Pea Advice

[Jungle Jane]

Have you got a lot of eggshell to put a circle of broken shell around each or most of the seedlings. If you’ve got beer make a DIY beer trap,with a pot buried in the ground with something sheltering to keep the rain out,like a bit of slate resting on stones or brick. I find it easy to pop outside at about 10pm with a torch,it’s good to find the slug because it will return every night to the same buffet area. I hit them with a stone I don’t use salt anymore,then they can stay on the mud like that,other slugs should take warning from what they see & travel on,that doesn’t happen tho.

[ameno]

I could see slug trails on the pellets

Well, I did say they aren't very effective.
The idea is that they are unpleasant for the slug to cross so it will avoid them. The reality is that although they may well be unpleasant, they are not unpleasant enough to actually put them off.
Maybe if you had some equally tasty plants nearby, not protected, they might go for the easier meal rather than the hardship of crossing the pellets, but otherwise they just don't really work.

[ameno]

I hit them with a stone I don’t use salt anymore,then they can stay on the mud like that,other slugs should take warning from what they see & travel on,that doesn’t happen tho.

I find dead slugs lying around actually does a fairly good job of protecting plants. Not because it scares the other slugs off, but because there seems to be nothing slugs and snails love to eat more than dead slugs, so they will always make a beeline for them and leave your plants alone (and it collects them all in one place, allowing you to kill those ones, too).

[Marb67]

I find dead slugs lying around actually does a fairly good job of protecting plants. Not because it scares the other slugs off, but because there seems to be nothing slugs and snails love to eat more than dead slugs, so they will always make a beeline for them and leave your plants alone (and it collects them all in one place, allowing you to kill those ones, too).

I have just wrapped foam sheeting around them to help warm up the temp and quicken growth.

[Marb67]

Well Im gutted. After a huge sprinkling of used coffee granules, snails have gone over it and eaten more of the peas. I really don't know why I bother

[ameno]

Physical barriers for the most part do not work.
At best they are a mild deterrent, but certainly not enough to actually stop the slugs, and worst they do nothing at all.

[Penellype]

Earlier this year I was losing my spinach and lettuce in the hotbed to slugs and thought they might disappear completely. Someone suggested putting a plank of wood on the soil next to the plants, which the slugs would use to hide under. You can then lift the plank and remove any slugs. I haven't got room for planks in my hotbed, but I put a couple of strips of 2 inch wide wood onto the compost and I check under them every time I visit the allotment. I also make sure that when I water the bed I lift the wood and water under it to keep it damp. This won't remove every slug by any means, but most days I find one or 2 and over time it has made a difference. I now have lettuces and spinach that have some leaves that don't have holes in and the plants are growing nicely.

[Marb67]

I have wool pellets, coffee granules and egg shells (all supposed to be a proven barrier) and they they are still eating the peas. Its so depressing as I nurtured them on the radiator to get them germinated in the cold a few weeks ago.

I just go out at night, collect all the snails and when I have enough release them up the country lanes away from gardens. All things have a right to live.

[Plot70]

I give slugs and snails to the chickens.
They think they are sticky buns and crunchy biscuits.

[Nicos]

I put rhubarb leaves on the surface of the soil - if you turn them over each day you will be able to collect slugs sheltering underneath them

[rary]

I put seaweed onto my beds, I have planted out peas, lettuce and cabbage now out over two weeks and so far I have not had any slug damage

[Muddy_Boots]

I find a mills bomb is usually effective, place in the ground pull out the pin and run after about 10 secs no more slugs, ,mind you its no more veggies as well.

Now seriously, I've tried all those methods of eggshells, wool pellets ad nauseum and to be honest none of them work for sure. If your plants are in pots then copper tape around the pot DOES work as the copper has some type of electric shock effect to the slugs and snails and they back off soon as they touch it, I've seen time lapse film of it happening. The only real method is to use blue slug pellets and kill the buggers and make sure you go out in the morning to pick up the casualties to minimise the impact to birds and hedgehogs just so they don't pick up and eat the poisoned bodies. If its a certain bed you are protecting then plank it for the night to stop the hogs getting in to snack on the bodies then remove that and the slimey casualties next morning, soon as your plants are big enough they move onto younger easier prey to feast on I've found.

[Jungle Jane]

Have you ever seen a poisoned hedgehog in the road in the morning,breathing rapidly not moving,I picked it up,put on the grass by my daughter old friends house,I was dropping her home,eventually it died,I’d never suggest to anyone the use of blue pellets,they’re poisonous,hedgehogs will eat them because they don’t know,they have an attractant in them. It doesn’t kill the slugs straight away either so they’ll walk back to the side of the plot & the hedgehogs find them. Copper tape does work tho & safe for wildlife,I’ve used the same copper tape around half plastic bottles to protect my beans for several years so far.

[Nicos]

There are bird and hedgehog friendly slug pellets around…have a look at this….
https://www.green-feathers.co.uk/blo...%20metaldehyde.

Also rhubarb leaves are a good hiding place for slugs…just leave them dotted around for them to hide under and check dnd remove daily.
I’ve seen videos of slugs crawling along the sharp edge of a razor blade, so I guess egg shells may only work if they feel too dry to slither over?

We are now onto our 4th sowing of peas….flippin voles and field mice think it’s a buffet this last lot were soaked in chilli oil. Let’s see if that works

[Nicos]

I put seaweed onto my beds, I have planted out peas, lettuce and cabbage now out over two weeks and so far I have not had any slug damage

Do you think the salt is putting them off or was it well washed?