, say experts.

The durability of molluscicide pellets is increasingly important to protect cereal seedlings from slug attack. Growers should remain vigilant until seedlings start to tiller (GS21), when they become less vulnerable to economic damage.

Slug pressure was extremely high throughout much of the past year. A lack of sustained dry weather during the summer – and deluge after deluge during a rainy autumn – have helped to maintain populations.

Careful monitoring and targeted slug pellet treatments have already proved essential for oilseed rape crop survival, says ProCam agronomist Paul Gruber. Slugs remain a significant threat to later cereal crops too, he adds.

“Later drilled crops will be slower to establish. If the pressure remains high, then crops could potentially be vulnerable for longer.

“The drive towards less cultivation is also favouring slugs and where discs drills will be working in suboptimal conditions, establishment could be tricky.”

Slug traps

Farmers who haven’t already done so should monitor fields earmarked for winter cereals using traps. Pellets should be applied where a threshold of four slugs per trap is exceeded.

Continued monitoring and reapplication of pellets will be required until seedlings start to tiller (GS21), says Mr Gruber. “I’d also recommend aiming for a minimum of 40 baiting points/m2,” he adds.

Formulation will be key. “If conditions remain catchy, larger wet-processed durum wheat-based pellets will prove their worth. They are more durable in the rain and aren’t ingested as quickly, so potentially kill more slugs.

Formulation and baiting points are important considerations given the prevailing conditions, says Certis Belchim technical manager James Cheesman.

A premium product like Sluxx HP fits the bill because of its durable pasta-based pellet, says Mr Cheesman. “The formulation also contains a unique chelating agent that remains effective for longer in challenging conditions.

Better efficacy

“The chelating agent is the vehicle that gets ferric phosphate into the gut of the slug and trials have shown that the EDTA type used in other pellets leaches away much faster than EDDS when exposed to rain. That extended efficacy could be critical this year.”

James said that a 5kg dose of Sluxx HP delivers 42 baiting points/m2, with the higher 7kg/ha delivering 59/m2.

Correct application is an important factor in achieving those numbers across the treated area and better-quality, larger pellets will spread more evenly than cheaper formulations.

“Also, make sure applicators are set up correctly and calibrated for the product you are using, and consider environmental conditions when spreading pellets. Windy days can result in a poor spread pattern.”