Little margin for error with slug control this year

摘要

High slug pressure is set to continue this spring, particularly with wet conditions resulting in cloddy seed-beds. Spring crops should be the priority in the batde against slugs with growers facing the possibility of another season of high populations. David Glen of Styloma consulting warns growers to be on the look out this spring, but believes winter crops should be able to cope. "Although growers will still need to be wary of their winter crops, as soon as the temperatures warm up they should growfairly quickly so the focus should be on spring crops," he says. This increased risk is due to the knock-on effects from last year's horrendous slug problems, caused by the ideal wet conditions during the April-May breeding cycle, which saw record slugpopulations. Bayer's molluscicide manager Peter Stacey highlights that the problem was reflected in increased pellet sales. "Across all slug products, sales were 400-450% up on 2011. We actually sold three times more methiocarb than the previous year aswell," he says.