Natural Anti-Slug.

[Matthew.Passmore]

I'm currently growing and nice patch of strawberries which are producing lots of fruit my only problem is that the are being munched on by slugs before they are fully ripe and ready to pick :aargh4:

are there any natural deterrents? I don't want to put commercial slug pellets down as they are very toxic and I have a dog and a bad for the environment.

Cheers.

 

[locum76]

In descending order of effectivness..

1. nematodes.

theres a particularly nasty wee worm that eats slugs from the inside until they explode (very satisfying). it is approved by the soil association and you can get it here...

http://www.nemaslug.org.uk/

2. Paying Kids 5p a slug to harvest them.

2. Beer traps.

http://monsterguide.net/how-to-make-beer-traps-for-slugs

3. egg shells.

4. copper wire

5. WD40

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

very good, thanks.

 

[chickenofthewoods]

Finely chopped fresh chilli peppers sprinkled around the plants?

 

[w00dsmoke]

Encourage hedgehogs to live in your garden. If it's big enough and you don;t have any then the rescue centres may be able to give you one or two to live in your garden.

WS

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

Encourage hedgehogs to live in your garden. If it's big enough and you don;t have any then the rescue centres may be able to give you one or two to live in your garden.

WS

I would like to do that but I don't think it would help my strawberries as they are growing in raised beds about 2 feet high, don't hedgehogs eat strawberries?

 

[Toddy]

I have the same problem and even though I have newts, toads and the occasional hedgehog in the garden, the slugs were winning I gave in and bought the wee blue pellets but they are in little domed traps that keep them dry from the rain and stops anything but something slithery like a slug or snail getting in.
I just go along in the morning and pick the dead ones up so that they don't poison anything else.
Seems to work, but I only use them in the tubs full of things the slugs adore, like my pansies, strawberries and so on.
The beer traps work too, but seem to end up full of beetles swimming lethargically around, and the hedgehog seems to delight in getting into them.

I hate the idea of poison, but I really had tried everything else and nothing was effective.
Jaggy gravel, crushed shells, copper tape, aluminium powder and gel, the blighters just kept coming.
Found edible snails in the compost heap last year.......kind of hoped they'd outdo the others and at least I could kind of crop them for folks who like them, but the tiger slugs and the grey backs and the yellow banded snails won out


cheers,
Toddy

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

It's not the big ones I'm having problems with, it's little ones about 5mm long so I wouldn't be able to go around and pick them up.

I think I may give the nematodes a try.

 

[Toddy]

Ah, those sound like hatchlings...........somewhere you have a hidey hole that the slugs are using to lay their eggs.
Might be worth having a look around. If you can stop the eggs you stop the slugs
I found them inside upturned clay plantpots, cool and damp, down the side of the bricks I used to edge one of the beds and inside the bottom of the big planters among the broken crocks I put at the bottom..

Good luck with the nematodes, they had no effect on my garden at all

Just had a thought, there are little black slugs that actually live in the soil, keeled slugs, dreadful things, guzzle my root crops like radishes and beets

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0700/slugs.asp

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

Ah, those sound like hatchlings...........somewhere you have a hidey hole that the slugs are using to lay their eggs.
Might be worth having a look around. If you can stop the eggs you stop the slugs
I found them inside upturned clay plantpots, cool and damp, down the side of the bricks I used to edge one of the beds and inside the bottom of the big planters among the broken crocks I put at the bottom..

Good luck with the nematodes, they had no effect on my garden at all

Just had a thought, there are little black slugs that actually live in the soil, keeled slugs, dreadful things, guzzle my root crops like radishes and beets

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0700/slugs.asp

cheers,
Toddy

I'll have a look around to see If I can find a nest but I think it may be the small ones that live in the soil as I have never seen a big one around. I've only just got the birds off

 

[w00dsmoke]

I would like to do that but I don't think it would help my strawberries as they are growing in raised beds about 2 feet high, don't hedgehogs eat strawberries?

I've netted my strawberries with a midgie net as the slugs can't get through that. i also pegged it down. No worries, my net cost around a fiver. Problem sorted.

Now I always plant a sacraficial bed of lobelia as the slugs always eat them all when I first plant it. Next year after experimenting with the midge net, I'll do the same with the lobelia. Encourage hedgehogs in and they'll eat what's around. I also use beer traps early on and they really do work but you need a lot of them and you need to regularly top them up. Not much chance of you lot giving your beer up to slugs!

And if you are still really desparate try coarse salt, slugs will not cross it.

I grow plants on and around a drystane dyke that I built and this is a natural harbour for slugs/snails, I had hundreds of them. I'm now winning

 

[Shewie]

I seem to remember something on the tv about using used coffee granules out of a filter machine or cafetiere (sp). I can't think whether it was something to do with a dislike to the caffeine or it was the texture of the coffee.
Not tried them myself yet, although we've got hundreds of snails this year I should try really.

 

[Toddy]

My garden is heavy clay soil, I compost everything I can to keep the levels of organic matter high in the topsoil. It's always damp, and there are always slugs and snails. I tried the coffee grounds, didn't work any better than the shells or gravel or the aluminium stuff.

Hadn't tried really fine netting though I have tried the fleece stuff. The ones in the soil just came up underneath.
I even have to regularly de slug the greenhouse. In there I have no compunction and I do use the blue pellets in little terracotta saucers. It gets too warm for the nematodes to work reliably there.

I used to put on rubber gloves, half fill a bucket with salty water and search the garden every morning and evening. It didn't matter how many hundreds I gathered there were always slugs the next day
I think they just come in from the woodlands, the grass out the front, my neighbours, as soon as there's a vacuum in numbers.

Good to hear that some folks win the battle

cheers,
Toddy

 

[rivermom]

There is finally a solution, but it is rather expensive. There is a type of slug pellet called Ferramol, which is a simple iron compound. It kills slugs, and only slugs. It does not harm frogs or hedgehogs or birds or anything except slugs and snails. It gives them a terminal bellyache.

I have managed to grow lettuce this year. And the garden is full of happy wildlife, and pretty low on slimy critters. The only down side is that it can be difficult to get. And it costs way more than the poisonous alternative.

 

[TeeDee]

In descending order of effectivness..



2. Paying Kids 5p a slug to harvest them.

I see , so what you,ll effectively be doing is putting out a 'contract'? , subbing out some commission based wet-work to the local aspiring hitmen??

lol!

 

[Toddy]

There is finally a solution, but it is rather expensive. There is a type of slug pellet called Ferramol, which is a simple iron compound. It kills slugs, and only slugs. It does not harm frogs or hedgehogs or birds or anything except slugs and snails. It gives them a terminal bellyache.

I have managed to grow lettuce this year. And the garden is full of happy wildlife, and pretty low on slimy critters. The only down side is that it can be difficult to get. And it costs way more than the poisonous alternative.

Sounds promising.....got to be worth a try, I hate using the wee blue pellets.
Thanks for the heads up

cheers,
M

 

[davefish]

My brother grows Strawberries in lengths of guttering attached to his garden fence - quite attractive when covered in loads of red fruit. somehow the slugs dont seem to bother climbing. he keeps the birds off with fruit cage netting.

 

[gregorach]

I seem to be having fairly good results with the nematodes in the allotment. I've also noticed that they seem to prefer the marigolds to anything else (except perhaps the brassicas and squashes), so a sacrificial marigold crop might be worth trying.

 

[sapper1]

Toddy,
Why do you use slug pellets? To attract the slugs to the pellets so they eat them and die.
If you place the pellets next to the plants you are trying to protect you are attracting the slugs to the very place you don't want them.
Try placing the pellets away from the plants to attract the slugs away from the plants,It works for me.
The same applies to rat poison ,it attracts rats and so should be placed away from the foodstuffs you want to protect.

 

[locum76]

I see , so what you,ll effectively be doing is putting out a 'contract'? , subbing out some commission based wet-work to the local aspiring hitmen??

lol!

exactly, I have an after school club coming to the farm soon to enjoy the space. guess what 'game' I'll be getting them to play.

I'm trying to recruit the local cub group too.