[Classybird]

So what are your favourite methods for getting rid of the slugs?  I once read something about a study where garlic came out on top.  Has anyone tried this?  Someone else mentioned chilli so I have bought a load of Scotch Bonnets and plan to make some kind of concoction that I can water in.  Just wondered what your best tried and tested methods are?   

[jay001]

well !! no expert in a garden after 4 wks but i have got a little bit tiered of people coming out with all sort.s of ideas tea,coffee,beer, straw,rubber matting,shed roof felt,etc etc i want to grow strawberries so am worried abot slugs but i guess --- at the end of the day -nobody has the answer to that
cheers jay 

[DD.]

Sorry, but at the end of the day, it has to be the blue pellets of death for me. All are used under netting as the same crops that slugs like, pigeons and butterflies like.

I hardly used any last year due to the harsh winter. It may be a different matter this year!

[lettice]

i think the best ploy is to go out after a night shower and pick them off, but thats not always possible and not a nice job

I think using a a combination of methods is a good idea.
Blue pellets are the most effective and best for me is 'Growing Success' (pet friendly and organic).
But I also have plastic cups scattered around the garden with yeast and water or beer mixture and that works very well, i pick off many slugs and snails from there during the week.
I put a layer of coffee grounds and scatter eggshells around my brassicas and that works well for me.
I tend to grow my salad crops in large plastic pots with overhanging lips around the garden and have never had those attacked strangely, seems they cant be bothered or struggle to climb those!


 

[bappelbe]

Last year I had my crops decimated by slugs 

This year I put out loads of beer traps for a week before I put any plants in the garden, refilling each day. I got over 500 slugs!!!! in 1 week!!

I am still getting slugs in the traps at the edge of the garden but none in the middle

Heres hoping that I have the upper hand for the season.

I also use the organic - animal friendly pellets.

As a point of interest my beer traps do not seem to work in my poly tunnel - just outside!

Bill

[mattwragg94]

i am affraid its slug pellets for me too - however last year i found some that where pet and child friendly - and they added nutrients to the soil as they rotted down - i think they where from the 99p store.

[Classybird]

I did buy some of the organic pellets last year however I have been thinking about how these affect the smaller animals such as birds or frogs who may eat the slugs.

[JayG]

The active ingredient in the "organic" version of slug pellets is chemically a salt (ferric phosphate) rather than a poison (metaldehyde, or even worse, methiocarb) and for once I'm pretty convinced about the assurances that they are harmless to animals other than slugs and snails (I wouldn't feed handfuls of them to my dog though, and that's not just because I haven't got one!) 

[jay001]

the very reason i have no blue pills of death scattered about is just for knowing that a dead slug is easy pickings for our birds so did not want to lose the enjoyment i have from seeing them in this comunal garden love my birds (rspb member ) but also love fresh veg,didn,t know that you could get bird freindly pills of death will look on rspb site,funny how i havent ever seen them mentioned though ? ooh memory again is prob the answer to that one 

[heloise]

We have loads of birds up the allotment but I'm still happy to scatter small amounts of the organic slug pellets about.

The only remedy I've found that works though in the long run, especially in my garden, is squashing them. Then patience. When we moved in the garden was overrun with the blasted things but relentless squashing over time has made their numbers fewer and more manageable so they aren't a problem without wiping them out completely. I think a level of tolerance is necessary 

[jay001]

We have loads of birds up the allotment but I'm still happy to scatter small amounts of the organic slug pellets about.

The only remedy I've found that works though in the long run, especially in my garden, is squashing them. Then patience. When we moved in the garden was overrun with the blasted things but relentless squashing over time has made their numbers fewer and more manageable so they aren't a problem without wiping them out completely. I think a level of tolerance is necessary 

Heloise does that  take up your whole day -- so less planting /

and more aches and pains on the leg,s ?  and yes tolerance and balance in all thing,s one of the old lady,s in my little complex praised me on what i have done in our communal garden front and rear but then added is not growing veg seedling,s a conflict of interest between your birdies and your veg  after i had thought about it for a while i then went onto amazon and got 50 square mtrs of netting ----- perfect balance !!!!    ps was born and raised in nottm -- wilford - the posh side of the river 

[Ice]

Blue pellets of death under nets, same as DD.

[jay001]

Blue pellets of death under nets, same as DD.

havent got the netting out yet ice & think i brought to much anyway -- it,s so delicate when you try and remove it from its packaging it is so fine and flimsy that ended up wrapped in it myself with my dead hands  guess no bird,s or dead slugs on me then  ps have been on my rspb site and no mention of birdlife freindly slug pellets-- maybe cos if a product is not certefied as a all around general wild life freindly product they will not endorse it    

[Classybird]

Great to hear from all you blue pellet lovers (organic ones of course), but has anyone out there used, or had successes with, the other methods such as copper tape, garlic, chilli, or any others that you have tried? 

[JayG]

jay001 - I found a few references on the RSPB website - a couple in their forums and also this one, although they seem to think that "Growing Success" slug pellets contain aluminium sulphate, which they don't, although I think Fertosan does.

In general, they seem to approve of them (certainly in comparison with the non-organic types.)