How do you get rid of slugs and snails

[Kirk]

One program, wildlife one I think pointed out that neat gardeners got it worse then the untidy ones.
Said they preferred decaying leaves and if none available they went after the growing ones to munch on for a meal. So clearing up the bits just meant they ate the ones you wanted.

No idea if or how true, but if I just throw the clipped leaves etc on the compost pile the next day they are covered in snail/slug slime.

Just a thought

[roitelet]

Beer traps for the little ones and BIG spikes for the big ones!

[Snoop Puss]

Beer traps for the little ones and BIG spikes for the big ones!

Spikes? Do you impale them and leave them as a deterrent to others?

[rary]

I use a 3-pronged attack:

1. Treat the whole garden with nematodes 2 or 3 times a year (as needed).

2. protect vulnerable plants and pots with copper tape, either round the edge of the pot or with a plastic ring (cut from a pop bottle) with copper tape on round the stem.

It isn't 100% effective but the difference between doing the above and doing nothing is huge.

Penellype I agree with your final paragraph, as doing nothing makes gardening a waste of time, but do you think copper tape makes a difference, the reason I ask this is because I have a nest of stacking pots three pots high planted with lettuce, rocket and chard, and copper tape applied around all three levels,, and yet my plants have been attacked by slugs and or snail's, it could be there were eggs in the compost, or the slugs climbed through the compost, but have you found the tape beneficial

[roitelet]

Spikes? Do you impale them and leave them as a deterrent to others?

Impale them!!!!! Kebab skewers work well!

[Nicos]

My daughter studied hedgehogs as part of her zoology degree years ago.
One thing I recall her saying is that hedgehogs get lungworms and die from eating slugs, so if you have a slug ridden garden you shouldn't encourage hedgehogs to take up residency!

Here have a look at this site I've just found...

https://thehedgehog.co.uk/feeding-he...gs-and-snails/

[Penellype]

Penellype I agree with your final paragraph, as doing nothing makes gardening a waste of time, but do you think copper tape makes a difference, the reason I ask this is because I have a nest of stacking pots three pots high planted with lettuce, rocket and chard, and copper tape applied around all three levels,, and yet my plants have been attacked by slugs and or snail's, it could be there were eggs in the compost, or the slugs climbed through the compost, but have you found the tape beneficial

I find the tape hugely beneficial, but not perfect. Here is an example, fairly typical of containers:



This is one of my saladgrow planters which I planted on 2nd July with 3 varieties of 5 lettuces. There is copper tape round the planter and usually this works ok although not perfectly. However I had failed to take into account the overhanging potato foliage on the right, which was touching the top of the planter. On 3rd July the seedlings nearest the front of the planter had been eaten or badly chewed. I protected the best 7 with plastic rings with copper round them (all I had at the time). The photo was taken on 4th July, by which time all traces of the unprotected lettuces had vanished.

I have been eating these lettuces recently - all but one of the protected ones survived to maturity. There is some slug damage, but the difference between copper rings and no copper rings is obvious.

The same planter on 1st September, on the far right of the photo:



You can see that both layers of the planter are protected by copper tape. The rings are still round the plant stems and have enabled the lettuces to grow big enough to withstand the few slugs that have got in.

29th August - leaves from all 3 varieties:



11 September - the heart from one of the Warpath (mini iceberg) plants on the left of the saladgrow:



25th September - leaves from the Salad Bowl plant in the centre row:

[rary]

Thanks for the photos Penellype, your veg look great, its a pity you dont stay closer I would let you work my garden, free of charge

And Nicos that was an interesting piece of information, it just shows how wrong we are at times, you haven't found a video giving visual information similar to 1Bees identification guide by any chance or the different control methods Also this year I have been using a garlic spray with good results, has anyone else tried this?

[rary]

I was on line hunting for ways to control slugs and snails, and was surprised at the number of times it was recommended to encourage hedgehogs into your garden for slug and snail control, yet from what Nicos has posted it shows it is a health hazard for hedgehogs to eat them, but still to come across mention of mice eating slugs and snails, which in my experience happens a lot oftener than hedgehogs, frogs or thrush doing it

[Kirk]

I seem to recal that hedgehogs will only eat slugs as a sort of last resort for food. Basically they do not like them but if kind of starving then they will contemplate them.

Never really found a "control" for slugs etc, lots of talk about options but nothing appears effective. In a way slug pellets are questionable as they operate by attracting slugs to them and then if eaten kill the slugs off. However if not eaten then you have "additional" slugs atracted to your garden and generally specifically to the area where your crops are.

Never seen any reference to an animal that eats slugs, and not aware of any bird that does either. Guess they are prolific as nothing considers them a food source, immaterial of the assorted tales that are passed around.

[rary]

Never seen any reference to an animal that eats slugs, and not aware of any bird that does either. Guess they are prolific as nothing considers them a food source, immaterial of the assorted tales that are passed around.

Kirk there are some garden magazines that tell you to encourage hedgehogs into you garden as they eat slugs and snail's but if you read Nicos's last post the internet connection states that it is a danger to hedgehogs to be eating them, the thrush eats snail's if you ever come across a stone with a number of empty snail shells close to it you will a thrush will be using the stone as an anvil to get the snail out, also if you ever come across a mouse run in a garden look around and you will find empty snail shells, as they eat them, and if you want a guaranteed control use slug nematodes, but be aware you need to reapply every five to six weeks