SLUGS !! ways to get rid of them?

[dazzlar3]

Now, this subject may have been done

But, I am very curious to how everybody else deals with the problem of slugs in the veggy patch

many people suggest beer traps and copper strips and the like

even vaseline mixed with salt spread around plant pot tops!!

I personally have what I consider to be a very Eco-friendly solution

2 Khaki campbell ducks 1male & 1female !! they roam freely around my garden which I must add was completely over run with slugs before they came.

They are pround owners of a very funny sense of humour :-), great as pets. with very little noise (the odd quack,but only the females quack !), and the neighbours love them and they have cleared my plot of slugs.

and they reward me with 1 egg a day.

I must admit though I am bias as I hatched these ducks in my incubator along with some chicken eggs and have completely pampered them from being a day old. starting with daily play in the sink with water to special treats put around the garden.

[draig]

I havent had a veggy patch for some time but I have had Hosta's my main defence has been scissors late in the evening especially on damp evenings. Quick, no toxic chemicals and effective. Also good for birds the next morning.

[Eyren]

Ducks would be lovely, but I don't have space for them as well as my bantams. Mind you, I don't have a serious slug problem in the garden, which I put down to letting my girls free-range everywhere except the actual raised beds - and I do let them have the odd scratch even there, after the crops have been cleared in late autumn.

Khaki Campbells were mentioned on the recent "Natural World" programme (about sustainable food production) as being the best breed for slug control, so I would definitely get some if I had space!

On the lottie, I'm doing my best with wildlife-friendly slug pellets and various barrier methods such as fine wood shavings - anything dry and rough seems to discourage them.

[lynda66]

i put down cardboard in my front garden, the slugs love it, and every morning after about a week, w went out and it was covered in slugs .... which i then picked off and fed to the chooks ... theres not so many now well i'm happy, the chooks aren't

[Herbie]

I used egg shells crushed up last year seemed to help ........ but the critters get everywhere. I think I will try a variety of methods this year from egg shells, bran, and any other ideas I pick up from here.

[bazzaboy]

Now, this subject may have been done

Yes it's even more regular then "slow germinating parsnips" as a topic so worth doing a search (button on top menu) - but welcome dazzlar3 either way.

Here's some previous discussions and ideas to get you going:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...hem_23438.html
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...our_26833.html
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ugs_25942.html

One of my Christmas presents 2008, from a fellow gardener, was entitled "50 Ways To Kill A Slug"... Based on an estimate I saw in a recent report that the "average garden" (whatever that is) will contain about 20,000 slugs, most of them living underground, there's plenty of scope for invention!
b.

[Victoria26]

I put a ring of salt around the most slug prone plants and they never suffer. Not the most humane but they dont go near my veggies...

[Growem]

I read that putting bran down was a good way to get rid of slugs. 1: They prefer it over your plants and so eat that. 2: It expands inside them, so they explode from overeating (no worse than drowning in beer if you ask me). 3: It's dry and they don't like crawling over top of it.
I'm planning on finding a horse supply shop near me and buying a big bag to try out this year at the allotment.

[Edith]

bran is the only thing that has worked for us, though its a real faff. We are in Wales and basically it rains a lot...this washes away the bran and brings out the slugs...also, it doesn't entice me up to the allotment.

I do wish we were allowed chickens or ducks on the allotment, that always seems like the best solution...

slugs here are really bad, last year they got inside my mini-greenhouse (standing on a copper-impregnated base), and with salt around it, and ate all my tomato seedlings...

[Growem]

I think someone could make a killing with a rent-a-duck system, going around to all their local allotments.

[Perciba]

Slug pubs

It is a lifelong battle, but I kill hundreds each day in my slug pubs. At least they die happy. My husband reckons he can hear them singing @There's an old mill by the stream' on calm nights!

Wouldlove to have ducks, but do they not also flatten the plants? We have tired to introduce hedghogs, but they keep moving on.

[SarzWix]

I found that I had a resident frog on my plot, living in the corner of a bed which I had covered in a thick layer of straw and topped with weedproof membrane I hope it stayed

[selfraising]

Well last year I used pellets and nematodes. The nematodes worked for the little black ones in the soil but not those on the surface. So this year I'm trying slug wool which is supposed to be good for the soil too, we will see!

[Shaun the Sheep]

Well last year I used pellets and nematodes. The nematodes worked for the little black ones in the soil but not those on the surface. So this year I'm trying slug wool which is supposed to be good for the soil too, we will see!

But how do you shear the slugs? !!!!

[selfraising]

But how do you shear the slugs? !!!!

Verrrrrrry carefully, they very hairy this time of year