Please can someone help, huge slug problem

[GreenGirlUK]

how about slug shield

Hello,

I would (and do) use slug shields. Apparently a new, low tech, organic product that I think is also pretty. They are completely effective and they LAST ALL SEASON. They have them through Organic Gardening Catalogue and their website will ship to UK for cheap.

The pellets have adverse effects on soil organisms (and bad for environment) and most other remedies also need to be re-applied.

Good luck.

-GreenGirl

[areia]

anyone had those 3 in long mottled brown and green looing ones * shudder*

[eirish]

I've just come across an interesting paper in a research journal ("Barriers, repellents and antifeedants for slug and snail control", I Schüdera, G Porta and J Bennison, Crop Protection 22 (2003) 1033–1038) about the effectiveness of various slug and snail controls. They found that garlic solution, of all things, was one of the most effective barriers to both horizontal and vertical movement of slugs and snails and also resulted in substantial mortality. Ureaformaldehyde solution (a form of nitrogen fertiliser) was also extremely effective. Copper foil was significantly better than untreated compost.

Besides which, coming across a research paper that mentioned starving slugs and snails for 48 hours made my day.

[veggiechicken]

This is also relevant 20 Ways to control slugs in the permaculture garden or on the allotment | Permaculture Magazine

[GardenFaery]

... BUT... like I said in another thread or maybe this one - too tired from work to think - you have to STOMP on the snails first - that's why I do this rather than throw them like some of you Olympics snail discus throwers, so the frogs can jump about in the rain and enjoy the delights of Gastopod- sans-shell!

"How do Frogs Eat?
Now that you know about a frogs diet, do you know how do they eat their food? This question arises, if you notice that frogs are toothless. Thus, how do they grind large food for easy digestion? Frogs tend to swallow their meal whole as they have no teeth to chew. They use their sticky tongue to catch a prey and hold it with their upper jaw. The most interesting part of the process is the way they swallow their food. They use their eyes to help swallow! Yes, notice a frog when it swallows food. You will find their eyeballs sink into the socket and pop right back up when it swallows. This gives them an appearance of blinking when actually they are trying to eat their food."

So even without me playing frog waitress, if larger frogs can swallow small mammals and lizards, swallowing a snail whole would hardly phase them and yes they do eat the shells...