Topic: Slug population up 50%

[caroline7758]

Just heard this on the news, though it won't come as any surprise to most of us!

[OllieC]

It's the snails for us this year - never seen so many! I wish it was only 50%!

[manicscousers]

It's certainly right here  ;D

[Poolcue]

Like Ollie I have noticed more snails.What I can't work out is that I have Slugs in my compost heap which is odd since i have put lots of coffee grounds which they are supposed to dislike in there.

[Gordonmull]

I think it's DOWN 75% here since I fell in love with metaldehyde!  ;D

[fitzsie]

Caught them talking about it on Radio 2 this morning and one listener reckon she leaves out porridge oats for her the slugs which they love to eat. However the oats don't like slugs and it ends up killing them !!! She swore by it !!  ???

[Hazelb]

I recently found out that garden snails are edible ( by us!) They just need to be kept off food for 24hrs, then they can be eaten...after cooking and coating with garlic butter.


...now I've found this out, I'm hoping the snail population will now diminish following the rule; Stuff you CAN eat always struggles to survive on an allotment.  ;D

[Eamon]

Thankfully, being a vegetarian, snails shall remain off my menu. They will continue flying over the wall, though, once caught. ;D

[Digeroo]

Slight  under estimate in my view.  Up 5000% at least.  Tired of sharing my strawberries.

[artichoke]

For the first time in my experience, they have been eating potato leaves. And have shattered beetroot leaves, and annihilated squash plants.

I do not really approve of slug pellets, but am merrily scattering them round this year.

[Chrispy]

The numbers on my plot are quite a bit lower this year, can't say why.

The other thing I have noticed, is when I pick up a snail, the shells are so thin that it is near impossible to pick them up without crushing the shells.
Anybody know why that may be?

[northener]

No but i've noticed the same. Never used slug pellets before in 7 years i've had allotment bu t i am this year.  Why
are they bad?

[Digeroo]

Why are they bad?

Wet wet wet?

[Kea]

I found snails have been eating my rhubarb. I agree with the observation that the shells are thin...great though makes them easy to crush.

[terrier]

With ref to porridge oats, I leave little piles of soft wheat bran around the plants. I've been using this method for a couple of years now and it does seem to help and the bran costs only a fraction  of the price of oats.
Last year I lost loads of  beetroot seedlings to what I thought was slugs but it turned out to be birds eating them.
Anyone notice how many more rabbits there are this year, I wonder if the effects of mixi is finally wearing off. Now rabbits like green stuff, don't they  ::)

[Robert_Brenchley]

They've completely destroyed my angelica, and even hammered the shallotts.

[artichoke]

Slug pellets are bad because birds eat the poisoned slugs and are poisoned themselves. We shouldn't do it, but what else can we do when our seedlings and even mature plants are totally destroyed?

I do try to cover the pellets with netting and fleece so that birds don't get at the dying slugs and snails.

[green lily]

I've invested in nemaslug this year and shall be putting some even in the poly which I thought was clean until the flood fell and I found the little dears racing up the sides of the poly.... Pity nematodes don't seem to work on snails.
Also its woodlice which seem to be getting into strawberries etc. :( otherwise I use the organic slug pellets which do a reasonable job and aren't poisonous.

[queenbee]

here in the Manchester area I never saw a snail until about 12 years ago, they were usually found near the coast or areas with a lot of calcium in the soil which is what they need to form there shells. We live on black soil due to coal mines etc. I have always found there shells are very flimsy. I know this might sound unbelievable  but one of my neighbours found some when she went on holiday to the seaside and thought they were cute so she bought a bucketful home and placed them round her pond. We have never looked back. Prior to that we never had a problem in our close. 

[Ninnyscrops.]

here in the Manchester area I never saw a snail until about 12 years ago, they were usually found near the coast or areas with a lot of calcium in the soil which is what they need to form there shells. We live on black soil due to coal mines etc. I have always found there shells are very flimsy. I know this might sound unbelievable  but one of my neighbours found some when she went on holiday to the seaside and thought they were cute so she bought a bucketful home and placed them round her pond. We have never looked back. Prior to that we never had a problem in our close.  

Many years ago (I'm talking about 25 years +) before I considered serious gardening - well I mean the garden was just there and hubby only had to mow the lawn and that was it. Ahem, digressing, our children brought back the snails from their classroom project in primary school for the summer holidays and let them loose as they thought our garden would be a lovely place for them to live!  ::) Never noticed a snail before that, but I suppose way back then I never looked for them.



A decendent of that line perhaps.

Top tip, if you have to handle slugs an snails, always take hold of them by their shells or sides, no slime on your fingers that way. There just has to be a market for that slime that takes an eon to get off your fingers, I may have mentioned it before  :)

Ninny