Optimal Conditions
Hot and dry conditions and seasons
Signature
Seedlings disappearing overnight or their stems being ringed. Scratch under the mulch and you should see them scurrying about.
Prevention
The slaters favour the dusty covering of traditional mulches for breeding, but you shouldn’t stop mulching your patch, particularly in summer. An alternative worth trying is pellet mulches, which expand once watered, changing the dynamic of the cover.
Coping
Growing vertically, and off the ground, means there is far less chance of a slater problem. If growing at ground level, you may need to position decoys when you have young seedlings about. Potato peels covered by a cup is a tasty snack that should distract them. Chooks are pretty fond of slaters, so if you have chickens try rotating them through the garden to control numbers.
Eradicating
Place protective plant collars around your plants. The slaters will not be able to penetrate this defence and will turn their attention elsewhere.
