Slugs and Snails I declare WAR

[bloom]

Now dont get me wrong, i'm not the harmful type and i normally wouldn't hurt a fly but i had a lovely purple flowering plant that had just started to flower lovely and the purple flower was amazing, now i do't even know what this flower is its just there anyway i went out to check on my garden after the last wet spell and they have savaged it, completely destroyed it, all mine and the flowers hardwork eaten.

I have just started my veg patch and i dont want the same to happen to my veg, is there anything i can do to get ride of them. (other than throwing them over next doors garden lol). Oh and i have tried beer in tubs but i only got a few that way.

All ideas welcome.

B

[lynda66]

feed the birds, mealworms and seeds are a good starter, then once they are used to being fed at regular times, start putting slugs and snails and worms out at the same time, they'll soon get the idea (get one of those large flat water catcher things you put under pots ... and cover the side with vaseline and salt, so they don't climb out........ blackbirds and robins will then eventually start to follow you round the garden (takes a while though) ....... in the mean time, i would put flat rocks in the garden for them to hide under, near the flowers and veg, then every day, go out and check under the rocks, and dispose of the slugs that are hiding there(and any eggs), either by putting them out for the birds or removing them and covering them in salt, also you can go round the garden at night with a torch and remove them ....... this way, i have hardly seen any slugs or snails for ages,(though i have been doing this for 3 1/2 years now) i just regularly check under the stones for any i've chucked over next door coming back lol

good luck

Lynda xx

[markwcel]

we do try to avoid using chemicals....but...organic slug pellets is what we use....

[Cloud]

The best way is to NUKE EM!!!!!!!!!

[lynda66]

oh yeah or nuke em ...... or get a shotgun

[rustylady]

Sorry, I try not to use chemicals etc but I have resorted to using slug pellets. I find snails are more of a problem than slugs, but my resident frogs are just not keeping up with the little b*****s, so I'm feeding them little blue "smarties".

[lynda66]

when i've used slug pellets in the past, i've always put them under stones, or a sheet of plastic, or whatever is lying round the garden that they hide under, so the birds and frogs etc can't eat the dead ones

[Cloud]

Like I said NUKE EM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ceflet]

slugs & snails

I too have been going out at night armed with a torch and a tub of salt for years to sprinkle on them but they turn into a slimey mess. This year I read somewhere to add some salt to water to make a brine and drop them into this solution they die instantly but they dont dissolve they are pickled and it works for snails too. So I have a salt bath by my greenhouse door and others strategically placed arround the garden with an old spoon to pick them up with. I have read also about placing copper bands or tape arround tubs & containers as this gives them an electric shock so they won't cross it. Has anybody tried this? And knows where to get some copper tape from.
ceflet

[lynda66]

if you put them in something before pouring the salt on them, they only make a slimy mess in whatever you put them in

[Cloud]

I heard that a local farm shop places drainpipes around their beds and fills them with salt and sharp sand and it keeps the slugs off.

[lynda66]

or you could go to sellafield and ask for some nuclear waste to stick in the drainpipe ....... and NUKE EM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Demeter]

is there anything i can do to get ride of them. (other than throwing them over next doors garden lol). Oh and i have tried beer in tubs but i only got a few that way.

Throwing them next door doesn't work - they just breed and then the whole family comes back for revenge

Beer traps do work - put them close to trouble spots, sink them into the ground a little (but not all the way or beetles will climb in too) and put at least an inch of beer in the bottom. You will get a few each night, but you only need to change the beer every few days to a week.

Going out with a torch and a pot of beer at night works too - catch the b****s at it and drown them in the brown stuff...

No, I'm not a harmful person but I kill slugs and snails with no compunction, because it's just so awful when they destroy something you've nurtured and cherished!

[Alice]

What a shame Bloom. I know there are people on here who think slugs are a protected species. In the ordinary way of things I don't kill anything. But I won't sit back and let slugs eat the benefit of my work.
I don't have a big problem with them, but where they are a nuisance I use the little blue pellets. You can use them responsibly. Put them on plastic trays, under nets, in the greenhouse and pick up the dead to keep them from birds.
They work for sure.

[Demeter]

I too have been going out at night armed with a torch and a tub of salt for years to sprinkle on them but they turn into a slimey mess. This year I read somewhere to add some salt to water to make a brine and drop them into this solution they die instantly but they dont dissolve they are pickled and it works for snails too. So I have a salt bath by my greenhouse door and others strategically placed arround the garden with an old spoon to pick them up with. I have read also about placing copper bands or tape arround tubs & containers as this gives them an electric shock so they won't cross it. Has anybody tried this? And knows where to get some copper tape from.
ceflet

Mine just swam up the sides when I dropped them in brine!! It was horrible.
Copper tape works as well - can buy it in GC, not cheap though.

Barrier methods are worth trying for individual plants, I reckon - we are experimenting with human hair clippings and eggshells (separately I mean). No particular results to report yet - not been eaten but then we have got the slug numbers down a lot anyway!