Slugs

[Deleted]

How do the rest of you deal with them?

I use beer traps
But when I feel really mean I prefer to go out in the evening when the weather is damp with a torch and a pot of salt!!
But I have to say, that at the moment the hedgehogs are doing a good job.

[toonia]

I rarely see any, there's just one place in the garden which is wild and overgrown where they hang out but don't do any damage.
Have you got a pond? Judging by the size of our toads they do a good job of munching them.

[Deleted]

Yes toonia, I do have a pond - but the frogs don't like it as it's semi-raised - not so easy for the little froglets to climb out. We had a couple of young frogs in it last year, but not seen any since. I think the local heron and/or grass snakes might have had them for supper.

[Deleted]

pinking shear collars, critter safe pellets, when i'm feeling really nasty a pair of scissors (yeuch) none of which saved my little gems which i found chewed and scattered all over the bed today.

(censored)

[sweetleaf]

I surround my plants with charcoal, it puts off all but the most determined of the nastys!

[Rosefriend]

Hi all,

Thanks Rita for starting this thread - it is one of my favourite subjects. I hate them..

Our next door neighbour is one of those people that doesn't do anything in the garden and as a result there are masses of slugs in his garden just waiting until night time to come and eat all my flowers.

Throughout the years I have tried nearly everything - beer traps (drowned more mice than slugs), charcoal, eggshells, bark chippings, organic slug pellets.

However the only real way that works for me are slug pellets and like you if I really am feeling rotten, then a torch and salt. One trick that does work with slug pellets is to start very early in the year - March (ish) and you get them all when they come out of their winter hiding places.

I have done that for the last 2 years and I really haven't had much problem since.
If our neighbour would mow his "lawn" then I wouldn't have so many to start with.

Rosefriend

[Main Admin]

I just rescently got this same q answered on the Beeb, so I now use slug clear, it is pretty nasty stuff but where my garden is the railway line is just over the fence so not much wildlife there to be bothered about. Since putting it down I've hardly been bothered with them, plenty of empty houses (snails have rotted away) are left on the other side of the fence though.

[Deleted]

I don't use slug pellets because of the knock on effect on other wildlife
I stumbled across this the other day - news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2067214.stm

We only drink de-caf though lol

[4pygmies]

I don't think that there's really a definitive answer to slugs - I have chickens which sorts most of them out but not everyone can have free ranging slug eaters, I know. I do think Rosefriend has a good point - I know that slugs live in my pots overwinter so always try to empty them out and crunch them before the new growth starts. Do you think all these different types of deterrants work better on differing soil types? Maybe really acid soils need different slug treatments to alkaline for example - anybody know?

[Deleted]

No idea 4p - perhaps we should do some research

[Cheerypeabrain]

SLUGS?
I HATE THEM
dealt with them with the advanced slug pellets ('Growing Success') rarely see a large live slug these days...and don't mind squishing the little ones...
We used beer traps until I realised I'd have to empty them...also killed a lot of ground beetles so we stopped using them.
Snails I lob over the fence..(wasteland at the back, not another garden) I'm sure they come back but I get a lot of satisfaction from chucking the slimey grotbags as far as I can. ;D
Haven't got a pond as the garden's a bit small for one.

[Rosefriend]

Did you know CPB that apparently slugs must be taken over three quarters of a mile away from where you got them from or they find there way back..

Now then - what I want to know is how long it took them to find that out

Mine do not get a chance to come back

The slug pellets that I am using at the moment are supposed to be OK for others animals and birds. That doesn't mean to say that it is true though.

Rosefriend

[jlottie]

Rita

I just checked your link out, I had heard that coffee granules were supposed to deter slugs and snails and are probably cheaper than slug pellets. I was a bit concerned to read the effect of caffeine on the soil though. My compost bin is full of T bags as I can drink tea for England, perhaps I should start rinsing them through before adding to the compost heap

[JennyWrenn]

I have totally rid my garden of slugs

It was completely over run by them - a swarming black mass every night - a minging sight

See the threads on Plant Elimination - j w xx

[JennyWrenn]

Ooops sorry the thread is Plant Trials - Elimination

[sweetleaf]

When it comes to slugs "plant elimination" is probably more accurate ;D
I have an old beach bucket with a thick layer of salt in it for my next slug hunt <murderoussmiley>

[chickadeedeedee]

We rarely see a slug here. We do see many toads, frogs and salamanders though.

C3D

[Deleted]

I wondered if the very hot dry weather would kill off the slugs in my garden - but alas no - they have all appeared now the weather is wet

[Deleted]

i dot piles of porridge about .......slugs & snails can't get enough of the stuff

[Main Admin]

The slugs that were coming in to my garden were getting in through the back fence from the weedy embankment at the back, I sprayed a layer of slug clear through the fence and just inside and only the hardiest ones get so far before dying.
Theres no danger to wildlife as there's none due to the close proximity of the railway line.

[Deleted]

We will have to agree to differ there then CB - sorry

Embankments are usually wildlife havens - and where there are slugs there will be blackbirds, thrushes and hedgehogs.

[Spruance]

rita said:

We will have to agree to differ there then CB - sorry

Embankments are usually wildlife havens - and where there are slugs there will be blackbirds, thrushes and hedgehogs.

I have to agree there Rita (Sorry CB),

A balanced environment is self-regulating. Frogs, hedgehogs & blackbirds eat the slugs in my garden. I haven't used any slug treatment or weedkiller all the time I've been at my present address - nearly 13 years - and yet I'm not overrun by slugs!

Spruance

[Main Admin]

Sorry I should maybe explain, the embankment is empty at the moment as it is new, the house I live in was only completed in March and there is still plenty of building going on round about so I suppose that is keeping the wild life away for now, though in time I think it will return as the building work is complete. plus we are only 50 metres from the railway line and that makes a racket.

[Spruance]

admin said:

Sorry I should maybe explain, the embankment is empty at the moment as it is new, the house I live in was only completed in March and there is still plenty of building going on round about so I suppose that is keeping the wild life away for now, though in time I think it will return as the building work is complete. plus we are only 50 metres from the railway line and that makes a racket.

Well, we'll let you off just this once, but don't let it 'appen again!

BTW very unusual to have a racket manufacturing operation on a railway embankment. Still, live & learn etc ;D

[Main Admin]

Oh so this is the funny board now, is it ;D I will refrase that for my southern friends, the train makes such an awfull noise ;D ;D ;D

[Deleted]

greenwizard said:

i dot piles of porridge about .......slugs & snails can't get enough of the stuff

Bran is good too - but it needs to be kept dry - it kills them by drying them out from the inside.