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As stated, I’ve got some French and Runner beans planted out the back, and the slimy little bastards are chomping their wat through them like there’s no tomorrow! Beer traps are supposed to work, but slug pellets are verboten, I’ve got a pair of hedgehogs in the garden and they’ve developed quite a fondness for the suet pellets I put out for the birds. The hogs don’t seem to bother about the slugs, although those are usually well above the hogs reach anyway.
And while dusting off and nuking from orbit is appealing, the collateral damage won’t wash with the neighbours!
ash around the vegetable patch . obviously needs to be topped up regularly .
Nemaslug nematodes work for me with a few beer traps.
Make beer traps but cover them so wildlife/pets can't get to them and put a few slug bait pellets in each one. Use orange juice instaed of beer.
Nuke from orbit.
“There’s no such thing as a slug problem; just a duck deficiency”
- Bill Mollisson, permaculture guru.
“Slugs fear nothing more than a gardener with a torch, who is wearing stout boots.”
John Seymour, 70’s self sufficiency guru.
@sirromj didn’t read my post, did he... [img] 
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The nematodes look interesting, I’ll check those out, and the traps with slug pellets might be an option, I’m just concerned about the hedgehogs, they’re very active at the moment, and I’m keen to avoid anything that could harm them, I was watching them for nearly an hour earlier tonight, wandering around on the patio, one climbed over my g/f’s foot while she was sat having a ciggy.
As regards the gardener with a torch, that’s exactly what I was doing earlier, but the slime takes some washing off! I’d rather try something that doesn’t involve having to peel the bloody things off the leaves.
Just had a look at the nematodes, and beer traps, it seems that it’s fermenting yeast they go for, and I’ve found a recipe using water, flour, yeast and sugar which might work, so rather than waste good beer, or fork out for nematodes, which might be a bit of an overkill for the tiny amount that needs protection, I’ll give the cheap mix a go. Thanks for the suggestions, it might help with whatever’s eating all my primroses, although I found a caterpillar munching on my cowslips*, so that might be the culprit. It got evicted, anyway.
*oo-er, missus, as they say...
Nematodes are the solution, based on a previous STW thread.
The last time I bought slug pellets it did nothing for the local slug population but I was picking dead birds out of my yard for a few days afterwards.
Slugs and snails won’t walk (?) / slither (?) / attempt to climb over copper. You can buy copper tape to go around the rim of pots or use a perimeter ‘fence’ of copper pipe nestled against the soil. Then it’s just a matter of removing any slugs within the perimeter or on the plants. It’s beneficial to wipe the copper with a scourer every couple of days, to keep the surface fresh.
They also dislike sharp grit, sharp sand and broken egg shells. Obviously the latter is not great for vegans.
yeah what bodgy said. i used old copper pipes from a bathroom.
Salt the ground - works around asparagus
Spray petrol - works around parsnips
Spray sulphuric acid - works around onions.
My allotment neighbor just love me.
My allotment neighbor just love me.
You can use pepper spray on the neighbours.
Copper wire doesn't stop them when the slug eggs are already in the soil. I reckon a couple of roving chickens would do the job.
Instead of trying to kill the slugs, you should try and support them to improve their lives by getting them jobs...
selling the Big Issue to snails.
Nematodes worked for me last year, with a sprinkling of slug pellets, too. I like the fact the pellet instructions say "no unsightly dead slugs, they take themselves away to die out of sight". How very considerate.
On beer traps, it is yeast they go for. I used Marmite solution - 1tspn in a cup of hot water. After 2 days the thing is full of dead slugs. Gruesome but effective .
nematodes + 1
Don't use slug pellets, they kill hedgehogs, which are in decline and are good slug eaters....
Torch and scissors...... snip > ex slug! No collateral damage.
I must confess that my first response was along the lines of “F-4 Phantom carrying precision guided munitions”, but upon reflection I’ve found that chickens are excellent at keeping garden pests at bay.
If using nematodes follow the watering / weather condition guidance
I've added nematodes to the arsenal this year, but also use beer traps, late night trips with the scissors and these sort of wool pellet things which seem to work well if you'are just trying to protect a few pots.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vitax-Slug-Natural-Barrier-Pellets/dp/B00AFSKZ
Don’t use slug pellets, they kill hedgehogs, which are in decline and are good slug eaters….
As I mentioned in my original post, I have two hedgehogs as regular visitors to my garden!
Anyway, I found a recipe for a slug attractant that doesn’t involve wasting good beer, so I made up a couple of slug traps today, using a couple of discarded plastic bottles I picked up going to and from town, cut the tops off, turned the tops upside down and put into the bottom and taped in place, then the recipe is two cups of warm water, (about 200 ml), two table spoons of flour, a table spoon of sugar, and a half a tablespoon of yeast, mixed together.
Just been out checking the worst affected beans, and there’s one slug in the water, one just going into it, and I watched another large slug climbing the side of the bottle, going over the top, and heading for a watery doom at the bottom!
So, it seems to be working perfectly! All I had to buy was the beer yeast, 11gms for £1.75 in Wilco’s, so a lot cheaper than any other options, I reckon that yeast will do a couple of dozen traps. 🤪
We are trying the Nematodes, we used them on Thursday night. There were still some slugs around last night, but it's early days.
We have a flagged yard but loads of potted plants, the yard is always damp and the slugs and snails love it. Hopefully these work as it's not the cheapest solution.
I’ve been using nematodes for a few years and they really help keep the slug pop down. The trick is timing.
One application in spring has done so far as the local hedgehog etc pop seems to prevent their numbers recovering too much
just bear in mind it’ll be many weeks before you see a decline in numbers.
Plant some lettuce next to the runner beans. 🙂
Ive found beer traps work really well in my garden. Absolutely chock full of slugs most mornings when I was using them.
i also cover my Rhubarb with old BBQ ash and that seems to help deter them.
Granny Sims used to use her homemade wine and it worked well. She didn't cover the containers though, so there were lots of drunk cats screeching at all hours. Also, now I think about it there were always far more concussed birds below her windows than I have seen anywhere else!
Copper didn’t work for me, tried copper tape....useless, then tried copper earthing straps, equally as useless.
I’ve been using nematodes for a few years and they really help keep the slug pop down. The trick is timing.
One application in spring has done so far as the local hedgehog etc pop seems to prevent their numbers recovering too much
just bear in mind it’ll be many weeks before you see a decline in numbers.
Cheers. I'm not expecting an instant reduction, just unsure as to how long it took. That sounds promising though.
Spade and a brick. Place the spade over the brick. Lay out your slug on the blade and step firmly on the handle of the spade.
As if by magic the slug will disappear.
Other combinations of bricks and spades are also effective.
Growing Success pellets are said to be hedgehog and frog friendly.
To quote above
“There’s no such thing as a slug problem; just a duck deficiency”
– Bill Mollisson, permaculture guru.
I have a spare duck. Free to a good home. Hand reared on slugs
I did have 2 spare, but I just ate one of them for tea tonight. The other will be following soon if a home can't be found 🙂
No pressure
I tried the slug traps last year. Nearly spewed up empting the containers down the drain.
I find a 5-yr old with 4" nail pretty effective at slug bursting.
I keep an old spoke & skewer them, like a kebab. I’ve had upwards of 20 on before now. Then just slide them off into the bin & start again.
I came here only to post the word ‘Napalm’ but so many others had similar ideas! 😉
#prayforwelshfarmer'sducks
🙂
Reading with interest as we have real issues at our new place, but we have probably more snails than slugs. Do the beer traps work for them too?
Filled my slug traps with the yeasty bottom from a bottle of homebrew last night. Satisfyingly full this morning (image is from Amazon, so no comments about the grass please).
Snails best dealt with by picking them up first thing in the morning and binning.
Ducks are great at pest control if you have a little bit of space. Unlike chickens they don't wreck the ground. Though I can't get anything to establish in the pond as they seem to like to dig water plants up.
For snails go out in the evening, pick them off by hand and take them down the road somewhere. The most effective use of beer is to reward oneself by drinking one per 100 snails.
We use slug traps, like the picture above, but with cheapo lager in them. Minimum alcohol pricing is really going to hit us there...
Emptying my slug traps every night - I'm still getting 10-15 of the blighters every time. They really love homebrew dregs diluted with water and with extra sugar to get the yeast going.