Chilli's and slugs.

This is the third year that I have tried to grow Chilli's only for them to be eaten by slugs..

Its so annoying.

I think I've given up and am going to buy established plants only.

Or steralise earth in the oven and only grow them on the windowsill at home.

Does anyone else have this problem?

... slugs (and snails) only kill off plants when at the seedling stage so, as with anything they are partial to get them well established before you plant out. I would also grow them under glass if possible as you should get a better crop .

I agree, I use slug pellets. Its the only way if you don't have under glass facilities, but snails can also get in there if you're not looking.  Watch out particularly if you are taking stuff in and out of the gh/poly for hardening off that a creature has not latched on to the tray/pot somewhere just waiting to be taken in to the gh overnight to have a good feed!
Oliver

It's so frustrating! I had the same problem - nurturing chillis for months from seed, then chomp chomp chomp - all gone overnight 

I've found the secret though - bottle cloches. Put a stake in the ground/pot next to your chilli plant, cut the bottom off a large plastic coke bottle and thread the neck through the stake over the plant (this stops it blowing away). You can then wedge the bottom of the bottle into the soil to create a mini-greenhouse/ impenetrable slug barrier. By the time your plants reach the sides of the bottle, they should be tough enough to withstand the worst of the slugs on their own, although I tend to cut the bottle down further (cutting the top off) into a plastic 'cuff' about 2-3 inches high (still wedged into the soil) with the plant growing through it which acts as a further slug-deterrent as slugs don't like to slither over the sharp edges. If you wanted to be extra extra sure, you could put a bit of copper tape around the bottom of the cloche-cum-cuff to give determined slugs an electric shock. Ha!

Good luck!

It's a shame you don't live closer as I have a fair few spare plants you could have

¥