Symptoms

Attacks by slugs occur essentially at the end of the growth cycle of the potato, from the enlargement of the tubers until harvesting.

Damaged tubers show perforations in the skin (photos 1 to 4), of 4 to 5 mm in diameter, or galleries dug due to the slugs feeding on the flesh.

In potato crops, slugs, which can eat a third of their own weight in one night, attack mainly the tubers but can also defoliate the plants, leaving characteristic trails of slime (photos 5 and 6).

The qualitative or quantitative losses can represent up to 30% yield loss, and, in some cases, in the downgrading or the refusal of the affected potato batches.