Author Topic: Some ideas on how to deal with slugs. (Read 15147 times)

chrismahon · « **Reply #15 on:** July 13, 2015, 05:24:19 am »

I was told years ago that sooty soil deters slugs. Our garden in England had been spread with chimney soot for many years by previous owners and we didn't have any slugs at all. The downside is that your hands get filthy when weeding.

Over here the slugs are huge. We were losing a lot of chicken feed to slugs at night -hanging up feeders didn't work because the slugs climbed up to them. I had to resort to catching and killing them early morning. Killed about 200 last year and this year I have only found 3.

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #16 on:** July 13, 2015, 09:09:12 am »

I found this page very interesting on the subject

http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm

Carse Goodlifers · « **Reply #17 on:** July 13, 2015, 10:22:45 am »

Quote from: pgkevet on July 11, 2015, 08:35:44 pm

......I use slug bait and have no qualms about it......

I don't either although I only use them in certain places.
Just to clarify for those who wish to use bait, a lot of the agricultural and horticultural baits are now ferric phosphate based which is completely natural and safe.
They can also be organic approved.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #18 on:** July 13, 2015, 10:38:56 am »

I sometimes use the organically approved slug pellets, but they disappear by the morning after I've spread them. Turns out they are ideal mouse bedding, and we have found several nests beautifully lined with blue

Doesn't seem to do the mice much good - there have been a couple of very sick mice huddled up on the ground, then dying. Could be connected.

Mostly I have given up fighting the slugs outdoors. They eat holes in the veg, and occasionally completely demolish something like cabbages, but the effort of trying to eradicate them is more than the worth of what they eat. It's too cold, and our veg patch too big to use the nematodes. We get plenty of food from our veg patch, so laissez faire I say.
Inside the polytunnel, we only water the area of the root run of the crops. This leaves areas of dry soil which the slugs don't cross. I sometimes find slugs crawling up the inside of the polythene when it's wet, and those I pick off and squash.

In the flower garden, the problem is snails, thousands of them, which graze contentedly on my alpines, and munch their way through everything else. They crawl up my front door, make walking on the paths a hazard (for them - they get crunched underfoot by mistake), and occasionally they fall in the pond and drown. I often chuck them over the wall into the field, but they're always back (same ones) within a couple of nights.

We do have loads of frogs and toads, so they must help a bit......

Cosmore · « **Reply #19 on:** July 13, 2015, 11:31:06 am »

I gave up with slug pellets years ago - my aim wasn't any good and I couldn't hit the beggars....! Seriously, the best control I've found is definitely ducks - they just cant get enough of them, the ducks 'root' around in the vegetation and under stones etc.,, I don't see many slugs these days, and there are no poisons to worry about. Years ago, for small areas such as borders, we used to put a 2 inch line of chimney soot around the border which worked fine - providing you didn't mind the soot.

Lesley Silvester · « **Reply #20 on:** July 13, 2015, 11:37:24 pm »

Quote from: waterbuffalofarmer on July 13, 2015, 09:09:12 am

I found this page very interesting on the subject
http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm

I've tried most of these over the years but does anyone know where I can get a possum?

I do see that the ones I squash or decapitate aren't still there the next day so I assume the birds or frogs are taking them. I do have to be careful not to leave any on the dogs' part of the garden as at least one of ours was eating the corpses and it made him sick.

devonlady · « **Reply #21 on:** July 14, 2015, 06:58:53 am »

Quote from: pgkevet on July 11, 2015, 08:35:44 pm

All those ideas sound wonderful but are impractical for a 1/4 acre plot on cost or in my case that the plot is within a section of meadow so surrounded by just a barrier i keep mowed short. I use slug bait and have no qualms about it.
the grrenhouses on the other hand are designed so slug entry is almost impossible.

the copper idea is old and very nive... but again cost is a facor unless you just want to keep them off a special plant or two. I;ve got three ponds all with frogs and there's plenty toads about...but it'd take many times that number to clear this acreage.

The majority of hedgehog deaths is caused by the use of slug pellets

Quirkygirl · « **Reply #22 on:** July 14, 2015, 08:27:30 am »

Been out this morning to water everything and slug army have invaded and my French beans have been almost wiped out grrrrrrrr. They were my pride and joy this year along with my white grapes..

Lesley Silvester · « **Reply #23 on:** July 15, 2015, 02:20:45 am »

Oh, Quirkygirl, poor you. Been there and it's heartbreaking, I know.

Marches Farmer · « **Reply #24 on:** July 15, 2015, 02:21:11 pm »

If it's warmish and dampish when I do the night check at lambing time I go aong the vegetable garden paths and squish the slugs. I have a family of hedghogs and many Great Crested Newts who do a very efficient job over the summer so my slug numbers are right down. I would never use slug pellets in case of harming the workforce.

Penninehillbilly · « **Reply #25 on:** July 15, 2015, 06:19:59 pm »

Sorry to hear about your beans QG, sad and maddening I know. I try and do a lot of slug control in spring, get the breeding population before they ge started ( and if they are in the process of just getting started at least they die happy).
If you get a bit of damage one night, get out there the next night as they will folow their previous nights trail back to the same plant, others seem to join the trek.
As slug pellets attract slugs IN to the garden, I resist as much as possible, have used them in greenhouse a couple of times when I couldn't catch the blighters.
On GQT there was once a question from somebody who used slug pellets, yet she still had problems while her neighbour, who didn't use them didn't have a problem, the panel suggested she was enticing her neighbours slugs into her own garden.
Thing is, slug pellets are so cruel, I hate slugs as much as anyone, but they are living creatures, just surviving the only way they know how.
But imagine eating poison and laying there all night dying, then to be tortured in the heat of the morning sun. If I have used them, I've gone out regularly to kill any that are about, and remove them before good beasties pick them up.
Thrushes are in decline, they were known for eating snails, could there be a connection?

Quirkygirl · « **Reply #26 on:** July 15, 2015, 09:35:47 pm »

I need a natural method as I have dogs and cats. Is doing a path of gravel around the veg beds ???any good?

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #27 on:** July 15, 2015, 10:02:24 pm »

Quote from: Quirkygirl on July 15, 2015, 09:35:47 pm

I need a natural method as I have dogs and cats. Is doing a path of gravel around the veg beds ???any good?

Would be very good as they hate gravel, egg shells and fresh straw work well too.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #28 on:** July 15, 2015, 10:16:13 pm »

Mine trot merrily over all the barrier things I've heard of. I've not tried soot as we don't have any. Some things like wood ash are fine whilst it's dry, but that doesn't happen frequently here.
I think if you really want to get rid of them and can't use organically approved slug pellets, you just have to try everything all at the same time - picking, barriers, beer traps, copper, dry ground around plants, anything anyone's thought of.