Slug poison in the water

[alldigging]

Slug poison found in one in eight of England's drinking water sources | Environment | theguardian.com

Slug poison was found in one in eight rivers and reservoirs used for drinking water in England and Wales according to the Environment Agency's (EA) most recent survey, prompting environmentalists to call for greater use of natural predators instead of chemicals.

[Bill HH]

I read somewhere that chemicals such as nitrogen fertilizers that are applied to the land take 40 years to reach the water table, so if we stopped using slug pellets now the problem will still be their for the next generation.What are we doing to our wonderful planet.

[Nicos]

None of these things are natural....of course they are going to enter the water system eventually.It stands to reason.
I just get the feeling we're slowly poisoning our future generations...along with our environment- we must be flippin bonkers.

*sigh

[Thelma Sanders]

Well not many of us can afford to pay high prices for any veg we need from the supermarkets, so the farmers use metaldehyde.

I use the organic ones myself, sparingly, on the allotment - as I find it's the only way to grow anything much at all, tbh.
I've tried other ways without much success

Don't know what the answer is *sigh*

[Olorin2001]

I have never used slug pellet, not even organic ones, beer traps work, cornmeal works, going round slug picking at dusk works, encouraging birds and other slug eaters works.
But everyone will say I don't have time, too busy, their too messy - and they continue to pollute my planet.
You say beer traps are too messy - grow up.
Don't have time - so what do you spend your time doing - watching TV - get a life.
Metaldehyde is also getting into the plants you grow so please don't offer any to me as a refusal often offends.

[arpoet]

I don't know why, but slugs hate spent hops around the stems of plants. I use a lot of spent hop as a mulch.

[Samurailord]

The levels of the chemical in the water sampled was very low and doesn't pose a risk to us or other wildlife so I am not too concerned about it at the moment, but it is definitely something that should be monitored.

I will continue to use slug pellets sparingly when needed.

One of the major problems is when inexperienced gardeners dump a huge amount of pellets on a single bed in an attempt to control a small slug problem, but as these are bait they attract more slugs than they had already.

By sheer weight of numbers some of this surplus of slugs manage to find their way through the pellets and attack the crops.

This makes people belioeve that they haven't put down enough pellets, and so they put down more and more, attracting more and more slugs in the process.

Less is definitely more in this case.

More education as to correct dosing would be useful.

Andy

[Thelma Sanders]

I have never used slug pellet, not even organic ones, beer traps work, cornmeal works, going round slug picking at dusk works, encouraging birds and other slug eaters works.
But everyone will say I don't have time, too busy, their too messy - and they continue to pollute my planet.
You say beer traps are too messy - grow up.
Don't have time - so what do you spend your time doing - watching TV - get a life.
Metaldehyde is also getting into the plants you grow so please don't offer any to me as a refusal often offends.

Try telling that to farmers, they use more than we do.

Gentle persuasion usually works better when you are trying to change people's behaviour

[Olorin2001]

I cultivate 750 square metres and am self sufficient in fruit and veg, so I don't buy what the farmers grow, and I don't eat meat. Farming in a sustainable way protects the planet. When you don't look at the bigger picture, when you do things that are against nature, you get things like BSE and you kill off all the bees. We have just the one planet to live on.

[SarzWix]

An awful lot of assumptions going on there Olorin. I don't use beer traps because they actually attract slugs and snails. Can't see the point in inviting them round for a party, plenty seem to find the plants on their way past. And assuming that anyone who doesn't have time for slug-collecting is wasting it watching the telly is more than a little insulting! How about those who live too far from their plot to be out with a torch in the dark? Wouldn't fancy it on my site, that's for sure!

I use 'organic' slug pellets, under nets, because my biggest problem is snails, on which nematodes have little effect.

[Olorin2001]

Takes me 30 minutes to walk to my allotment, I could go by bus but walking is quicker.
Sorry about insulting you, but slugs are not going to travel miles for free beer, men might but not slugs - they were already hiding in your garden, you just didn't see them, the beer brought them out.
People see slug damage, or what they think is slug damage and they reach for to pellets thinking the're magic bullets that will solve the problem.
KNOW YOUR EMEMY
If you have an excess of slugs in your garden then the natural balance is wrong.
I think this article will explain my views bettererer.
Factsheet about slugs and snails