Topic: over use of slug pellets

[laurieuk]

Can we wonder that sprays etc. get taken off the market when things like this take place. Slug pellets are meant to be lightly scattered not thrown down in piles. I took this photo on the next plot to mine.

[gp.girl]

In march one of my neighbours did that over all his brassicas. Of course, it didn't stop the pigeons  ;D ;D ;D

It's taken me 3 years to get close to the bottom of my 1st lot of pellets.

[manicscousers]

One of the 'old timers' on our plot makes a heaped ring around each cabbage plant with slug pellets, must cost him more than the price of a cabbage to buy them

[macmac]

One of the 'old timers' on our plot makes a heaped ring around each cabbage plant with slug pellets, must cost him more than the price of a cabbage to buy them

Sadly I've seen a couple of plotholders do the same,don't they read the instructions ? and  I agree about the cost.
My dad always used to call it slug "bait" so it must attract the little blighters as well as seeing em off !

[RSJK]

5 pellets to the sq ft is ample for the control of slugs

[goodlife]

The sooner they ban the b....y stuff the better.
I don't use it on my plot and don't need it  neither, sadly it is one of the best selling things in our shop.. ::)
And there is sooo many people who's soil looks like 'blue sea' with the stuff.. >:( ::)
What's the point using organic seeds for?

[RSJK]

I use it on my plots when and where needed and glad of it

[cambourne7]

At the moment i still have the same bottle i had on my allotment of slug pellets i think in 2 years i used about 1/3 a bottle so the rest is in the garden somewhere anything slimy gets thrown over the fence (onto a road not garden) for them to find there own way. Never understood why people threw them around like chicken pellets :(

[pigeonseed]

I agree, I get through less than a bottle a year. I only use the ones which don't kill frogs, pets etc (iron phosphate pellets). They help if things are getting out of hand, slug and snail-wise.

But I find weeding usually helps more - lush undergrowth round crops always seems to result in slugs and snails decimating plants.

I do hate those barren gardens, one or two pansies, lots of bare earth in between, speckled electric blue.

[darkbrowneggs]

I haven't used slug pellets for around 20 plus years now, since I read that birds can die after eating slugs which have eaten pellets.

I have to say I do loose a fair bit to slug damage, but it is just about bearable
I have used the nematodes in the past, but around 3 years ago I decided to see if I could let nature balance itself out, as it has done with a number of other pests in my garden.

I am nearly about to give in, especially on the asparagus beds, but I might give it one more season.

I decided on this course of action for environmental reasons, and when I first started veg gardening here I lost the first two years harvest of broad beans to blackfly - distressing,  >:(  but I have never needed to spray since as the natural predators have built up.  Though I doubt if this approach would work where next door neighbours are still heavy handed with "pest control"

The only thing I actively destroy are rats, as I have never forgiven them for eating a whole batch of ducklings overnight  :'(

all the best
Sue

[manicscousers]

I'm trying slug gone this year, I've used it on my carrot bed which usually gets decimated, seems to be working, fingers crossed. I've also surrounded the courgettes with it , another slug magnet. I'm only using it on plants that are in the ground for ages or its a waste  :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I use a few on my seedlings, having had pots grazed off before now, but that's all. I never use them on the open ground.

[Alimo]

I used slug - gone for the first time last year.  It works very well for me.

The only runner bean I lost to slugs was one whose leaf had dropped down beyond the slug gone barrier.

It's a soil improver too - so all in all worth the money I think  :)

Alison

[pigeonseed]

Slug gone sounds interesting. Woolly jumper for your plants!

Those organic slug pellets (iron phosphate) are meant to be harmless to all except slugs and snails. I'd heard that about birds eating slugs poisoned by traditional pellets as well, and I'd never used pellets before, for that reason.

I think seedlings benefit from it, once plants are bigger, they can often fend for themselves. Wish it stopped them eating my morning glory plants, but it doesn't seem to help there!  :'(

[manicscousers]

I find the 'organic' pellets get washed away in the first heavy rain, slug gone mats together as it gets wet, it's like a weed stopping mulch between the carrots, I'll try it around a morning glory,if they haven't already been munched.. just planted some out :)

[goodlife]

I do admit having some...but the bottle is several years old now and haven't got even near halfway mark.. ::)...but I never use them outside. Only time I use them when I've got slug or snail in GH amonst my bedding plants and I cannot find the bleeder.. >:(..then I leave few pellets around slime trail and next morning it is usually there to be seen and stompped on.. ;)..err..not stompped when on plants.. ::)
Outside I leave snails and slugs be if they don't harm my plants,,if they do..then I do some hunting work for a while..collect them in bucket and my girls get lovely protein treat.. ;D
OR....if neighbour next door has been particularly awful...I might give her a treat too.. :o :-X ;)...shhh...
I would never do that.. ::)

[antipodes]

Maybe it's the British weather but actually I almost never see slugs on my plot! A few birds sometimes (net the brassicas) But in fact I lose very little to that type of pest. I did see on Sunday that my little vole is back, I think I saw a few nibble in a couple of strawberries but to be honest, he doesn't do that much damage, especially if there is plenty to eat in the compost. Why expose himself outside when the scraps are there just waiting to be scoffed?

[manicscousers]

there we are  ;D

[Ben Acre]

Sadly some just don't read the instructions, I have tried to "Advise" my neighbour's but I normally they dont listen. There is nothing like walking around the plot or garden at dusk collecting land molluscs, I would also ask why using them?

allotments attract so much wildlife they should be able to eat the slugs n snails

[Obelixx]

It's certainly a waste to apply the pellets too heavily and not effective either.

I saw some advice from a hosta nurserywoman on GW once.  She said to scatter the wildlife friendly pellets thinly around vulnerable palnts on Feb 14th - cos it's an easy date to rmember - and that gets them as they emerge from winter hibernation and before they have a chance to breed.  Light applications every two weeks then deal with newly hatched slugs and any late risers.   She reckons that by mid to late April the hostas are big enough to fend for themselves.

I've done this for the last two years and it's worked a treat on clematis, hostas and hemerocallis which are all slug magnets plus baby veg.   I forgot to do the greenhouse this year which is a mistake I won't repeat next year.  The blighters chomped some seedlings!