Quotation from a posting to the biodynamic forum BdNow on 22 June 2010.
In 1995/96 I had a major problem with slugs and snails on an acre of flowering daffodils. At the time I was reading Maria Thun and RS Ag book and picked up the following idea, and that is to collect the slugs and snails and let them rot in some water and then spray this over the crop.
The plan that I followed was to collect slugs and snails on a full moon let them rot until the next full moon add one litrr of rotted slugs to 10 liters of water and spray on the evening of the full moon. This process was repeated 3 times that spring. For years afterwards I had no problems with slugs and snail on this part of the farm. Last year slug and snail damage was still very minimal whilst on other parts of the farm they are still around.
I am not sure how relevant it may be but I did do the spraying quite late at night after reading the kids their bedtime stories. As a matter of interest I will be repeating this exercise again this coming down-under spring.
NZ slugs from BdNow
Re: NZ slugs from BdNow
We did this - just a small scale in the garden - sprayed three times in succession - (three days) could not believe how well it worked!!BdNow wrote:... At the time I was reading Maria Thun and RS Ag book and picked up the following idea, and that is to collect the slugs and snails and let them rot in some water and then spray this over the crop.
Steiner tells us in lecture six ... :With the insect you must not take just part of it, as with the mouse, but rather the whole insect ......... Burning it is the best and fastest way to go. You could also let it decay, but it is difficult to collect the end products of decomposition, although in some ways they might be better"
Needless to say decomposition has become my preferred tactic for insect "peppers
From personal correspondence, another story which had more success with decomposition that charring.
"I no longer have the remedy but I can tell you how I made it. It is based on Steiner's 2 processes which both involve decomposition. He describes 2 options: one of breaking down through heat (cremation); the other through natural decompositon. I experimented with both. With the heat process I simply put a few slugs into a tin can and heated this over a fire until there was just the charred remains. I then triturated this in lactose to a 3C potentisation and then took this into higher potencies in alcohol. The decomposition process was easier and produced better results. I immersed the some slugs in water and left them to die and decompose for about 3 weeks. I then added an equal amount of alcohol to give a roughly 50% alcohol water mixture. I shook this to mix it thoroughly and then left it for about another week. I used isopropyl alcohol rather than ethanol as it was cheaper for me in those days but ethanol is the usual in making tinctures and homeopathic dilutions so I would recommend ethanol. The alcohol acts as a bacteriostatic after the bacteria have done their work in the decomposition.
I then potentised this by hand up to low decimal potewncies. I think 10X (D10) was about the final potency I settled on. This was then diluted about 1 in a thousand in water in a 5-litre garden sprayer, which was shaken vigorously for 2 or 3 minutes ("succussed" in homeopathic terms). I cleared a path around my garden and between rows of any weeds or grass and sprayed this after the sun had gone down to minimise evaporation and allow it to sink into the soil. I think I started dowing this nightly for a few nights and then lessened the frequency until it was about once a week. I had to remove the slugs that were already inside the garden perimeter for several nights until it was clean. Subsequent inspections showed no slugs for a period of weeks that I used it.
It didn't stop the snails and I was in the middle of doing a similar process with decomposed snail when I eventually stopped working with it after the MAFF situation."
the MAFF situation? ...
"The slug and snail preparations I had made according to general indications given by Rudolf Steiner for agricultural pest control. I had done some tests with it which I felt confident enough about that I applied to the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). This was about 10 years ago. I was advised that I had to apply through them as it was going to be offered to the public as a pest deterrent and that I might need a MAFF pesticide number if I was going to market it. I sent a submission to MAFF detailing how it was prepared and showing that neither the original substance nor the homeopathic diluted substance (1 part in several trillion) could be considered toxic or harmful in any way - i.e. it was not a pesticide so should be of no interest to them.
They sent back a reply stating that because it was going to be used to protect plants against an invading organism, it fell within their definition of "pesticide" - and he gave me their working definition for pesticide - which is in terms of "protection from" not "killing" invading organisms. If I wanted to pursue the development of this product commercially, I first had to submit it to MAFF for testing for efficacy and safety, and I would have to pay £65,000 for this service.
Alternatively I was not to maintain stock of this product, promote, sell it or give it away. This means I can't even have beer in my fridge if I am considering using it for slug control.
I can't offer the preparation and [commercial pharmacies] can't offer theirs openly for the purpose of pest control so I don't think it should be publicly suggested as a product ... homeopathic pharmacies are already under investigation for offering novel homeopathic remedies to the public - so it's probably not good to invite more regulatory scrutiny."
"I no longer have the remedy but I can tell you how I made it. It is based on Steiner's 2 processes which both involve decomposition. He describes 2 options: one of breaking down through heat (cremation); the other through natural decompositon. I experimented with both. With the heat process I simply put a few slugs into a tin can and heated this over a fire until there was just the charred remains. I then triturated this in lactose to a 3C potentisation and then took this into higher potencies in alcohol. The decomposition process was easier and produced better results. I immersed the some slugs in water and left them to die and decompose for about 3 weeks. I then added an equal amount of alcohol to give a roughly 50% alcohol water mixture. I shook this to mix it thoroughly and then left it for about another week. I used isopropyl alcohol rather than ethanol as it was cheaper for me in those days but ethanol is the usual in making tinctures and homeopathic dilutions so I would recommend ethanol. The alcohol acts as a bacteriostatic after the bacteria have done their work in the decomposition.
I then potentised this by hand up to low decimal potewncies. I think 10X (D10) was about the final potency I settled on. This was then diluted about 1 in a thousand in water in a 5-litre garden sprayer, which was shaken vigorously for 2 or 3 minutes ("succussed" in homeopathic terms). I cleared a path around my garden and between rows of any weeds or grass and sprayed this after the sun had gone down to minimise evaporation and allow it to sink into the soil. I think I started dowing this nightly for a few nights and then lessened the frequency until it was about once a week. I had to remove the slugs that were already inside the garden perimeter for several nights until it was clean. Subsequent inspections showed no slugs for a period of weeks that I used it.
It didn't stop the snails and I was in the middle of doing a similar process with decomposed snail when I eventually stopped working with it after the MAFF situation."
the MAFF situation? ...
"The slug and snail preparations I had made according to general indications given by Rudolf Steiner for agricultural pest control. I had done some tests with it which I felt confident enough about that I applied to the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). This was about 10 years ago. I was advised that I had to apply through them as it was going to be offered to the public as a pest deterrent and that I might need a MAFF pesticide number if I was going to market it. I sent a submission to MAFF detailing how it was prepared and showing that neither the original substance nor the homeopathic diluted substance (1 part in several trillion) could be considered toxic or harmful in any way - i.e. it was not a pesticide so should be of no interest to them.
They sent back a reply stating that because it was going to be used to protect plants against an invading organism, it fell within their definition of "pesticide" - and he gave me their working definition for pesticide - which is in terms of "protection from" not "killing" invading organisms. If I wanted to pursue the development of this product commercially, I first had to submit it to MAFF for testing for efficacy and safety, and I would have to pay £65,000 for this service.
Alternatively I was not to maintain stock of this product, promote, sell it or give it away. This means I can't even have beer in my fridge if I am considering using it for slug control.
I can't offer the preparation and [commercial pharmacies] can't offer theirs openly for the purpose of pest control so I don't think it should be publicly suggested as a product ... homeopathic pharmacies are already under investigation for offering novel homeopathic remedies to the public - so it's probably not good to invite more regulatory scrutiny."
Re: NZ slugs from BdNow
The aim of `peppering' is to inhibit the reproductive potential of any plant, insect or animal, one applies the method too. Steiner suggested that this method may take up to four years to become fully effective, however our experience has shown that effective results can be experienced within a matter of days.