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Poly tunnel pest control


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Bought in the professionals in got this little 8x6 poly tunnel the end of last growing season to add to our little garden veg patch as we’re on a little mission to grow as much food as we can this coming season I planted it out with lettuce,radish, a few beetroot an a few greyhound cabbage it was a bit of a disappointment tbh we did have a few harvest of bits an bobs like lettuce,radish,beetroot but it was getting hammered by small slugs wood lice an small snails and possibly other bugs I don’t use any chemicals in my garden as I want to step away from chemicals an the food I eat from shops so thought I’d get our 3 hens in there to do a bit of work for me of de bugging it have a scratch about add some fertility to the soil. 
Any body else do anything like this that can offer any hints an tips there be welcomed? 

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Well Poxon me lad. Them chickens are definitely not the way to go. They will destroy any greens within minutes. You have to look within and without doubt, prevention is the only way out of your predicament. If slugs# are your main enemy then you might have a solution. They will not cross, or maybe can’t cross , a surface coated in the likes of diesel or paraffin (oil based). We use it on the paths around the allotment to good effect. As regards common enemy like carrot fly and white butterfly some types of aromatic candle appear to be quite successful. Cats, foxes and the like you just shoot. Another one we use is a cutout of a cat with huge eyes which keeps the pigeons at bay. (Not much good in a tunnel I’ll admit). Other than that you need to work,work,work and at the end of the day enjoy whatever goodness you do manage to get out of the garden. No one ever said it would be an easy ride. Jok.

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31 minutes ago, jok said:

Well Poxon me lad. Them chickens are definitely not the way to go. They will destroy any greens within minutes. You have to look within and without doubt, prevention is the only way out of your predicament. If slugs# are your main enemy then you might have a solution. They will not cross, or maybe can’t cross , a surface coated in the likes of diesel or paraffin (oil based). We use it on the paths around the allotment to good effect. As regards common enemy like carrot fly and white butterfly some types of aromatic candle appear to be quite successful. Cats, foxes and the like you just shoot. Another one we use is a cutout of a cat with huge eyes which keeps the pigeons at bay. (Not much good in a tunnel I’ll admit). Other than that you need to work,work,work and at the end of the day enjoy whatever goodness you do manage to get out of the garden. No one ever said it would be an easy ride. Jok.

I wouldn’t plan on having chickens running the tunnel when I’m growing stuff at this moment the last few things that were sort of growing I’ve left for there sacrifice they can have them My thought is that I can use the chickens as a free means of pest control without using any chemicals as it’s natural behaviour for them to scratch and hunt for bugs an grubs my main problems is baby slugs an wood lice I don’t mind the odd big slug having a go at the odd thing in there but the baby slugs hammer everything my plan has been kill any big slugs on site to try an damage the cycle of there breeding I’ve also removed the wood path edging to slow the wood lice up I think my problem was down to the crops I tried growing in there the conditions were perfect for them and attractive to them the chickens have had a field day in there today I watched them take care of a couple of bugs I left them to it 

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3 minutes ago, poxon said:

I wouldn’t plan on having chickens running the tunnel when I’m growing stuff at this moment the last few things that were sort of growing I’ve left for there sacrifice they can have them My thought is that I can use the chickens as a free means of pest control without using any chemicals as it’s natural behaviour for them to scratch and hunt for bugs an grubs my main problems is baby slugs an wood lice I don’t mind the odd big slug having a go at the odd thing in there but the baby slugs hammer everything my plan has been kill any big slugs on site to try an damage the cycle of there breeding I’ve also removed the wood path edging to slow the wood lice up I think my problem was down to the crops I tried growing in there the conditions were perfect for them and attractive to them the chickens have had a field day in there today I watched them take care of a couple of bugs I left them to it 

plenty of salt poxon thats what i thought did slugs snails in ?

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