[bluelou]

Have anyone tried the sheep wool pellets? I got some the other day at a flower show.

[spiderlyn]

Yes.. Bluelou... I use them... known in these parts as "sheep *hit" found that they have worked really well so far.  still have a problem with the ikle blighters climbing walls!! but I'm on to them

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

  Thanks zippy... you don't want them in or eating your food... well just think of the horses! If I caught someone tipping slugs/snails in my field, with the horses in.. I know what I'd say! .. if your going to "dump" them.. then do it on a grass verge

[mollyblob]

Wow, the great slug debate!  

Zippy... giving them alternative lodgings sounds good... can't do sunk pots because I just have a concrete yard, but maybe I could make bits and bobs of scrap wood more tempting.  

And what's the deal with comfrey?  Does this attract them?  Repel them?  Poison them?  Is this something I could grow or stash somewhere in the yard?  And sheep wool pellets- what are they?

The kill/don't kill debate.... I'd just prefer not to kill them- it seems a bit unfair to kill them just because their food happens to also be my food.  After all, they're not deliberately doing it.  Or, maybe they are.  At this stage (having just picked a slug off my radishes that had the radish still in its mouth as I chucked it into the hedge....) I'm not ruling out some kind of grand slug conspiracy  

[andy135]

I find that my hoe coming down on them at a great pace is quick, effective, economical, and dosn't harm other wildlife. 

[spiderlyn]

I find that my hoe coming down on them at a great pace is quick, effective, economical, and dosn't harm other wildlife. 

[sion01]

I love salt as a slug killer.Sprinkle a little salt on your hard surfaces just to give the little blighters a hard time.I also sprinkle a little around my pots and for a really clever one mix salt with vasaline and dolop it around the edge of the pots.You can be happy that you arn't harming your friendly wildlife and I like to think that frogs/toads/hedgehoge enjoy the occasional salty slug just like we enjoy salted peanuts :

[swaine]

Has anyone tried these slug eating nematodes that are advertised? They seem a bit expensive but if they work they might be worth it.

[Yorkie]

They're very effective against underground slugs but not a great deal of use against surface slugs.  Also need re-applying at stages throughout the season.

[mobilekat]

We suffer from a slug and snail infested garden, but I have a deal going with a local thrush, I go out each night armed with a torch and a trowel and devote time to squishing the snails, the next day I look out and he (or she) is going around eating them!
 
Works well for both of us!- even if I get funny looks from my OH as I creep around in the evening!

I would rather not kill them, and have been known to ignore snails that are particularly good looking, but have lost too many plants to leave them all!

Good Luck!

[SUTTY1]

Despite good success with beer traps this year, today, i put some soggy comrey leaves in plant pots as suggested by Zippy. However the outcome for the slugs will be much the same. Speed up the natural food chain, recycle them through the chickens and enjoy the eggs next day!!!!!!!!!!!!

[greenun]

Just boil 'em up in salty water add herbs and spices - good source of protein yum yum

[SUTTY1]

not for me!!!!!!!

have eaten snails, but not to fussy on them, but defo couldnt try slugs

[ex-cavator]

Brilliant idea about using comfrey leaves - I was considering beer traps but seemed an awful waste of beer. And, besides, it costs. But I've got comfrey growing everywhere. And then as for disposing of them - the plot is next door to the village sewage works - as an employee I have a key - drop them in the inlet, through the macerator - sorted 

[Zippy]

Mollyblob: answering your questions -

Alternative lodgings – a great way to shift good numbers of slugs and snails without having to go looking for them. Best times to look in your slug hotels is early mornings (best 5-6am) where they will have settled after a night’s munching. Around the allotment I have pieces of floorboard about 3 feet long. These get damp underneath and just to turn them over will reveal a good number of slimy friends. Just slide them into a carry bag to take them on a mystery tour. I pass countryside on my way to and from the plot so they usually end up in a field miles away so their homing instincts (a myth in my opinion) are not going to bring them back. Alternatively I drop the open bag into the dog poo bin or waste bin on my way home where they will do the community a service by helping to break down our rubbish.

Comfrey – because the sap of Comfrey (also called Knitbone) is juicy sticky, slugs and snails are attracted to it; fresh or decaying so to drop a small amount into a pot will usually attract a good number in for a feed and sleep. To grow Comfrey you will need to grow it in soil as opposed to a pot I think as it roots deep and finds water at great depths.  It is not fussy where it grows though and is a wonderful bee plant.

The reason I don’t use slug pellets (not even the organic ones) is not because it is a poison to slugs and to wildlife particularly. It is more because the food in slug pellets that attracts slugs to eat it rather than your plants stays around much longer than the poison part so the pellets keep attracting slugs and snails into your plot. Yes, they kill your immediate slugs but more come and keep coming. It’s the same with beer traps. They are attracted in from a wide distance. Yes they drown when they get there, but they come from far and wide. Better to keep your plot quiet to the gastropodic community and hand pick them in their sleep!

[bluelou]

Has anyone tried these slug eating nematodes that are advertised? They seem a bit expensive but if they work they might be worth it.

I used them last year and it worked great for 3 weeks and then the slugs were back. It is a expensive way of killing them but it does work. Great if you have the money, to do it every 3 weeks. It kills the eggs and baby slugs in the soil that you dont see.