[hubballi]

I have had enough with slugs finding their way into almost everything. I have used Vaseline round my Dahlia pot as well as copper wire round it and inside the pot I have found a dirty fat slug. I also use soot, coffee granules and crushed eggshells but as soon as it rains you have to keep replacing it.

[Yorkie]

Is the wire really narrow?  I've used copper tape (about 1" wide) with some success near the top of plant pots.  Other things are small sharp gravel or slug pellets - you get organic / more wildlife friendly one made by Growing Success I think.

Have you also tried slug traps e.g. beer, half a grapefruit upside down?  That will help reduce the population.  And a pond with frogs in will also reduce the slugs.

[hubballi]

Added a larger pond this spring   with a few frogs.

Not tried beer traps again for a year but I could get them out again. To be honest they don't really make a dent but must help.

The copper wire is very thin. I took it off the old fan motor out of my old oven before it was scrapped.

The organic pellets just go moldy on the ground.

[Grubbypaws]

For really precious plants I use slug rings http://www.slugrings.co.uk/

They are really expensive but are 100% successful and last for decades.

Maybe something to put on your birthday wish list.

The organic pellets by growing success work very well as well. The slugs eat them and go and hide somewhere out of view to starve to death.

[mumofstig]

Make a lid for the pellets....like a piece of tile raised on a few stones, it keeps the pellets dryish

[Grubbypaws]

Not for the organis ones. The slugs only eat them when they have absorbed water.

[arugula]

For really precious plants I use slug rings http://www.slugrings.co.uk/

They are really expensive but are 100% successful and last for decades.

If you are able to get hold of some old copper sheet - we had an old redundant hot water tank in the loft when we moved here - you can make some of these rings yourself. We got a planter and some slug rings out of ours. You could cut copper pipe lengthways and hammer it out to create a band, but copper pipe costs enough and to be honest 6 of those slugs rings for £16.00 isn't too bad... if you can't get free.

[sunshineband]

Crushed ceramic tiles make a useful barrier around plants or around the base of pots 

You need a good layer, not a sprinkle 

[LollyPoppy]

Hello All

for the last couple of years I've put down bran around anything that slugs really like and it seems to have done the trick. Yes you do have to put down more after a few waterings or rainy days but at least there are no chemicals and its really cheap. A sack is about 6 or 7 quid and on my plot lasts at least a year. By the way, if you put down enough it helps keep the weeds down as well to start with.

[hubballi]

What kind of bran do you use ?

[hubballi]

I don't believe it. Last night I smeared vaseline round a pot and then put salt into the vaseline. How come this morning I find 2 fat slugs in the pot when there were non in last night ? Unbelievable.

Little gits.

[arugula]

Eggs in the soil.

[sunshineband]

Or slugs hiding in the soil 

[hubballi]

Now then. How on earth have slugs and snails crossed soot round the base of the container as well as Vaseline mixed with salt around the actual container to get in my French beans ? No, they were not already in the container as I checked beforehand. They were the giant orange type with a snail.

I also watched a slug cross copper wire. I am sorry but it's a fallacy that copper deters slugs and snails.

Have I got super slugs ? It's baffled me as well as frustrated.

[PurplePixie]

Betterware do some great copper tape and circles to stop slugs, they are pretty cheap and it was the only thing that stopped them getting into my sisters guinea pig hutch. She tried wire but it wasnt thick enough but the tape around the legs of the hutch soon stopped them.