Gardeners beware: slugs returning after dry weather to threaten strawberries

Wetter weather expected to bring surge of slugs out of hiding, just as strawberries experience bumper early crop

Entomologists in England are expecting a surge in slugs coming out of hiding to munch the nation’s strawberry plants after weeks of sun followed by wetter weather has caused a bumper crop.

The Royal Horticultural Society is bracing for a surge in inquiries from its 625,000 members, who write in with their garden gripes. Workers at the RHS have also noticed a spate of slugs in the charity’s gardens, including Wisley in Surrey.

Recent hot conditions, including record-breaking heatwaves , forced slugs into hiding. But now, according to Dr Hayley Jones, the principal entomologist at the RHS, the gastropods will be re-emerging, ravenous, into the damp conditions caused by this week’s torrential rain.

“We have had such a long dry spring that they are all going to pop up at once. Slugs are really good at hiding out when conditions are not ideal and then popping out,” Dr Jones said.

She added: “They will be really hungry and all coming out at once into people’s gardens.”

This is a bad time for a horde of hungry gastropods to be entering gardens; strawberries, for example, are fruiting early because of the sunny weather. Many people are also planting beans and lettuces after recent warm days.

“Lots of vegetables are being planted at the moment. Strawberries are ahead of schedule for fruiting and slugs like to feed on them. A bit of leaf damage doesn’t make much impact but when they feed on the fruit that is a problem, we don’t want to be sharing fruit with slugs,” she said, adding, “The seedlings have only just gone out and if they get fed on now then it might slow down their growth.”