Please can someone help, huge slug problem

[Drea]

Daft question... but what do you do with the slugs once they're collected? They really give me the heebs so I usually throw them away but I'm fairly sure they just come back again

[veggiechicken]

They won't come back if they're dead!!

[Drea]

They won't come back if they're dead!!

But what do you do with the dead slugs? I don't really fancy a heap of them in my garden, eurgh

[Urban]

Yups, nematodes do thin them out and they are eco friendly except of course to the slugs.

Yeh it's a pretty nasty way to die, when you read about how the nemetodes work, I think I'd feel more guilty about using salt on them though

The good thing with the nemetodes is the slugs stop eating when they get infected, the nemetodes then make the slug bury itself, so the slug dosnt get eaten by something else, before the nemetodes finish developing

[Pa Snips]

Throw the dead slugs into your neighbours garden Just kidding of course.

�Nemaslug� worked up to a point for me, though I had to dispatch of three in the greenhouse today, they seem to try escaping the rain here. No worries, I have a pair of scissors at hand, ready to do the deed and send them on their way...go into the light dear sluggie...snip snip.

[Urban]

But what do you do with the dead slugs? I don't really fancy a heap of them in my garden, eurgh

Those that I sometimes killed, ie any that get into the greenhouse, I used to feed them to the tadpoles, they go mad for em, any dead slugs that get left on the garden won't be there for long, something will eat it

It is why I really don't want to use slug pellets

[Two_Sheds]

what do you do with the slugs once they're collected?

I don't collect them, I salt them in situ: usually they just disappear. If you're collecting them in a bucket of salty water say, wait until they're dead then pour the whole lot on the compost heap: you shouldn't be using so much salt that it becomes a problem in the system

[WendyC]

I have found Slug Clear liquid as very effective on new bedding but I think it can't be used on edibles.

[PyreneesPlot]

I am another slug infested gardener. I collect everynight from early spring until early summer (down to a few times a week, now). The salty pot of death gets emptied into different points in the base of a hedge. All my seedlings and young plants go on a wooden table - I sow very little in situ - with spikey mesh wrapped around the legs to stop them climbing up. Once, I didn't notice a dock leaf which was just touching and they swarmed up and cleared a load of plants.

Good luck.

[salome2001]

nemaslug
copper tape around the pots
ferric phosphate slug pellets (not sure if these work but don't like methaldehyde)
manual removal (I will start the salty water swimming classes, sounds a good idea)
salt rings around plants/ pots (whe it's not raining)
Can't use beer traps as I'm preggy and the sight/smell of beer+slugs will lead to instant vomition

[taff]

Yeah, it seems ot be a real problem this year, it just wasn't a cold enough winter.
I'd echo Willy Nelson. Tidy up and clear away anything they might hide under unless you're doing it on purpose to catch them.
Check under all your trays/modules too, they hide underneath them. I found an enormous orange frilly one in one of the greenhouse trays the other day, god knows how it had managed to hide before then.
I'd say bran but it's too wet for that too.
Anyone know if sawdust works?

[Urban]

nemaslug
copper tape around the pots
ferric phosphate slug pellets (not sure if these work but don't like methaldehyde)
manual removal (I will start the salty water swimming classes, sounds a good idea)
salt rings around plants/ pots (whe it's not raining)
Can't use beer traps as I'm preggy and the sight/smell of beer+slugs will lead to instant vomition

Congrats!

I'd like to put copper tape around my three 3.6m * 1.2m raised beds, but it would cost a lot, and I'm not sure how effective it would be, I wonder if I could buy say 10m of 3 core copper mains cable, strip it and use that, would be a lot cheaper

Also what kind of bran are you guys referring to? I got lots of oat bran, would that work?

[wildside]

i spend half an hour a night collecting them then stick them in the alley way for the hedgehogs to eat

[Samurailord]

I was out in the rain last night with a bucket of salted water.

Got about 40 of the little darlings - a couple were even eating the roots of some seedlings through the mesh of the garden table that I had put them on to protect them from the snails/slugs!!

I will have another go this morning before going shopping - in this rain there isn't much else I can do in the garden right now

Andy

[Chocolate8me]

Get a pond & have frogs

Frogs love slugs.

Snails are a bit of a problem for me, I've found them under the rims of pots, deep under leafy growth when gardening & under the the wood batons for the garden fence.