[Wild Willow]

I've had slugs in my compost bin over the winter and have tried several times to find out whether they are helpful or really bad news.  I've gotten advice on both sides; some say good, some say bad. Does anyone have any advice/experience with this?

Thanks!

Char 

[snowdrops]

they will eat the waste which is not bad in itself,it's if there are eggs & then you spread them on the plot,they then hatch out & you have more of the blighters. having said that I tend to leave them to it,unless I'm collecting others to feed to the chickens-not mine, I feel a bit guilty as sometimes when I thow them in I see the hens not eating them,oops it's on someone else's plot.

[fatbelly]

I don't know enough about the pros & cons, but I have read that they are good in the compost bin. As regards them laying eggs in the compost would the eggs survive the heat of the bin? My bin is in full sun & gets very hot when the suns out.

[solway cropper]

I believe Bob Flowerdew collects his slugs and puts them in the compost bins where they do what they're good at...breaking down organic matter. We might not like the little bu***rs but they are part of the natural cycle.

[Wild Willow]

Thanks guys!

It sounds like it's not a disaster to have them in the bin so I'll hope there are not a hundred little slug babies crawling in my garden as we speak!  I have to say though that I've not seen much slug damage this year which seems odd since we had all that rain last year and it's not been overly dry lately but I'm not complaining! 

Char

[compostqueen]

I opened my bin yesterday and there were loads of those huge fat brown slugs all over the inside and sides of the lid. I gave them some veg scraps and put the lid back on, quick    It might be because of heavy rain that there seems so many.  In a dry spell you won't notice them so much.  I've never noticed slugs in my  finished compost as it's fairly dry, so by then they hopefully will have slithered off the pastures new