Newbie and messed up the application of slug pellets :(

[mummy80]

Hi everyone, Im new to this and as the title says I scattered slug pellets everywhere over my seedlings that have started sprouting as they were being ravaged by slugs...I have now realised this was wrong and I am worried about the poison from the pellets affecting the veg, I dont feel comfortable eating it, do I have to dig up everything and restart ?

They are just your bog standard pellets from the local shop.

I have now got some great tips from this site, I just wish I had found it sooner

Thanks in advance

[kathycam]

If any of the pellets are still visible pick them up. If not try not to worry too much, this one time. But don't use them again, look for a more natural way of keeping slug numbers down. Plenty of people use them around veg. If you come across any dead slugs, bin them before they can be eaten by birds or frogs. Relax, everyone learns as they go along.

[mummy80]

Thanks Kathy

I couldnt believe it when I started reading how bad they were I could have cried, I made sure I picked out the slugs as I have wee birds that love coming in and would hate to think I had poisoned them :0

I have been reading about natural ways to control them so I have learned my lesson, thanks again

[Kristen]

Farmers put tonnes of slug pellets on their crops ... obviously something that Organic consumers are going to avoid purchasing later on, but 99% of the population is eating the resulting harvested crops.

By the time your plants have matured and are ready for harvesting there will probably (I'm assuming) be little residue left to be anything to worry about (slug pellets are typically renewed frequently during the growing season, so your one application will be even less than normal), and they aren't supposed to be harmful to humans anyway.

If you are going to be properly organic there is lots to think about and avoid - such as the antibiotics and growth supplements given to animals, if you then use manure from that farm - so it tends, for most people, to be compromises of some sort of another.

I don't put any chemicals on my crops - although I would if I was at risk of losing a whole crop. but ... I use manure from the local farm, they probably use antibiotics etc. I use man-made fertilisers. I have plastic lining my raised beds, which might be leaching plasticisers into the soil, and probably a bunch of other compromises that have escaped my mind. I am aware of them, and periodically reconsider if I want to change / do things differently, but the rest of the time I live with them

I am much more worried about the veg that I buy, to supplement what I grow, from the Supermarket and what THAT might have had used on it.

[Knight of Albion]

Firstly, a very warm welcome to the forum.

Gardening is very much a learning curve. Doesn't matter how many years one has been gardening there are always new things and better ways to learn.

No, slug pellets aren't good for the birds and frogs, nor your veg (nor the slugs!) But you live and learn...

Personally I'm out in the greenhouse at midnight with a torch gathering up the slugs and snails. I relocate them unharmed on the other side of my house where they can't do any damage.

[mummy80]

Thanks for the welcome, Im loving this forum you are all full of great tips and very helpful

[mummy80]

Thanks Kirsten

[Ananke]

I understand your concern, I do still use slug pellets and will be looking to change that soon hopefully as everything else is homemade and organic, well, the fertilisers and aphid sprays that is. I lost so many crops due to slugs in my first two years but now I have more time to read up on the alternatives.

I'm sure you won't have done too much damage so don't worry too much about it, as already mentioned stuff you've bought from the supermarket have probably caused much more problems than a sprinkling of pellets.

What alternative method are you thinking about adopting, maybe I can learn a bit from you?

Opps and welcome to the forums from a fellow Wegie

[Two_Sheds]

I scattered slug pellets everywhere

you didn't read the destructions then

[Two_Sheds]

everything else is homemade and organic ... What alternative method are you thinking about

I use organic pellets: they are twice the price, but I use half as much (one per seedling, at the most)

[Methe]

How do hedgehogs fare with the organic slug pellets? I try my hardest not to use pellets because they so so damaging to our hedgehog population but it is hard when they are destroying my dinners and my hostas!

[Bex]

I scatter slug pellets every where too and have never worried about it. They wouldn't be able to sell them if they were harmful to humans at the very least without a big warning on them.


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[Ananke]

I'll definately buy those TS, I didn't know there was such a thing, I don't mind paying a wee bit more. I was in B&Q yesterday too :s

Beats the beer in cups carry on.

[Bill HH]

Night time slugging expeditions are a real eye opener, the little buggers are everwhere. I remove them but don't release them on the other side of the house, those little critters can travel miles and will soon be back. I have found snails 30 feet up on my house wall. I pour salt on em and then bin them. I also use pellets if needs must. Assuming you seedlings did take up a little of the chemical, by the time the plant is grown (say a lettuce) that chemical will be diluted many thousands of times even if it didn't naturaly degrade. Worry more about why you rarely find slugs or any bugs in supermarket produce.

[mummy80]

I didnt..oops I just remember my Grandmother bless her.. scattering them like you would with feed for the birds :O I am so glad I have found this site tho you guys are fantastic