Slug Despair! Any advice welcome!

[Pumpkin Becki]

Hmmm...I've just had a quick read-up, it looks useful for pots and planters. I'd be interested in how you get on with it.

[emily84]

Hmmm...I've just had a quick read-up, it looks useful for pots and planters. I'd be interested in how you get on with it.

I will let you know, it's chucking it down here so tonight should be a good test!

[spiderpig]

whatever tactic you choose to wage slug war with,you also need to learn to cope with failure because unless you napalm the garden, they will always come back!!
good luck whatever way you choose to go.
I previously went for beer trap(not sunk into soil so other things fall in) but hated the job of cleaning out the dead slugs afterwards.
This year I intend to try and experiment with sprinkling my own hair(I've only got a skinhead cut that gets shaved every fortnight so it's pretty short and spikey!) to see if that deters them. If it doesn't,at least it should undermine their street cred with their mates because surely nobody wants to be friends with a slug with a human wig!

[Patchninja]

It's slug pellets for me - garden's too big for anything else but I keep them in little pellet shelters that I get from the seed catalogue. The product says that it doesn't harm wildlife. Perhaps progress really has been made when it comes to pelelts?
Graines Baumaux : ANTI-NUISIBLES MECANIQUES

[penny]

ducks, bantams and hens love slugs[and slug eggs], I let my chooks patrol after digging or rotovating and most of the winter and I think I have a lot less trouble with slugs than when I first got the garden when we seemed to be overun with the little blighters. I dont think blue pellets or hand picking make much difference to the total number of slugs as I tried these and however many I picked at night the next night there were just as many, the more you remove the more eggs hatch out and keep the numbers up. Get some hens!

[Fernw]

I sympathise because they're my nemesis too Tried all sorts and I found the nematodes on the garden definately reduced the slug population for up to 6 weeks as long as you apply them when the soil temperature is right.

It was my raised beds got hammered last year despite beer traps, copper strips etc. Has anyone used nematodes on their raised beds?

Apparently slugs have a parasite that is harmful to dogs if they eat them so I have to try and be extra vigilant as I puppy walk for Guide Dogs for the Blind and they do seem fascintated by the slimy things

[isaazabella]

slugs are comming

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[Bigmallly]

Welcome to the vine isaaczabella, nice idea but at 8 quid a pop, I think I'll stick to the beer traps.

[Buleste]

I've tried that westland gunky stuff and I think the slugs won due to the sheer numbers of them. The GreenGardener have a good selection of nematode products including the programmes as well. I use the No beer trapper (I can't stand the thought of wasting beer on slugs) and it does work very well.

If I can work a way of creating a mini electric fence powered by the small 9v batteries that would be perfect. I could then go on to making mini searchlights, train some ladybirds to work the guard towers and then see if the little swine can break in.

[desdemona]

Slugs this means war

Hi there Emily, sorry to hear about the slug problems, there are many remedies but as its been pointed out they always come back. I have tried many methods some are successful and some arnt. I have listed some of them below try them and see what works for you.

Sandpaper collars, simply get a piece of sandpaper cut a hole in the middle and cut a line from the edge to the hole and simply place the collar round the plant they hate the rough surface.

Nasturtums, they dont like the scent and they are hotter than mustard if eaten.

Lettuce, use this as cannon fodder for the slugs and hopefully they will leave the precious plant you want to keep, simply place a few mixed leaf salad plugs around the plants you want the slugs off.

Keep your growing area tidy dont leave debris on the floor like bricks and wood as these become slug palaces in the day.

Citrus fruit, if you cut in half a orange (eat the flesh) and then place rind flesh side to the floor and the slugs will take shelter underneath the rind and viola you can easily get them in the morning.

Shellfish shells, my allotment supply broken shells which to the slugs is very painfull to crossover simply scatter round the desired seedlings.

Crop rotation, try placing plants here there and everywhere and sow backup plugs and plants one end of the garden might get eaten but the other might go untouched.

The last alternative are pellets but i would advise using the above mentioned techniques first as they are all organic methods but when you tearing your hair out the blue pellets are Atom bomb for slug massacre, the downside is the pellets are harmful to the eco system.

[greengas]

Blue pellets for me as they are the only guarantee of success, I did use nematodes last year with mixed results but you need a mortgage to use them all year on a full size plot

[Shiek Yerboutti]

Ive had a great pond for 28 years with no fish but loads of frogs, and newts etc. My garden has been infested with slugs and snails all that time. The frogs couldnt cope. I bought 2 small call ducks 2 years ago and they cleared the lot in a month. I now try to breed slugs with greens under dustbin lids on the soil (to keep the ducks happy). I have salad crops , brasicas etc and all are perfectly untouched.The ducks are very tame and great pets too.

[chris]

I used to hate it when people said the manual collecting/disposing method was one of the best way to reduce numbers. I go out everynight I can can an hour or so after it's dark with a pair of scissors and a torche and just cut any I see in half. I've seen really good results after 3 weeks of doing this - I used to loose seedlings as soon as they were up, but so far for the past couple of weeks I've lost none, and had minimal damage to my pak choi (which was being battered). I found that my normal torche wasn't bright enough so I've just gone out and bought a head mounted LED jobby - 4 white LED lights, really bright! Should help show up the slime trails a bit easier, then it's just follow it to the host and snip! Bit of a pain, I'd been out for an hour odd at the start, but now its 5 mins quick search around the peas/beans and then the beds.

[chris]

Gotta say, really impressed with the LED head torche thingy - I found LOADS more than I usually do, expensive but wort the money

[Incy]

I use this on the ground where I plant my brassica's and I get nice white cauli's in the summer from one application

BioFriend Slug-Banish (400 square feet pack) (Bio-Soil Stimulant)

Emily I am trying this stuff this year and so far so good (lettuces haven't been wiped out overnight which usually happens). It is apparently exclusive to Victoriana nurseries so you won't find it anywhere else. Apparently it doesn't kill the slugs but is so disgusting to them that they move house
I really hope it works!