[KingEdward]

i've got the beer waiting but what containers do i use? ive been told butter /marg tubs as glass jars could break on the plot.anyone any pics? do i sink them ? grateful for any help.

[nwalch]

Any sort of container around 4 inch or more deep sunk into the ground will work. The slugs are attracted to the scent and then fall in and drown happy.

If you dont want to waste beer you can use a sugar and water mix. Never tried the later but beer traps do work (bit smelly to clean out afterwards though!).

[KingEdward]

many thanks for the info.

[lincspoacher]

Yea, they work, you just get gangs of drunken female slugs fighting amongst your turnips on a saturday night, and end up having to take them to A&E at 3 AM.

[daz]

cut the top off of a 2 liter pop bottle and then turn it upside down and insert it into the bottom part of the bottle and then put a dribble of beer inside just enough for them to get the scent then just lay it on its side in the garden they climb in but cant get out

[Bernard]

Slug traps are fine if catching some of the slugs is what you want to do. Unfortunately your plants still get eaten by the ones you don't catch.

[lincspoacher]

i toyed with the idea of a compressed air driven gun that you popped a slug in and it blew it 200 yards into the neighbors yard...........

[Bernard]

I heard or read somewhere that slugs ejected find their way back home. I am not convinced about this.

I am trying out the 'Slug Attack' granules but I am a little worried about regularly spreading aluminium sulphate on the soil. It is said to be relatively harmless but I can hardly believe that what will become a high concentration of aluminium in the soil will have no effect on plants, and where food crops are concerned there is the suggested link between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease.

[lincspoacher]

Umm there was a major disaster in 1988 at a place called Camelford when 20 tonnes of aluminum sulphate were dumped into the water supply. It made 20000 people extremely ill, and 20 years later, these people are  now suffering  brain disease, bone disease and anaemia as well as alzhimers.

Personally i wouldnt eat or drink anything thats been within a mile of high concentrations aluminium sulphate, because it accumulates - it can replace calcium in bones and interferes with the functioning of sodium ions in the body. It has also been shown aluminium sulphate cause plaques in human brains. You might as well suck a mercury lollipop!!

[Bernard]

Well, I have done some research into the properties of aluminium sulphate and as you might espect, the result is ambiguous. Here are some extracts and they do make interesting reading -

E520 : Aluminium sulphate

Function & Characteristics:
Aluminium sulphate is used to precipitate protein, for example during the beer brewing process. It also strengthens the

structure of vegetables during processing.

Products:
Beer, pickled vegetables, proteins (deodorant, as anti-bacterial agent)

Acceptable daily intake (ADI) :
None determined

Side effects:
Aluminium inhibits the uptake of B-vitamins. It may also influence liver function in high concentrations. However with use

of E520 the concentrations are too low.

Dietary restrictions:
None. E520 can be used by all religious groups, vegetarians and vegans.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Aluminium Sulphate
 
Product Description
Hydrangea colourant.The main use is to acidify and also provide aluminium which is essential to flowers coloured blue,notably hydrangeas.Rate of use:4 oz per sq.yd (136g per sq.m).

Soil Conditioner and Hydrangea Colourant
_____________________________________________________________________________________
In 1998 over 12 000 people were exposed to highly acidic water when 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate were inadvertently emptied into a water supply at the Lowermoor treatment works in north Cornwall. Owen and colleagues (p 1189) have found this population to have a significantly lower death rate than the population of Cornwall, England, and Wales.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
http://www.hints-n-tips.com/aluminum.htm   (a long article, but this might be a crank item )

Aluminum (European spelling Aluminium) is harmful to all life forms.  It damages all types of tissue. "Aluminum is a protoplasmic poison and a pernicious and persistent neurotoxin". No living systems use aluminium as part of a biochemical process. It has a tendency to accumulate in the brain and bones.
...
The principal symptom of aluminum poisoning is the loss of intellectual function; forgetfulness, inability to concentrate, and in extreme cases, full blown dementia. It is also known to cause bone softening and bone mass loss, kidney and other soft tissue damage, in large doses it can cause cardiac arrest.
...
The following additives contain aluminium compounds: E173, E520, E521, E523 E541, E545, E554, E555 E556, E559.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
 (as slug poison...
1)
Aluminium sulphate has until recently been considered almost 'organic', and as such has been widely used. It too is effective only against very small slugs particularly field slugs, which are more susceptible than other species to contact poisons. Again, treatment should be confined to times when slugs are most active, and repeated use is often necessary. Aluminium sulphate has received a bad press since large quantities of this chemical were accidentally released into the water supply in Cornwall, causing health problems for many people. There is no evidence that the small amounts possibly absorbed by plants in treated areas of your garden would ever produce similar effects. However, there is a question mark over the connection between aluminium and Alzheimer's disease, or senile dementia. The risks can be minimised by keeping the spray off the foliage. With seedlings this is vitally important as they can be killed by direct spraying.

2)
  The active ingredient Aluminium Sulphate is a granular inorganic salt and is the least toxic of the chemical controls available.

3)
As aluminium sulphate can build up in the soil, its use is best limited to when slugs are definitely active rather than when numbers are low

[Bernard]

By the way, the ant-acid Gaviscon is aluminium hydroxide. I used to take it regularly. Since it dissolves completely in the digestive acid, it is probably the highest concentration of aluminium which could possibly be ingested. I am not aware of it doing any harm (but perhaps I am too befuddled to notice?)

[shaun]

no

[shaun]

no

[shaun]

no

[shaun]

no