[Carey boy]

Hi, Can any one tell me how to KILL slugs please.

David

[Fleecewife]

The only sure way is to pick them off the plants or wherever they're hiding, place them on a stone or slab and squidge them to obliteration. You can collect them in the dark by torchlight or just kill them whenever you find them. Some people put them in a jar of salty water to die, but I prefer the immediate satisfaction of the squidge.

A dry climate helps - we are in a very wet area  and we suffer particularly from a plague of snails. Snails though are easy to fling more than the necessary 18 metres to prevent them coming home.

 If you use chemicals then slug pellets are fairly effective as long as you reapply regularly.  I don't use chemical type pellets as they are so damaging to other wildlife.  There is an organic version of the slug pellet which breaks down to a harmless iron product.  I use this with good effect, but we have a huge queue of slugs and snails waiting in the wings to take over when that lot are dead. When I have used the organic pellets in my polytunnel, they tend to disappear on the first night - the pellets that is.  We eventually found that the mice or voles were diligently collecting them up at night and using them to line their nests - very pretty décor, but not much use to me to kill slugs.

There are of course lots of deterrents but it sounds as if, like me, you just want to get the devils.

[Ina]

There is an organic version of the slug pellet which breaks down to a harmless iron product.  I use this with good effect

So do I. But you do have to keep re-applying. Of course, I also pick off slugs and snails whenever I see them - but they seem to be half dead by now; would probably disappear after a while anyway.

[Mammyshaz]

I used the old tin can and drop of beer under a slate in my cabbage row. Still chucked what I saw on plants or travelling ( the hens enjoyed them  )  but the beer cans got a fair supply too. Just left them in to rot down a bit then chucked them on the compost 

[Carey boy]

Fleecewife, Ina and Mammshaz. Thank you all, I will give then all a go. Fleecewife 10 out of 10 for reply.

Many thanks

David

[Fleecewife]

Just had a confession from Mr Fleecewife.  Went a bit like this:

Mr F: "There was a poor slug caught halfway across the path and starting to dry out..."
Me: "So what did you do with it?"
Mr F: "well I helped it across to the other side of course"
Me : 

 

[bloomer]

Dear Mrs Fleecewife.


Whilst i appreciate you care about Mr Fleecewife greatly and he's been a bit under the weather lately, the reported behaviour above is clearly grounds for having him assessed for insanity...


Hope all goes well in your continued efforts to crush every one of the slippery evil buggers you find!


Keep up the good fight.


Bloomer


P.S. I collect them up and feed them to my chickens who love them so much they play chook rugby with them!!!

[Fleecewife]

Definitely    I'll tell him, and hope he likes the straight jacket 


Our hens, fussy lot, won't eat slugs, not for anything (nor cabbage white caterpillars).  Even the Muscovies we used to have wouldn't manage more than a couple at a time.  We had lots of frogspawn this spring so hopefully there will be loads of frogs, and toads, to mop up the horrible slugs.

[cloddopper]

Last night I put the second of this years instalment of Nemasys nematode slug control on the gardens with a low pressure pump up sprayer kept specially for that purpose .

 Since I started using it after talking to Dan about it three years ago the number of slugs in the beds are dramatically reduced .
There are very very few black slugs now , prior to the use of the nematodes they were every where and ate the vast majority of crops in spite of me doing regular pellet runs around the gardens and also using slug killing sprays .

 Even the fawn coloured slugs are getting a good natural hammering .
 
This year I also sprayed some nematodes in the tops of the compost making " Dalek" bins  as I noticed several of these slugs hiding in the lips of the lids  .

 The tubs &  heated misting bed  in the glasshouse have also been nematode treated this year, for last year a couple of slugs ate all my sweet capsicums right back to the ground and had a good session with lots of the early brassica in seed pots & trays over a three day period whilst we were away . .