Growing cucumbers in pots

[we*love*austria*]

Hello FHG folk, Due to the adverse weatherwe have had, I am growing Cucumbers in pots this year. The pots are large enough to hold three quarters of a growbag of good stuff, but can anyone tell me if cucumbers are attacked by slugs? Thanks

[*chez*]

yes....  nothing more to say really!

[bitsnknots]

Try putting broken eggshells on top of the soil because slugs and snails don't like that.

[*chez*]

snails may not crawl over egg shell.. but they do eat it.. ( it contains calcium that they need for their own shells..)

[bitsnknots]

Now I'd never thought of that chez.   Egg shells do seem to stop ordinary slugs though.

[mikelayuk]

If you like "real" coffee, snails and slugs are put off by coffee grounds. Just spread them all over the surface of the pot.

It doesn't work so well with decaf grounds, unfortunately - it's the caffeine which dries out their slime.

[cookiecookuk]

you can buy a copper tape like selotape which you can put round pot and slugs and snails will not cross over it ..

it is suppose to be very good.

[captainbovine]

my father would bake egg shells in the oven until they were red hot and brown around the edges. Leave to go cold and break them with a cloth as they are so sharp, it helps to keep the slugs off as the pieces are so sharp.

[mustavaquid]

No need to buy copper tape, use a piece of electrical cable cut from a scrap appliance, it's most likely copper strands and not steel. Remove all of the insulation and then twist the strands together. Run a length of it firmly around the top outer edge of the pot, forming a few 'arms' to hook over the top edge to stop it from slipping down. 

[lhasa.two]

You've got to eat an awful lot of eggs to cover the top of several pots as well as drinking a lot of coffee... 

As ecological and organic as I like to be, I've long given up on battles with slugs and snails so I either use salt or slug pellets.

[stampingpat]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012s1qxhttp://  You can always make up garlic water like the hosta growers do and use that. I am using it here with my veg and so far since putting them out only lost one bean plant to them. You must make sure to water it after a rain too. So far they are leaving my squash plants alone. I am going to attempt to grow my cucumbers this year in a big plant pot and in the mini green house to see if I can finally get some this year.

[lhasa.two]

Ah, I've not heard of that pat, will give it a go. Thanks.

Btw, your link doesn't work... not sure why as I don't usually have probs accessing the beeb.

[geranne28]

I am with lhasa.one

And bearing in mind that snails can transfer lung-worm to dogs - it is a no-brainer for me!

[stampingpat]

Gerranne, you need to make sure you get a wormer for the dogs that deal with lungworm. I use Advocate here for Roxie. They can pick it up anywhere. I have dealt with many cases of it with the hedgehogs. Poor little things have no defenses against it. 😞 And you can't just put wormer out for them as it is specific doses they need and repeat ones.

Just do a google search for garlic water and hostas and you can get the recipe for what they suggest to use.

[ed_blackadder_1]

I am with Pat (nice to see you by the way),  Advocate for the dogs it's only a little bit dearer, but if you have a scatty spaniel like us that eats anything it is worth it for peace of mind.

I use the copper tape, and once on the pots it stays for years so you only need to buy it once.