Slug Damage 

• 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.

Cereals 

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 

• 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.

Potatoes 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.

Vegetables

• 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.
  
  
  

Click here to download the Slug Damage Poster