How do you beat slugs?

[Sara]

Hello everyone,

Can you give us a helping hand? Slugs are a problem on almost every veg plot. The GYO team is trying to find the best way to protect crops from these pests. We'd love to know which methods you use, in your garden or on the allotment. Let us know your favourite techniques by taking part in our poll (you can select more than one option).

Your answers may be edited and published in GYO's March issue.

[Olorin2001]

You can't rely on just one method of control, and you have to keep with up, no point in doing it once a week.

[Fleurisa]

You should have listed the nematodes option

[Scarlet]

A torch at night with a bucket works well for me !

[catgirl]

I have only ever used nematodes, but not sure how effective they actually were. My garden gets absolutely overrun by slugs during the growing season and there are very few birds around here. So I may have to start using slug pellets and copper tape as well.

[TrialAndError]

I was hit badly by slugs last year and recently read up about them. It's clear that not only one solutuion works, several are reqired.

What did interest me was that a well tilled, flat and firm soil goes a long way to deterring them, that's according to commercial growers. Slugs love rough clay soil with clods in it, it eases their moving around. They do not like fine crumbly soil which dries out relatively quickly.

My current plot is clay and only a year old so has lots of rough soil - last year the slugs won. My previous allotment was a vey light and open soil extremely easy to work to fine tilth - slugs were never a problem.

[Aberdeenplotter]

My potato crops used to be a real disaster whith keeled slugs boring holes into the tubers. I cured the problem by applying slug nematodes. This is watered on to the drills at furrowing up time and really sorts out these soil burrowing pests. Not cheap but very very effective

[Fleurisa]

My late potatoes suffered with underground slugs so this year I will try the nematodes as slug pellets aren't much use for underground slugs. The dry weather last year meant I didn't have too much trouble with slugs above ground

[wellywoo]

We use a three pronged attack

1 lay down some black plastic so the slugs have some where to hide we then lift it and collect all the slugs and feed them to the chickens

2 again lay down black plastic but this time spread some slug pellets under it. we don't do both theses at the same time because of the risk of feeding poisoned slugs to the hens

3 beer traps around the plot in-between rows of veg

But the slugs are still wining


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[Bren In Pots]

I use a mix of organic pellets, yeast traps, half orange shells plus nightly collections.

[Tripmeup]

.....with VC's pointy stick ?

Only jesting....Combination of things for me, tho primarily picking and making home made nematodes with them, using glass/non glass covers at night and beer traps

[Samurailord]

Like others have already said, a combination approach works best.

Beer traps, hand picking with scissors and a head torch at dusk (you get some funny looks but if it works, who cares?) and organic slug pellets as a last line of defence.

Andy

[Penellype]

I find the copper tape works well with pots, and I'm going to try copper mats this year as I'm trying a tower pot for my strawberries. I used nematodes for the first time last year, but as it was so dry anyway it was hard to evaluate the effect. I also go out and pick them up after dark - I found loads on the lawn one night.

[planetologist]

I don't have that many slugs (knock on wood, buy a million evil eye charms). Though I'm not sure, the biggest difference with other gardens I've had is that I get quite a lot of pheasants and pigeons in my garden. The birds do quite a bit of damage to my brassicas in spring, but I've only dared to adopt ineffective measures so that I also get to eat maybe half of the brassicas. Seems like a very small price to pay.
In 2012 I had the slugs from the apocalypse like everybody else.
http://transitionculture.org/2012/07...he-apocalypse/

[mothhawk]

I use a combination approach: copper tape around the tops of tubs, just under the rim, to stop snails hiding up there, nematodes, as my garden is small, so this option is not too expensive. If I find those huge leopard slugs, I put them in the compost bin, as they prefer dead matter to eat. But it's the tiny black slugs I have most of, and they are impossible to see on the soil so I do a lot of walking heavily up and down the garden path after rain.