Death to the snail. what actually works?

[shirlthegirl43]

Most birds and hedgehogs have enough sense to eat live slugs and snails, not dead ones! Therefore it is unlikely that the poison would actually harm the birds, hedgehogs and frogs.

Thanks for that advice Rustylady. However, my dozy dog will have a good nose at anything lying in the garden (including all the cat's 'trophies' - and dog goes out of a morning before I get a chance to clear away dead mice etc) so I only use the regular pellets in my netted off brassica bed just to be sure.

[Polly Fouracre]

Most birds and hedgehogs have enough sense to eat live slugs and snails, not dead ones! Therefore it is unlikely that the poison would actually harm the birds, hedgehogs and frogs.

I am sorry to say that the biggest killer of our fast diminishing hedgehog is in fact slug pellets.They kill more than cars and predators put together.

[Polly Fouracre]

Most birds and hedgehogs have enough sense to eat live slugs and snails, not dead ones! Therefore it is unlikely that the poison would actually harm the birds, hedgehogs and frogs.

Forgot to say that quite a few cats are also killed by slug pellets,some cats even going from garden to garden searching for them.The poisin accumulates in their liver,killing them slowly and painfully.

[moggssue]

I use copper tape around my pots and it works great (as long as there are no overhanging leaves for the b*****s to use to breach the tape).

At first did nothing in the bed itself. After losing several sowings to slugs earlier in the year I resorted to Growing Success blue pellets but after reading this thread maybe they're not as friendly as i thought they were. I'm going to stop using them and look for something else. I did use slug pubs and never found anything else in there but couldnt keep up with the number of slugs in the garden and things still got badly eaten. I also collect of an evening and give them a flying contest when I can but again can't keep up with them. Might try raising my beds a little higher and using copper tape there as well since it works well on the pots.

[shirlthegirl43]

Growing success do one type of pellet which is okay for use where birds etc might eat the slugs. On the rear of the packet it says that pets etc do not need to be excluded. They use a different poison to the other ones.

[moggssue]

Yes, the pack of my tube of pellets says its safe for pets etc, but I'm not sure I believe them!? Am I turning cynical? Probably but better to be safe than sorry unless anyone with more experience of the pellets can reassure me? I feel as tho I've done a bad thing scattering them around my bed now Actually, sorry, maybe this should be on a different thread cos it isnt a vote is it

[wormlady]

Hiya
So if we kill all the baby snails we can find, and leave the grown up ones, does that stop the population expanding?
I love the idea of a slug/snail prison! What a good idea! I dont mind crushing snails but I hate dealing with slugs - normally I cut them in half with my secateurs but then someone said that just empties all their eggs out! Gross...

[SueA]

I collect all the slugs & snails I find eating my plants by torchlight at night & put them all in a plastic bag with a handful of weeds to chomp on & then put them in the dustbin to take their chances with the council rubbish chewer & the tip!

[Digger-07]

Hypno- I noticed on your blog - great site by the way - that you have dry stone walls AKA slug high rise accommodation. Thats where your slime balls are coming from.

[terrier]

Thanks for that advice Rustylady. However, my dozy dog will have a good nose at anything lying in the garden (including all the cat's 'trophies' - and dog goes out of a morning before I get a chance to clear away dead mice etc) so I only use the regular pellets in my netted off brassica bed just to be sure.

If your dog is prone to picking up or even eating slugs, make sure that he is wormed up to date with a full spectrum wormer. The last few years, lung worm has become a big problem in dogs and slugs are one of the main causes of lung worm. Just type LUNG WORM into a browser search and you'll see what I mean.

[Farmer_Gyles]

so .... if snails are "homing", then presumably if i get rid of all the snails in my garden, the snails in other people's gardens will stay where they are and i'll be snail free forever??

[yoanbob]

ducks!
tho the really big ones have to be broken first (yuk)

[Two_Sheds]

Hypno- I noticed on your blog - great site by the way - that you have dry stone walls AKA slug high rise accommodation. Thats where your slime balls are coming from.

Slugs need to be in contact with the ground. Snails however will happily live in dry stone walls...

[Two_Sheds]

I can't sow anything direct in the ground here. The molluscs eat the lot, overnight. I just searched for my borlotta beans...under the soil there were stalks but had been chewed right thru, never got a chance to break thru to the light. I have at least one frog and one hedgehog, but they are clearly vegetarian ones.
Now, I have to:
1) sow in pots then transplant when the plants are big enough
2) place planks of wood/plant pots around the plot - the critters like to gather in there, just ready for collecting and dropping in a bucket of salty water.
3) don't like slug pubs...they drown good bugs too
4) selectively use blue smarties under fleece where the birds can't get them

PS. pellets kill cats...well there's a thought....

[Farmer_Gyles]

Slugs need to be in contact with the ground. Snails however will happily live in dry stone walls...

not so sure about that with slugs - just ripped ivy off an old tree stump and found dozens of slugs hiding under the ivy 6-12" off the ground
i'm clearing as much slug and snail accommodation as i can - high rise or low rise!