[Kagganz]

Just filling some more pots, and the thought just struck me.

My garden is all pea gravel.   I had loads of slugs last year and haven't yet done anything to deter them this year. 

Could they (or any other little blighters) get through the holes and live in the soil of my pots and munch my potatoes?

I'm thinking about using the nemetodes (are these harmful to frogs)?

Thanks Karen x

[jb]

Nematodes aren't harmful to frogs but if you have a pond be careful as they could kill pond snails. I found them really good for knocking back rampant populations but you can't use them till the soil is above a certain temperature so you might not have any seed spuds by the time you can apply them.
Couldn't help you on the holes in pots-I can't see why they couldn't  get in that way but if that was the case then these copper bands you put round pots wouldn't work.

[Val H]

Are your pots on concrete or on gravel with earth underneath? If they are on concrete, it's more difficult for the slugs to get in through the hole in the bottom (but still not impossible, I'm afraid). Sprinkling the top of the pot very thinly with Growing Success slug pellets (which are based on ferramol and are safe for frogs etc) should cut your problem down.

[woodburner]

If you haven't actually had problems with the slugs, I wouldn't worry too much about them.
"If it aint broke don't fix it."
Some slugs actually eat other slugs, and predator populations take longer to recover than prey populations. Other things eat slugs too, hedgehogs and toads in particular. Is there anything you could do to encourage them?
Khaki Cambell ducks are notorious for their voracious appetite for slugs, but I'm not sure that it would be advisable to let them onto your veg patch.  

Another method I have used in the past to protect hostas, is to make a 'moat' around the pot by standing in water. Plants which dont like their roots wet can be stood on bricks in gravel trays filled with water. Obviously this is not practical for wholesale growing though.

If slugs/snails really are a nuisance, and you really want to blitz them, I'd still not use pellets, whatever the manufacturers say. At least nematodes can't be toxic.

[Kagganz]

Thanks everyone xx,

[GrannieAnnie]

I usually put a bit of weed control fabric in teeh bottom of the pot first to stop the slug getting through the hole, then a few stones on top to help hold it down and help drainage, then the soil.  Should stop the little s**s.  I've never had a slug in a pot unless it went over the top!

[Sadgit]

I've never had a slug in a pot unless it went over the top!

This made me laugh as I had the image of 10 slugs re-enacting the last seconds of the last ever Black Adder

[woodburner]

I usually put a bit of weed control fabric in teeh bottom of the pot first to stop the slug getting through the hole, then a few stones on top to help hold it down and help drainage, then the soil.  Should stop the little s**s.  I've never had a slug in a pot unless it went over the top!

That reminds me of my Mum's recycling tip. Put used teabags over the holes!