Slugs slugs everywhere!!

[w33blegurl]

OK...having just had slugs decimate my allotment overnight (seriously lost most of my squashes - and they were good sized plants, not small!! salad all gone and dahlias now a stubby mess) I need to work a bit harder to control the population! I've put down the "organic" pellets (to be fair I had pelleted before but clearly not enough!!) but clerly need more. Given the big area (2 allotment plots) I'm not convinced that nematodes are the most sensible route but more than happy to be told otherwise. I'm also going to put in some slug-pubs, but would welcome some tip - is it easier to buy or make you own..is there a preferred beer?

I'm sure I have a bag of those wool pellet hiding in my shed somewhere as well so will try to dog those out in an attempt to save some of the remaining plants....anything else? I could go round picking them up as well but there are so many of them I'm not sure how to dispose of them - no chickens near by!

[Billy's lad]

I keep a daily watch as they had some marigolds down to stalks overnight despite a liberal dose of slug pellets
I am ordering some nematodes today as well as keep on with the pellets

I have a bag of road salt left over from winter so I put some in a small pot and drop any I pick up in there some mornings I pick up to 20 I tried beer traps last year with bitter not lager and didnt find them too effective

[chillithyme]

apparently egg shells and coffee grounds(free from coffee shops) around plants work. Although I'm not too keen on using the egg shells as I find them dug up and buried eggs at home in the garden all the time, so may be an attraction and you end up having your plants dug up too.
I'm going to try to put bark chip around my plants at the allotment as an experiment, in the thought that it makes it more bumpy for the snails and slugs to travel over

[Scarlet]

Chickens rarely eat slugs...and they give them worms.
The best and quickest method is get a bucket and collect them during the evening especially if you can see loads around.
If you don’t want to dispose of them, take them to a field or country lane, hedgerow near a road?

[veggiechicken]

Sounds daft, I know, but I've learnt to accept slugs, snails and other garden "pests" as part of the gardening experience. I don't use pellets or nematodes or anything else to deter them.

[self-contained]

I have been reading about forest gardening lately and like VC, they just let them get on with it. However, having lots of organic matter on the ground (e.g. from cutting and dropping when pruning or weeding) gives the slugs something to eat down there (rather than the plants you want them to stay away from) and also creates a good environment from beetles that will keep the slug population down. When I have a garden of my own and can break out of my containers, I think that's the way I'm going to go (pulling in things from the forest gardening and permaculture movements). For now, I'm hitting the slugs with a combination of nematodes, copper tape (along with a few sacrificial plants that don't have any tape) and a bit of picking. So far, it's working better than last year when the slugs took great pleasure in nibbling everything.

[Greenleaves]

I lay down pieces of 6x1 timber, lift each day and remove the slugs, it doesn't eradicate them but better than hundreds of little blue pellets everywhere.

[mothhawk]

...I'm going to try to put bark chip around my plants at the allotment as an experiment, in the thought that it makes it more bumpy for the snails and slugs to travel over

Bark chippings work if it's a nice thick layer because ground beetles and centipedes will make their home there, and both eat slugs.

Encourage frogs and toads by making a little pond, make a toad house https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/spe...toad-house.htm
and create a few shady moist spots for them in the heat of the day. They'll work all night for you.

Nematodes are very effective, but that's a bit of a vicious circle - you have to keep on with them every six weeks, the reason being the slug population is so reduced that all the regular predators will depart for better feeding grounds, and a new plague of slugs moves in.

[w33blegurl]

Thanks all, I think it will need to be a multi-pronged approach so have bought a few slug traps and will make a few more. I'll probably try the nematodes just to get the population down a bit and will try all the other trapping methods as we have lots of bits of wood I could leave down there to shelter them (and will need to man up and dispatch!).

I do much prefer to live and let live but they are brutal this year so I don't think it's going to be possible. We also have loads of slow worms on the plot and have two tiny ponds, one of which has a frog resident, and a wildlife area so I'm trying to attract predators they are clearly just not eating enough though This is why I'd also prefer not to pellet if at all possible as I believe even the organic ones are a risk.

Right off to sow some more squashes and salad then....

[mrsbusy]

w33blegurl you have my sympathy - there are a lot of slugs and snails about just now. Last week we had rain on 2 days and I went out early each morning and picked up a good bagful - I wear a disposable glove and use a compostable bag - I did try paper bags but they started to disintegrate. Then I put the bag in the landfill bin. The same this week. I think the rain has spurred the slugs on to speed date as there are so many oozing eggs - they are easy to pick up and I like to avoid slug pellets etc. My hens won't touch them - you need ducks to deal with them! I do think they have a place eating up decomposing leaves but I have a good strawberry crop and hosta collection so I don't trust them!

[Squingy]

To add to the above - barrier- shoving milk cartons cut out at the bottom over plants and for smaller plants plastic soda bottles cut like a dome. I also used the colourless plastic fruit containers and clear plastic yoghurt/cup noodle cups buried in the clay over the little plants.

The naysayers lectured my plants needed to breath too, but that was the ONLY way I managed to get any turnips, greens etc.

May be too late now but if you manage to clear an area a bit - an old gauze curtain or mesh buried around the plants - but edges must be buried or weighted flat. Still need to pick off here and there but not as bad.

Finally a plot neighbour rigged up a mini 'electric fence' around bed, with a battery in a waterproof container and 2 layers of wire. Slugs that made it past first layer hightailed it out @ second.

Then, last case scenario - choose what to protect. My potatoes were heavily decimated but survived the onslaught with hand picking and ferment traps.. I'll look for some photos.

Good luck.

[Squingy]

Last year June

Had already picked off a few before photo was taken. I managed to catch early, pick off and the plants went on to produce. Some slug damage on crop but not devastating.

Good luck

Oh forgot nematodes work but not if it gets too hot or sunny and soil dries up. Very nice to see their effect slugs getting well, sluggish, losing turgidity and actually falling of the plant.

[Stan79]

Hand picking at night with a torch and a mixture of nasty blue slug bait and beer in traps are working well for me at the moment. The beer and slug bait both get the same treatment - into separate yoghurt pots or bottoms of cut-in-half bottles with a piece of wood at an angle over the top of it to keep out the rain... 0.5-1cm sticking out of the ground and leave them to do their thing. The nasty chemicals from the bait don't go into the ground and the beer gives me an excuse for having beer on the plot. Check them every couple of days and throw the contents away when it gets full.