Help! uninvited for dinner!

[Claire]

Please can you give me some advice all of you seasoned growers!

This is my first year and I was devastated last night as I lost 2 Lollo Rosso Lettuce to something that obviously enjoyed them for dinner! I also found 2 snails heading up the side of 1 of my planter bags.

Don't really want to hurt them but these were suppose to be for my dinner not there's. Any advice greatfully received.

[WiZeR]

You could try broken eggshells or chilli flakes around the bottom of the base of the pant? Never tried it but that's my intended plan of action this season.

[Claire]

Thanks Wizer, will try the chilli flakes tonight!

[Lesley Jay]

Use either slug pellets scattered very thinly around or a beer trap. Both of these work. You could try using copper strips. This gives them a shock and they donot like that. The copper strips are designed to go around pots and trays but someone on our allotments is trying copper pipe around the edge of the beds.

[Claire]

Sounds good to me Lesley. Thanks will try them, or even a combination, anything to stop the soul destroying habbits of these little critters.

[blackkitty]

Ryton gardens recommend using bran as they prefer this to the plants but then they dehydrate and die.

[Alice]

Sorry folks, hate to be less than green but tried them all and the only thing which is really effective is the slug bait. Sad but true. Next best help is the resident fox who scours the place nightly and laps them up for supper.

[hils]

Please can you give me some advice all of you seasoned growers!

This is my first year and I was devastated last night as I lost 2 Lollo Rosso Lettuce to something that obviously enjoyed them for dinner! I also found 2 snails heading up the side of 1 of my planter bags.

Don't really want to hurt them but these were suppose to be for my dinner not there's. Any advice greatfully received.

The only thing I find that works is to physically cull the munching b******ds.
It gives me great delight to squash snails underfoot, the crunching sound is quite cathartic. I've tried lobbing them away but they come back eventually. (Controlled experiment with white paint)
If you are feeling a tad fond of the critters then the loss of your dinner should have indicated to you that these vile molluscs take no prisoners!

[Claire]

Thanks Hills, I did wonder whether the feelings of violence that these little critters instilled in me were a little over - reactive but after reading your comments I feel totally normal and justified in my reaction.

[smallblueplanet]

Sorry folks, hate to be less than green but tried them all and the only thing which is really effective is the slug bait. Sad but true. Next best help is the resident fox who scours the place nightly and laps them up for supper.

This should say - the only thing that you find effective!!!

We never use slug pellets and have a good crop of food growing organically thank you.

No doubt the resident fox will be less than happy to be eating poisoned slugs.

There are many of methods of slug control to try, ranging from night-hunting to barrier methods - search on the forum on different threads there are, as is to be expected, many threads and much talk about their control.