Slugs and Snails!!!!

[marninator80]

Is anyone having as bad a time with slugs and snails so far this season??

Can anyone recommend anything to help get rid of the blighters??!!
Have tried crushed egg shells but they still managed to evade and eat my lettuce and carrot leaves!!

Any suggestions??

[Greenleaves]

You will have to go hunting Marninator80, anything that offers shelter is a good place to start. It will make a difference and personally I find it rather satisfying to remove the buggers.

[summer]

I'm overrun with the little blighters…well some very big too. I was out this morning before it was barely light and collected 14. But what do you then do with them? I put these into the green recycling bin where they will have something to chomp on until they go off to the recycling centre!!!! Is that cruel or what?

[Knight of Albion]

Personally, I go out at midnight with a torch and a plastic cup, gather then all up and relocate them in a safe place where they can't do any harm on the other side of my house. That always works for me. No need for killing or poisons.

[Raybon]

When I find slugs and snails I put them to work chomping in the compost bin.
Keep them fed and they won't need to leave.
Snail slavery!

[PyreneesPlot]

Summer - 14 is not overrun!!
I collect at night and finally after four years of encouraging wildlife (hedgehogs, toads, frogs, newts, glow worms and ground beetles) my nightly count is often only a couple of hundred.
I use a fine mulch of grass clippings around all plants as they seem to like eating that and it is where I find them in the evenings.
Try nematodes, perhaps? It can be too hot/dry for me so I have no experience but others on here have had good results.
I also moved my compost as far away from my veg as poss as so many live and breed in the bins.
Good luck Marinator - it is a battle you can win :-)

[WPG]

There seems to be an epidemic of them here - especially snails in the garden, and slugs at the allotment. I've just brought my milk cartons in from the doorstep, and had to detach five snails and their numerous poops from the lids.

I'm a bit of a softy in general and can't bring myself to kill anything, so I try to use barriers rather than chemicals. For slugs a combination of all organic defences does help, a bit. So I use a mixture of crushed egg shells, slug gone wool pellets, and chopped comfrey leaves. I've also just invested in 40 of those copper bands which you put around small plants - they're quite expensive, but so far I've been impressed with them (plus they're reusable from year to year so I guess the expense is a one-off investment).

I have to admit, trying to be totally organic about slugs and snails can be a bit disheartening, and there's been times this year I've felt like buying the strongest blue pellets available. The other day I planted out a dozen rudbeckia seedlings, and didn't bother to protect them because they've got tough hairy leaves which I thought the snails wouldn't touch. Wrong!

[summer]

Summer - 14 is not overrun!!
)

True and at 4.45am I should imagine most had retired into nooks and crannies after feasting the night away on my seedlings and tender plants.

[marninator80]

Thanks everyone. I don't fancy walking all the way to my allotment in the middle of the night but i will try some of the other ideas.
Been down there today as its been quite wet out, so many slugs on the paths but didnt see anything at all near my veg! Typical!!
Other half has made a few beer traps as have heard they are very successful!!

Does anyone have any problems with the pests getting in the fruit cages with the fine mesh??

[alldigging]

I have painted some with green nail varnish and put them through the fence to see if they come back. (The fence is on the canal bank rather than a garden..)

I should have painted a date on them.

[greenishfing]

Sorry folks! .........

I have to admit to being an out and out murderer when it comes to slugs & snails (and rats).

I keep a pair of scissors handy to cut them in half or if I have my hand fork to hand I run them through.

I have even been known to use the "blue pellets of death" on occasions.

Although I try not to use chemicals I am a pragmatist. no point putting hours of work in to see my babies chomped away by the marauders.

[Knight of Albion]

Sorry folks! .........

I have to admit to being an out and out murderer when it comes to slugs & snails (and rats).

I keep a pair of scissors handy to cut them in half or if I have my hand fork to hand I run them through.

I have even been known to use the "blue pellets of death" on occasions.

Although I try not to use chemicals I am a pragmatist. no point putting hours of work in to see my babies chomped away by the marauders.

Scissors? If you're going to kill anything, that's up to you, but at least do it quickly and humanely without causing unnecessary suffering.

[greenishfing]

Scissors? If you're going to kill anything, that's up to you, but at least do it quickly and humanely without causing unnecessary suffering.

I would have thought cutting in two with scissors was pretty instantaneous.

Looking at the state of some of my babies they are lucky they didn't succumb to death be a thousand cuts.

[Chippy Minton]

I find wood ash keeps them away from seedlings, until they work out hoe to bridge it!

[Mumbles]

When I find slugs and snails I put them to work chomping in the compost bin.
Keep them fed and they won't need to leave.
Snail slavery!

Would this do the compost any good? If they are eating the contents and pooping it out surely this would speed the composting up?

The little critters must have a good side surely....?


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