Slug Hunting.

[w33blegurl]

Slugs...sigh....not sure I can take another year of every single thing I plant being ravaged! Better head out with a bucket of salt tonight then...!

[Two_Sheds]

Yes, now the temp's finally got into double figures I'll be outside with a head-torch too

[BUFFS]

How do you guys dispose of your slugs?

I've tried the bucket of salt method, I've tried cutting them in half with secateurs, both ways make me feel ill...

get yourself a few chooks and let them roam about,they can clear an area in no time and the big plus is those lovely eggs..

[Martin H]

Allotment rules are no livestock

[Dotty Sarah]

I've found loads of slug eggs in the last few days On the allotment I inherited a bottle of slug pellets which is something that I would never normally use but I've had an idea...

If I make some slug traps (bottles with the tops cut off, inverted, then taped back on) and add pellets to them, a) would this be enough bait to get the slugs in the bottles and b) would it be safe enough to prevent anything else getting to the pellets (hedgehogs etc)?

[PyreneesPlot]

On the allotment I inherited a bottle of slug pellets which is something that I would never normally use but I've had an idea...

If I make some slug traps (bottles with the tops cut off, inverted, then taped back on) and add pellets to them, a) would this be enough bait to get the slugs in the bottles and b) would it be safe enough to prevent anything else getting to the pellets (hedgehogs etc)?

I would worry about the slugs popping their clog somewhere where the other wildlife could then eat them?

359 tonight.
Plus bats, hedgehogs, owls and a roe buck making me jump by barking from the woods next to me.

[Dotty Sarah]

I would worry about the slugs popping their clog somewhere where the other wildlife could then eat them?

Very good point, thank you, thought there'd be a flaw to the plan somewhere!

[Chuffedas]

OK,
Thought I would add my two penneth.
I live in the middle of town, no hedgehogs.
Frogs would be good, but haven’t done that yet.
Slug pellets get consumed (via the dead slugs) by wildlife.

Hunting works.

I have put ‘snail varnish’ on snails before, thrown them over a 10 foot wall onto a garage block.
The plan was that the birds would get them, but they kept coming back, no matter how hard I threw.

I put my slugs and snails that I catch in my garden waste bin that goes to the council.

Slug beer traps do work.
Problems are:
that cats fill in the hole.
Rain waters it down.
They are a pain to empty because your hole fills in.
(Or you buy an expensive version)
Also it can kill beneficial beetles etc.

I have started an all out attack before they get too carried away out there.
Catching one prevents hundreds in the future (Stitch in time thing)

1) I hunt.

2) I have placed upturned pots for them to shelter under so I can find and then dispose of them.
(Put them where you can access easily)

3) I have set cheap slug traps.
Set the lip above the surface so beetles don’t topple in.
I have bought those very cheap food storage boxes.
You know the ones. Almost clear plastic?
(They are about 4 or 5 inches square)
But the cheap cheap cheap cheap ones.
I then put one into the other. (Makes for easy emptying) and put in cheap beer.
Then I set up a lid on sticks.
An old plate or pot tray (what are they called? The thing you put a pot on to hold the water…. Round) works wonderfully.

Cheap, effective safe etc etc

[alldigging]

Allotment rules are no livestock

S12 of the Allotments Act 1950 makes it lawful for the occupier of any land to keep, otherwise than by way of trade or business, hens or rabbits on the land and to erect and maintain such buildings or structures on the land as are reasonably necessary for that purpose. However S12 does not authorise any hens or rabbits to be kept in such a place or manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance.

Therefore allotment rules cannot ban the keeping of hens or rabbits, although they may impose conditions relating to their care etc.

[Martin H]

Be that as it may, before they gave me a key they made me sign a document called "Terms and Conditions of Tenancy". Rule 11 says, in its entirety,
"The tenant shall not keep any live animals or livestock of any kind on the Allotment Plot."

Nobody else has any, so a newbie I feel it's best to stick to it.

I'll probably ignore a couple of the other rules, such as where Rule 20 says, "The tenant shall not ... make any compost heaps ...".

Also I can't put up a shed without written consent of the Secretary of the Society (Rule 8); I might not bother with that one either.

[PyreneesPlot]

238 slugs tonight - very dry, hence the low count. 3 glow worms in the compost

[PyreneesPlot]

358 tonight, in thirty minutes. Raining. Rubber glove disintegrated so I gave up!

[PyreneesPlot]

213 very dry and pretty cold. Am I winning?!

[KittyColdNose]

Yup, you are winning

I have found about 4 in all this week and one massive caterpillar.

[veggiechicken]

I could manage to count up to 4, or even 10, but 213
Do you have one of those clicker thingies, PP?