Slugs-let the battle commence

littlebug

I hate the little fockers... they're down there now plotting and planning their plan of attack for this year. I've already found one stuck to a football. They destroyed all before them last year including my 4 year olds sunflowers (her first attempt at gardening ) and they even managed to get into the hanging baskets. I gave up eventually and let them win.

This year I want to keep a step ahead of them. With 2 small kids I'm a bit reluctant to use slug pellets... and I'd prefer not to have to go out chasing them after dark. I can set beer traps... what else? Is there anything I can do not to prevent them coming in the first place or at least keep the population down rather than spending my whole sumnmer in battle with them?

Seriously... they are really really bad here!

magicbastarder

copper rings around the base of plants

egdshells or other spiky objects around plants too, they don't like them.

littlebug

Thanks.
I'd heard the eggshell one before alright. Do they just not attempt to go over them or do they get cut to pieces and die? (not that it matters really!)

crosstownk

Slug pellets FTW! Not the most friendly option but they sure are effective. I tried lots of other methods and nothing comes near the results acheived by the pellets.

magicbastarder

get a hedgehog.

CJhaughey

Beer traps are good effective non-toxic and can be made very cheaply.
You need to sink a container flush into the ground, and make a cover so rain doesn't dilute/fill the beer container.
a cut-off small plastic bottle would do and make a cover by cutting a plastic water bottle in half then cut several "doors" around the base 1 inch by 1 inch in size just stick the cover over the beer container and wait until they are occupied.
Don't leave the slugs to ferment too long as the traps become ineffective.

Lex Luthor

crosstownk wrote:

Slug pellets FTW! Not the most friendly option but they sure are effective. I tried lots of other methods and nothing comes near the results acheived by the pellets.

ya slug pellets for me too, but what I have found is that during the summer months when I use lawn sand, they are nowhere to be seen and if I slack off on the lawn sand, they are about.

paulocon

Don't leave the slugs to ferment too long as the traps become ineffective.

Ferment - Nice way of putting it!!!

NextSteps

You can get something called Nemaslug (http://www.nemasysinfo.com/ - Mr Middleton in Dublin stock it) which kills them in what I secretly hope is a most unpleasant way. I hate them too! I used it last year and it did have an effect on the population for a few months. You mix it with water and sprinkle it over when the weather starts to get warmer. It's totally organic and safe for birds, which is a concern with the slug pellets.

Otherwise go with the beer traps, or the nightly hunting expeditions with miner's lamp (attached to your forehead so you can creep up on them), chopsticks (to pick 'em up) and a paper bag (to put them in and deposit in a neglected garden some distance away!). The neighbours all think I'm touched, but it does seem to work.

Otherwise just grow things they don't like - tomatoes, herbs (except thyme), some flowers - and avoid the ones that really draw them, like hostas, marigolds and lettuces.

Good luck - fight the good fight!

CJhaughey

I forgot, one other way I have used is to spread small sheets of black polyethylene out on the ground, leave them for a day or so, then early in the morning go out and flip it over, there should be a few nocturnal visitors stuck to the underside and the birds will thank you for it.

littlebug

Some good tips there I imagine I will try some kind of combination of all of the above and I will reign supreme once more in my own garden.

Can you put the beery slug remains in the compost bin? Or the live chopsticked ones for that matter?

Lex Luthor

littlebug wrote:

Can you put the beery slug remains in the compost bin? Or the live chopsticked ones for that matter?

leave them out for the birds

you might get a bit of joy watching the birds flying about half pi$$ed

sudzs

Orange peel!

Slugs love to nibble away on what's left over after you make your juice in the morning! They will ignore everythng else in the garden and and gorge on these!

NextSteps

littlebug wrote:

Can you put the beery slug remains in the compost bin? Or the live chopsticked ones for that matter?

NO - you need to take the live ones Very Far Away. I don't know what distance a slug can cover on a wet night with the proper equipment (skis? Slime guns?) but I bet it'd be surprising.

fatchance

The poor 'aul Slugs....one day they'll all turn up at your door with the Daddy of all slugs and slime ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lol

littlebug

fatchance wrote:

The poor 'aul Slugs....one day they'll all turn up at your door with the Daddy of all slugs and slime ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lol

and I'll be waiting with a big old salt gun. That'll teach 'em!

** if you are in any way squeamish never salt a slug**

fatchance

Not the salt gun!!!!! You win this time human.....but i'll get your sunflowers

vallo

I like to think of myself as a bit of an expert in this domain. So here's my 2 cents

First of all - Beer traps are a waste of space if you ask me. I had a slug infestation and my beer traps (home made and shop bought) would have maybe 10 slugs in them in the morning. I tried all types of beer - I found lager the best and Bavaria was as good as Becks - the slugs weren't very discerning. You might think that 10 or so is a respectable figure, but with a bit of poking around I could have found 10 slugs in my garden within seconds and saved myself the unpleasant beery mess in the morning (or worse - if you forget about them for a few days they stink to high heaven.

Speaking of high heaven, the best way to dispatch them off to the giant hosta in the sky is with the sharp edge of a trowel. If you go around the garden on a damp warm evening, you can make a big difference to the slug population.

My other top tip for dealing with slugs is to go out on a frosty night (we are bound to have a few more of these) and disturb the mulchy area where they are peacefully snoozing, thereby exposing them to the frost.

Slug pellets are the single most effective measure. I've seen people circle their most vulnerable show plants with a ring of blue pellets but this looks terrible. I would sprinkle them in hidden cracks and crevices where the slugs hang out so that they aren't visible. You will definitely notice a dramatic reduction in numbers and you don't have to do it every year.

I've never tried the nematodes, but this could be the year!

arctictree

I enclose my hens for a few hours in the vegetable patch before planting and after the plants are big enough not to be damaged. They dig up the soil and eat the slugs. This is the really lazy way, but it works and is very natural aswell. And the eggs taste better!!

A

ethernet

CJhaughey wrote:

Beer traps are good effective non-toxic and can be made very cheaply.
You need to sink a container flush into the ground, and make a cover so rain doesn't dilute/fill the beer container.
a cut-off small plastic bottle would do and make a cover by cutting a plastic water bottle in half then cut several "doors" around the base 1 inch by 1 inch in size just stick the cover over the beer container and wait until they are occupied.
Don't leave the slugs to ferment too long as the traps become ineffective.

Good tips.

Lidl or Aldi had such a container in their flyers recently. I had a quick look at their websites but didn't see it. I just recall the description saying to fill it with beer. What a way to go.

magicbastarder

a friend of mine checked her beer trap this evening - 'about 30' slugs, and half a dozen centipedes.

CJhaughey

Thats good going on the slug population MB!
I know that the traps work, but also don't be afraid to move the traps if they aren't working in one particular place.
I am loathe to use slug pellets as they don't just destroy the slugs but also many other animals that eat slugs are killed or poisoned slowly by eating poisoned slugs, birds, frogs and hedgehogs are all susceptible to poisoning from pellets.

NextSteps

I'm telling you, the nemaslugs are yer only man. You have to ask for them at the counter in Mr Middletons, they store then in a fridge at the back. It all feels very shifty. I noticed a huge dip in slug numbers - they just disappeared. I think they die underground. And organic, as I say. the only thing is that they only affect slugs, not snails.

Or get hens, as someone said, or ducks.

sean_0

There is a new type of slug pellet which is harmless to other wildlife. It uses iron phosphate to kill the slugs, which breaks down rapidly in the soil to iron and phosphorus. Also birds which eat the slugs are unaffected by the poison. It's approved for organic use in the UK, not sure about here. Here's the web page: http://www.growingsuccess.org.uk/detail.asp?ID=Advanced+Slug+Killer&cat=Slug_Control

I got a box in Atlantic homecare yesterday

Beware that most pellets which claim to be harmless to wildlife simply have an animal repellent in them which stops animals eating them. These can still kill animals which eat the poisoned slugs.

artieanna

slug pellets maybe the easy answer but are by no means ideal. I tested some on our cat and yes she would have eaten them so if you own pets or children keep clear of them...They can be ingested by birds too...

My solution is I keep a number of flat stones (flags) in my garden and I prop them on pebbles the snails will shelter from sun under them and all I do is turn them over and remove any snails or slugs. I pop them into a tin and chuck them far enough away so they won't find their way back...hopefully

Mind you, It's an ongoing battle....

Muineach

Well this year I'd tried something a little different than slug pellets which never seem to last too long for my liking. This year I used a chemical that looks like milk of manensia, I've thrown out the bottle.

"Metaldehyde, the active ingredient in slug pellets, causes slugs to become paralysed. Once immobilised, the slugs dehydrate, although in very wet conditions, they may recover."

, and it works great, just mix up a watering can and go walkies with it, I've used it every 14 days and no sign of slugs. Within the first day or two I managed to pick up about 30 slugs and snails from a patch of land about 10x8 foot.

Then as well as that I planted cloves of garlic around the plant they like and well they hate it, sometimes when the spay is wearing off I might find a slug crawl up to the main plant, the do a quick u turn and then die. The one from the shop works great, about 30 cloves for 3e, cant beat that, plus its long term and now that they've grown up now we have no need for chemical control, no more slug pellets etc. all hail to the slug destroyer

One other tip this year is fox's, our lawn is about 20sq meters, so in the evening if its damp you can walk out to see thousands of slugs on top of the grass, well one day I saw some scat, about a small dog size, but black in size and stank (really really stank) when u moved it. Next day, more scat, again and again, and I noticed that the amount of slugs coming up in the evening was less and less and the scats were bigger and bigger

So if you have a friendly fox around, that's what I'd reccomend :P