Slugs, chilli, India

September 2011. A scientist in India has a problem with slugs in his crops of chilli and asked for advice.

It was mentioned that much information was available on the Pestnet website, from earlier discuissions on the topic. See, Pests/PestsEntities/Molluscs

Other suggestions were:

a) Salt pellets around the nursery, and handpicking – a paper has been published in The Planter, a Malaysian publication on oil palm. (Kalidas P, Venkateswara Rao C, Ali N, Kochu Babu M (2006) New pest incidence on oil palm seedlings in India – A study of black slug (Laevicaulus alte). The Planter Kuala Lumpur 82: 181-186.b) Reduce breeding places, mulch as much as possible.
c) Put sand or ashes around the base of the plants.
d) Use stale beer as a bait.
e) 10% neem seed powder (a suggestion by a member on the basis of greenhouse trials) applied in an inert carrier (e.g., ground rice husks); this is a good deterrenmt to both slugs and snails.