Slugtastic

[bananagirl]

So, I'm one of those naughty people who uses slug pellets-the blue kind. I gave in after 2 years of waging war with the slugs and snails over my tomatoes, and losing. They work, but I know they're not particularly friendly for everything else, so I'm looking for suggestions. Something natural, but easy to use as I'm fairly hopeless when it comes to gardening. Pleeeese help. ; :)

[bananagirl]

[tim]

If you put them in a container that the slugs cannot easily exit after feeding, & thereby, apparently, endanger animals/birds foolish enough to eat them, & if you put a mesh or solid roof over to keep nice things out, & if you use only the recommended amount, I feel that you're doing your best.

[Mubgrub]

My beer traps were a bit hit and miss, kinda worked for the strawbs but it was a brassica massacre!

[chuff]

Bought a book the other day called 50 ways to kill a slug, lots of useful tips and a bit of a giggle a long the way ;D

[bananagirl]

You couldn't tell me where you got it?? Sounds ideal :D

[Belinda]

I've seen the '50 ways to kill a slug' book in Ottakers recently, it's about 3 or 3.5 inches square and bright green. Sorry - I can't remember how much it was though  ???

[paddyx]

I resort to wandering around the 'lotment with a big knife and chop any slugs I see; I figure if I want 'em dead, I should do the deed myself, and I don't like the idea (or cost!) of pellets. I've found slugs and snails hiding in damp shady places (and even in our watering can), so you can remove their habitat a bit.
I think shady damp allotments have more trouble. Oh, and frogs - we've got some living in puddles on our black plastic; I think they eat slugs?
Good luck - p

[kentishchloe]

the little tiny baby frogs that appeared in my garden a couple of months ago are now turning into rather large, fat frogs! Seems they find dahlia-and-courgette-fed-slugs a bit of a delicacy! Although they'd have to eat several hundred times their body mass to rid me of the problem.
I hear up-turned grapefruit halves are a good way to catch them, and i have a nasty streak that sprinkles the b****rs with salt so they dry up.....

[supersprout]

A friend of mine who had an allotment in Leeds used beer traps, grapefruit skins and a sharp pair of scissors.
His theory was that the slugs got drunk then party all night under the grapefruit. When they were all partied out he would go out early in the morning on the way to work and snip them in half :P

[kentishchloe]

Now that's a hangover!

[chuff]

You couldn't tell me where you got it?? Sounds ideal :D

I got it from waterstones book store. if not try amazon

[bananagirl]

Groovy. I'll keep an eye out.

[GREENWIZARD]

it's a hoot ;D ;D

[bupster]

This is a nice piece. Doesn't tell us anything much we didn't already know, I suppose, but gathers it all together quite neatly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pest_control_of_slugs

[John_H]

At the moment I'm covering the paths between the raised bed with carpet and putting the slugs favourite foods underneath. Every few days I fold back the path material and kill the slugs with a small pair of kitchen sissors kept in the allotment hut just for this purpose.

[Columbus]

Hi all, using a multi-pronged approach ...

I have success with beer traps as at least something is helping when I `m not on the plot. I also make toad houses with partially buried sideways plant pots so I have loads of frogs and toads that work for me. I also leave decoy habitats for slugs that I lift and I use a sharp knife to dispose of the occupants. I`m not comfortable at all with pellets and rarely use them.
This year I`m relocating my bean fence as the slugs destroyed my baby plants last year and using the slug heaven space for a new compost heap...does this mean that my compost will be full of slug eggs?
An interesting thing I noticed last year is that if i put an upturned pot stuffed with fleece amoungst my dahlias to trap earwigs I catch more snails.

Col

[boris]

I seem to remember last year someone posting that spent coffee grounds detered our sluggy friends. Anyone tried them? Do they work? Back to the pointy stick I suspect.

[moonbells]

I seem to remember last year someone posting that spent coffee grounds detered our sluggy friends. Anyone tried them? Do they work? Back to the pointy stick I suspect.

Working on this. Got hubby to tip all his spent coffee into my half barrel to stop slugs demolishing the summer plants. Some got through while the layer was fairly thin but after a while the cosmos stopped looking nibbled. Not sure if it was because they were uninteresting to the snails!

However, said tub is a repository for a *lot* of narcissus bulbs, and the flowers are prone to getting eaten by the local snail and slug populace.  So we shall see in a month or two!

moonbells

[boris]

Thanks Moonbells,

glad to know someone else is trying this method. I've collected a carrier bag full over the last few months (I do like my coffee) and am wondering where to deploy my forces. 
Probably pointy stick when I see them and coffee grounds as a thickish mulch around my lettuce.  Dig it in?

hmmm, we'll see. Let you all know

[Shirley]

I go round the garden (it is fairly small!) and collect up any visible slugs and snails and put them in a plastic bag which contains the blue slug pellets.