Slugs deterrent

[TeeDee]

I have a Slug issue.
One too many of their slimy little mouths eating my flowers. The scoundrels!!!

I can't have a duck.
And I have a pair of Bi-stupid cats in the garden - so I need to bear that in mind.

Anyone have any suggestions before I get medieval on their... long slender slimy carcasses,.

 

[William_Montgomery]

The only thing I've found effective is leaving a plank of wood down in the garden/plot, and periodically lifting it up, and shifting them far away.
Never seen much luck with all the copper/sand/wool etc deterrents. They don't seem to give a damn.
Encouraging hedgehogs could also help.

There are loads here too. Been a good year for them with all the rain.

 

[TeeDee]

The only thing I've found effective is leaving a plank of wood down in the garden/plot, and periodically lifting it up, and shifting them far away.
Never seen much luck with all the copper/sand/wool etc deterrents. They don't seem to give a damn.
Encouraging hedgehogs could also help.

There are loads here too. Been a good year for them with all the rain.

I did have a hedgehog or two until this year. Used to be a regular little joy seeing it scurry around. Audibly, rutting season had to be endured somewhat but on the whole I do like Hedgehogs.

 

[Watch-keeper]

We had decent success with this, take a large 500ml yoghurt pot and bury it right up to the rim close to where the plants you are trying to protect are, 3rd fill with beer the slugs crawl in and drown. Bury a few of these around your plants, each day empty out the slug/beer soup and repeat.
If you have the patience, you could also try this, go out just before its gets fully dark with a headtorch and serrated bbq tongs/rubber glove and a plastic bag or other container that can be tied off and collect as many as you can find. The other option is just use secateurs/scissors and cut them in half but I prefer the bag and bin method.
Also go around your garden and look for hidey holes where its Shadey and damp and collect as many as you can from there.

 

[demented dale]

I know you cant have one but a duck and napalm are the only two things that work.

 

[demented dale]

I have a Slug issue.
One too many of their slimy little mouths eating my flowers. The scoundrels!!!

I can't have a duck.
And I have a pair of Bi-stupid cats in the garden - so I need to bear that in mind.

Anyone have any suggestions before I get medieval on their... long slender slimy carcasses,.

Also I used to go out with a torch and pair of scissors at night.I used to kill a lot in a short space of time. Put salt down as well. They are not happy when you do. x.

 

[Pattree]

I second the beer idea. Not quite as thorough as @Watch-keeper , I change the beer and recycle the slugs every three or four days; whenever I open a beer basically.

We have had loads of them. Toads are our usual defence but not so many about this year.

 

[Toddy]

Wee blue pellets.

They're supposed to be safe for organic gardening. I know they're the only thing that allows me to grow a lot of things.

 

[chjo]

Don't like using chemicals but 2nd what Toddy said but I only use until seedlings have grown big enough to ward off an attack. Best slug free year I had was when I mulched with seaweed but got lazy collecting it this year. Could try planting a sacrificial crop maybe Lettuce until you get them under control.

 

[Toddy]

I live next to a tree covered nature walk that runs along side a burn, we are very damp here. It is slug and snail heaven.
I can't grow root crops because of keel slugs, and I have to protect things like pansies, pinks, lilies, sweet peas, as well as vegetable peas if I want flowers or crop.

I'd love an influx of hedgehogs and thrushes, but there are too many foxes and badgers around and the magpies herrie the thrush and blackbird's nests.

So, wee blue pellets it is.
Not ideal, a friend says I ought to go down the nematode route, but our temperatures are very, very up and down constantly. I can't guarantee I'd get it all right, while the wee blue pellets, and the beer slug traps don't care.

 

[TeeDee]

Are 'Wee blue pellets' cat friendly ?

 

[Toddy]

Seem to be. My garden gets a lot of visitors and the cats seem to totally ignore the pellets.
I think they're basically iron.....I'll have a google and let you know.

M

 

[Toddy]

Okay, I've had a read of the bottle and it says, " 12.5 g/kg hydrated ferric phosphate (technical) [at least 9.79 g/kg anhydrous ferric phosphate]"

It seems the stuff stops them eating and they succumb to starvation. Iron poisoning.

Harmless to hedgehogs, birds, cats and dogs, squirrels and children.

 

[TeeDee]

Okay, I've had a read of the bottle and it says, " 12.5 g/kg hydrated ferric phosphate (technical) [at least 9.79 g/kg anhydrous ferric phosphate]"

It seems the stuff stops them eating and they succumb to starvation. Iron poisoning.

Harmless to hedgehogs, birds, cats and dogs, squirrels and children.

Thank you Toddy

 

[William_Montgomery]

I did read the pellets often contain EDTA, though it's not necessarily listed among the ingredients. Might be worth checking it out re cats, as I'm sure there is a question mark over how harmless it is to dogs, birds and other wildlife. Might just be worth looking into it.

 

[Toddy]

There are different varieties.
The wee blue Doff ones come recommended for organic gardeners, and having seen the same blasted squirrel digging them out of the wee stones I have around my pansies in the pot (the squirrel is recognisible, it's got a red streak in it's tail) for the past fortnight, I reckon they really are harmless. The squirrel is still nicking the apples from my tree on a daily basis despite it's blue pellet habit.

I've been reading up on it, and a lot of the complaints out there are over ten years old before the present forumulations were commonplace. Not just Doff but other organic garden chemical producers, and all claim the pellets are safe for pretty much anything but crustaceans (which slugs technically still are).

It's a personal choice, but if I want crops I need to deal with the blasted slugs and snails, and even picking up over two hundred a day to drown, there's no let up because the ones outside my garden just come in to fill up the vacancies.
So, I protect specific plants.

 

[Nice65]

I found a hedgehog last night, the first I’ve seen in ages. I say ‘seen’, but initially I ‘found’ it with my open toed sandals and only saw the prickly menace when I pulled a torch out. The dog has never seen one, absolutely stumped her

 

[TeeDee]

I found a hedgehog last night, the first I’ve seen in ages. I say ‘seen’, but initially I ‘found’ it with my open toed sandals and only saw the prickly menace when I pulled a torch out. The dog has never seen one, absolutely stumped her

In my head i can imagine you taking out one of your pocket toys and flipping the switch to bathe the little blighter in the power of an 18650 fueled death ray with the power of one thousand suns.. spotlighting the hog.

You've either convinced it of alien abductions or created a new Hoggy based sky religion.

 

[Nice65]

In my head i can imagine you taking out one of your pocket toys and flipping the switch to bathe the little blighter in the power of an 18650 fueled death ray with the power of one thousand suns.. spotlighting the hog.

You've either convinced it of alien abductions or created a new Hoggy based sky religion.

Blinding light, and a gentle ‘pop’ as he vapourised.

No, much less drama than that,

 

[Woody girl]

Coffee grounds!
I get bags of spent coffee grounds from a local cafe, and spread it quite thickly around my plants as a mulch, also boosts growth, and seems to have stopped the rats and local cat digging in my beds and leaving messages.
Later on I will dig it in
Best of all its free and natural.