[mollyblob]

I've been using copper tape to protect my veg from slugs (it's all being grown in pots).  So far I've been really pleased... up until a couple of days ago- since then i keep discovering huge great beasties munching their way through my parsnips and carrots.  Survivor numbers are now down to about 3 carrots and a couple of parsnips (sob!)

I don't want to kill the slugs, I'd just prefer them to munch something other than my vegetables please!  What reliable organic methods are there?  someone told me about sprinkling coffee grounds on the soil, but I wonder if this would make the veg taste of coffee too?

[Yorkie]

I'm sure it won't make the veg taste of coffee 

[Elcie]

I'm sure the copper works, but it is only any good to stop slugs crossing it.  Any slugs that are already inside the ring and living in the soil won't be affected.  I use egg shells as prefer not to use pellets as I encourage wildlife and want the frogs to eat the slugs!  It is't a perfect method but it does for me and makes me feel better at least!

[mollyblob]

I really did think the copper worked, but there's no way these slugs could've been on top of the soil already- they were the orange-bellied variety, so very visible, and absolutely huuuge (stuffed full of my beautiful parsnips, grr!).  But living in the soil?  As in buried underneath?  Waiting to pounce?  wow, slugs suddenly become a lot more sinister.  Or maybe lancashire slugs have learned to jump...? 

[gowing238]

someone told me about sprinkling coffee grounds on the soil, but I wonder if this would make the veg taste of coffee too?

Your potatoes dont taste of manure when they are dug up do they!?   

[mollyblob]

Haha well actually they do have that delicious earthy taste! 

I'll get brewing some coffee then to try and thwart these slugs.  Anyone know if coffee actually works?

[Bolthardy]

 If you can get it, soot provides an effective barrier

[viettaclark]

Human hair works within limits too!
I've just been out and because it's damp I found a few beasties which I stamped on and put down organic killer to get some more.
I know it's not nice killing a creature but defensive tactics (yes...it's a war!) just mean they move on to something else!
And putting them over the fence into your nasty neighbour's garden doesn't work....the slugs/snails have a homing instinct...
(Wot, me, ossifer....?)

[PennyS]

I saw the thread title and thought for a minute that you were trying to defend slugs!  Had me worried!  Horrible things.

I've got a dreadful problem with them at home, and to be honest the thing that has worked best for me has been organic slug pellets.  I know they're not ideal but they work.

I have also been known to go outside on a damp evening with a big pot of salt... works very quickly!

[skywalker]

Love to be unpopular but "GET REAL". With slugs it is them or us (or just live with having sod all veg because the slugs get it all).  Slugs are slugs. Kill them with beer traps, or (Told you i would be unpopular) slug pellets around your growing area. Its all well and good being "organic" but not much good if you don't actually produce any veg!!

[penance]

If you can get it, soot provides an effective barrier

And also has a lot of rather suspect chemicals in it, reckon coffee would be much safer even if the slugs get a caffiene rush.

[Elcie]

Love to be unpopular but "GET REAL". With slugs it is them or us (or just live with having * all veg because the slugs get it all).  Slugs are slugs. Kill them with beer traps, or (Told you i would be unpopular) slug pellets around your growing area. Its all well and good being "organic" but not much good if you don't actually produce any veg!!

I feel that I am quite 'real' with my approach to my allotment thank you!  I don't make a special effort to be organic but I don't want to use slug pellets if I can help it.  As stated above I encourage frogs and toads with my pond and stacked logs etc.  I have no problems with killing slugs and have beer traps.  I also have a slug picker upper (a bit like a litter picker) which I use and drop the slugs in the beer.

Using these methods I have produced a more than acceptable amount of veg.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and methods, but I would prefer not to be told to 'get real' because my method is not your method.

[Zippy]

Young Skywalker - do you really think by finding and killing every slug you see while you are down on hte allotment will make the slightest dent in the Forces of the Dark Empire? With every slug and snail you kill, more will come to take their place young padawan.

The problem with beer traps and even slug pellets - even the organic ones - is they attract slugs. Slugs love beer and can home in on it from a long distance around. Yes they drown when they get there, but more will come so long as the brew is there; munching as they go.

Slug pellets are mostly slug food with a small amount of poison. When the poison leaches out in hte rain, you are left with an allotment sprinkled with yummy slug food, which might keep them off your veggies for a while but it attracts more than you had before.

I have no problems with dispatching slugs and snails, but I see no reason to kill them when I walk to my allotment along a country lane with fields and no gardens and it is just as easy to bag them and empty them in the horse field on my way back home, or just drop the open bag into the council wastebin or dog poo bin where they will help to decompose rubbish to their heart's content.

Killing slugs is no more efficient than picking them into a plastic bag so bother why doing it?  I find it morbidly fascinating that, because slugs have been the enemy of the gardener since gardening began, we use words like "it is war" and "hatred" - strong words for something so defenceless and only finding something to eat to survive, although the beast that ate through the main stem of a newly planted squash plant wasn't that popular - if it had eaten a leaf we could have both shared the plant!

I use various techniques to lessen the slug populations on my plot:

Invite their enemies - place a small pond on the site and allow the grass around it to grow a little long and introduce some wildflowers and a sheltered side made of stones and twigs and maybe a dustbin lid for frogs to hide under. This will soon bring in the slugs biggest predator and save you a lot of picking.

Give them lodgings - I place a slate half way over those plant pots you sink in the ground next to squashes and runner beans and suchlike and slugs and snails hide in the dark under the slate. You just visit the pots regularly and take away the lodgers. Often I see frogs in the pots under the slates waiting for their evening meal to turn up. Its easier to find slugs if you give them somewhere they like to be so you don't need to scan the whole plot every time.

Attract Birds - that native hedge will attract songbirds to nest if you don't cut it right back especially in early spring and the adults will be busy all summer finding tasty wireworms and other pests for their hungry nestlings.

So - there you have my ramblings. i hope you find some of it useful and at least raise a smile or even a hackle!

May the Force be with you.
/|\

[SUTTY1]

Zippy you didnt mention the comfrey in the pots!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zippy]

oh - and don't forget the comfrey in the pots - picked out 20 slugs and 4 snails from my pots this morning and another good handful under bits of floorboard and slates left on paths as they like to hide under those as well - thanks SUTTY1