- Slugs cause significant crop damage and yield loss particularly at establishment.
- They can and do wipe out fields – particularly after wet summers and when crops are later drilled.
- Worst damage occurs in the centre of fields where soils are less compacted.
- HGCA work confirms that every slug can kill up to 50 wheat seeds in the first week of sowing.
- Smaller slugs kill more seeds than larger slugs. Slugs will also strip cereal shoots and leaves.
- Trials in a dry autumn show that 35% of plants can be damaged and in wet conditions this rises to over 50%.
- Oilseed rape seeds are not attacked but seedlings are very vulnerable to damage and can be nipped off at or below ground level.
- Yield loss in OSR could be much greater than that in cereals – some crops – have been completely wiped out due to slug damage.
- Slugs feed on tubers as they mature. They hollow out feeding cavities in the tissue.
- Prompt harvesting reduces the period that the tubers are exposed to slug attack.
- Most vegetable crops can suffer from slug damage at emergence after transplanting.
- Some crops such as broccoli and sprouts can be grazed prior to harvest. Carrots and parsnips suffer from root feeding leading to crop damage.
< back to General and Specific questions