Nematodes are effective controls for slugs

17th April 2022

Nematodes are microscopic eelworms which are 'entomopathogenic' - they parasitise slugs, infecting them with a fatal disease and then laying eggs in the carcase which hatch out and look for more slugs to infect. The nematodes are not much use against slugs, as they travel through the soil not above it; they can only be applied when the soil temperature is above 5 degrees centigrade, and the soil has to be wet enough for the eelworms to travel through the film of water in between the soil particles.