[Trebor]

Just reading the posts about organic/ non-organic and it seems enemy number one is slugs.

I am in my first year and have seen slugs on the broad beans and even garlic already. I so far have been organic (pretty easy when you haven’t done anything but clear the ground and stick a few seeds/ sets in) and intend to stay this way. Not keen on slug pellets. I can see it is easy to find the slugs wandering about on a wet day and pick them off. I also know that they hide under the carpet at the back of the allotment – which will soon be going. I have a theory that most of the slugs are hiding/ laying eggs or whatever else they do in my grass paths and so I will never get rid of them by the wet day foraging alone. So my plan is to try putting a few bits of the carpet out around the allotment, maybe even bait the carpet by some particularly tasty morsel underneath and then periodically go around lifting the carpet to squish them. My real questions are has anybody tried this, does it work and what would you say is the best slug bait? (I will not accept slug pellets as being the best!)
 
Long term I want to go the pond and frog route, but that isn’t going to happen this year.

[peterjf]

about 2 inches of budget bitter in a jam jar ,

sink the jar into the soil

leave raised above the soil adout 1/2 an inch,

what a way to go , hic hic ,

[pushrod]

Robert, why not just put the slug pellets under the carpets so there is no chance of hedgehogs or birds eating the poisoned slugs . (mind it's very uncertain if either actually eat poisoned slugs)

[Jay Dubya]

hi, i've tried those organic pellets and the're useless.

[Faz]

Beer traps, tiles/carpet, hand picking and the one thing that hasn't been mentioned so far is sacrificial plants grown close to your crops.

I have used the first three with reasonable success, though never tried the companion planting approach.

[titch]

bran in a loo roll tube or maybe some plastic drainpipe to keep it dry works apparently.... i have not used it but have heard it mentioned here a lot in past times..... ok so they die, but at least they go with full tummies and not full of your veggies

i understand the food chain and all but apart from eating our crops what else do these slimy critters consume??

[pushrod]

i understand the food chain and all but apart from eating our crops what else do these slimy critters consume??

Just our veg! If we all give up growing veg for a couple of years they will all starve to death and become extinct 

[Stripey_cat]

i understand the food chain and all but apart from eating our crops what else do these slimy critters consume??

Mostly half-rotting leaves and suchlike.  Or was the question rhetorical?  I'm not sure that a wild environment could support the same population density as a vegetable plot, though.

[Ice]

I'm going to try Nemaslug this year as my potatoes were wiped out by slug damage last year.  Throwing slug pellets on the soil will kill some but I think the worst offenders are Keel slugs that live under the soil.

I do use slug pellets, but I make sure that my beds are netted off so the hedgehogs can't eat them once poisoned.

[rink123]

Well I just wait for a wet night ,then i go out with the torch and give them some salt to eat,but keep it off your vage .

[titch]

i understand the food chain and all but apart from eating our crops what else do these slimy critters consume??

Mostly half-rotting leaves and suchlike.  Or was the question rhetorical?  I'm not sure that a wild environment could support the same population density as a vegetable plot, though.

not rhetorical, i know they eat the half dead stuff, so of course thye have their purpose, like everything, but if we all left some half dead stuff around and our newly sprouted veggies i wonder which they would choose (that question is rhetorical) 

[jennyb]

i think it was on Jimmy's darwin garden where they said slugs like porridge! :blink:

anyone know any more on that?

[Kagganz]

Slug  beer traps, 2 for £1.00 from Poundland, you just pop the  green plastic tub into the soil, fill with beer,  leave for a few days. (It has a roof type lid on) you will have seen them advertised but I thought these were really cheap.

 We got approx 30 slugs in each of them out of our front garden in about 5-7 days. 

None in the back garden traps yet, but that has been gravelled so perhaps thats a lot to do with it.

xx

[pushrod]

i think it was on Jimmy's darwin garden where they said slugs like porridge! :blink:

anyone know any more on that?

As titch mentioned above bran (oats?) is supposed to give them terminal bellyache.

[jennyb]

sorry missed that one.

i'm sure Jimmy actually made up the porridge.

found a few references....

http://www.yuckyslugsandsnails.co.uk/organics.htm

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/slugs.html

http://www.rolawn.co.uk/blog/?p=11

they all seem to be suggesting just the oats.  which makes sense as if its cooked porridge then the oats will have already expanded by soaking up the liquid.  just have to hope they prefer oats to plants!