Slugs and Snails I declare WAR

[Cloud]

I try to be organic wherever possible but when it comes to slugs Nuke em.Blue pellets do it for me every time!

[trebellangeminired]

Check out the thread in over the fence, weeds, pests and diseases, slugs and snails.

[lynda66]

just a thought on copper tape, can you not strip some electrical wire and use that?? thats copper

[tricky]

youve made me smile

[lynda66]

youve made me smile

i thought that was actually my first sensible suggestion

[bloom]

Update, I used the tubs of beers, although it was a shame to waste the beer and i did eventually have to resort to blue pellets which did the trick, garden turned into a slug/snail graveyard, poor little things but i think they have all got the message as i havent really seen any about resently, I am hoping they have re camped somewhere else. I am also using the stone and the torch but the salt water bath i can't bring myself round to using as i cant bring myself to drop them in the water......lol.

I think i am winning, however shot gun and nuc sounds like a plan. :-)

Bex

[amandaandherveg]

Yesterday I thinned out a bunch of young cabbages and replanted then in our neighbours garden (to replace all the ones the snails had snaffled). I scattered blue smarties then covered with nets. I went out this morning and collected over 60 of them all happily fizzing away in their shells. Devil Spawn!

[Sue]

Hi
I've found since I've finished all the paths on one half of the allotment and put down bark chippings they have lessened. The raised beds are all now surrounded by bark chip paths which makes it a bit more tricky for them. The raised beds have to be kept covered with enviromesh due to cabbage whites and pidgeons and can then put organic slug pellets under these without worrying about anyone else eating them.
The flat stones or anything else that keeps the ground cool and damp are worth doing but only if you do a regular inspection. For my cold frame which is one ground I won't use for growing - I've put salt all around the bottom of the frame so that my tomatoes, peppers and aubergines can sit in their pots and trays in the middle. Come the autumn I'll do the same with the greenhouse - again I don't grow into the ground.
Keep a plastic lidded tub with you when gardening and any you find along with leather jackets, wire worms and other nasties can be popped in as you go and if you've got chickens you've got a nice supper for them.
I've also found that the problem for my seedlings has lessened now I've got new greenhouse staging, the old run of aluminium shelving I keep outside the greenhouse for growing my seeds, with the bottoms in pots of water and nowhere for them to climb, my seedlings are safe at last.
Sue

[SlugLobber]

I feel your pain, Bloom, I really do. I have had one heck of a year due to these little sh*ts. I have tried hunting them three times a day, putting some on bird table, lobbing them, copper (they're masochists in my garden - they LOVE the copper!), distractions planting...

I hunted high and low for organic pellets, but most places didn't sell them and the others had sold out. Ended up with the nasty metaldehyde ones. I'm just careful where I put them. I recently planted out some rockery plants and the little sh*ts targeted these, too. I thought I'd got on top of them, but alas, no!

[HayleyB]

They're a delicacy in France

[Professor Peabody]

The organic slug pellets are available in my local Homebase and also in Wilkinsons (a lot cheaper than Homebase). My allotment shop used to stock the orgainc pellets and the copper tape but the council manderins have shut it down.

My Dad bought organic slug gel from tescos and put it round his asters and that did the trick at first. Also they bought some carnivorous plants a couple of years back and lets just say the plants didn't starve

[bloom]

ha thats it, parcel them up and send then to the french!

[bloom]

Oh and i was digging/perparing my big patch of plot, that i intend to be my proper allotment next year/ this winter and what did i find eggs, loads of the buggers couldn't believe it they hid them deep in the earth and then they appear from nowhere. Horrible little things

[Johnny Appleseed]

I hate slugs as well. We can't use the blue pellets because of frogs, dogs and birds but I still use a method my Dad used when I was a seedling.

Old broom handle.

6 inch nails fixed to perimeter.

Wait until dark.

Garden / torch / broom handle / strong "sword" arm / positive attitude

Stab slugs / lob into the borders with a quick flick of the wrist.

Slug population diminished

Bodies gone in the morning.

Birds fed and happy.

Slug population controlled.

Sorted.

After a few nightime hunts - the numbers drop dramatically - but you do need to keep it up.