Slugs

I was listening to Pippa on Radio 2 on way back from work this evening and she mentioned an eco friendly worm thingie to be watered over garden.   Didn't catch what it was called or too much about it.. She mentioned it doesn't harm wild life but will get rid those horrid slugs and snails which I have an abundance of; and those underground too.  I have tried so many things and always end up with the pellets as this is the only way to get rid of them, although I am so aware of the harm to the birds, particularly as I have a hedge full of sparrows, and lovely pair of redbreasts etc etc.

Probably nematodes

http://www.allotment.org.uk/allotment-diary/2007-05/controlling-slugs-with-nemaslug-nematodes

you could always listen again on i-player

Hi Pamelala , I think you are describing Nematodes (Slug-Killer) sold in packets for 6 weeks or 12 weeks , it does what it says on the packet

;Derek

Bunny can you tell me why ' only a few use those on here?'

Thank you sotongeoff will have a look.

usually the cost!!! Personally go out every evening once it gets a bit milder collect them up, and dispose of them, if only you could eat them eh? lots also grow a little extra produce which is then sacrificed, slugs won't go eat the hostas if there's lovely young lettuce or cabbage spread around the plants you want to keep! Lettuce you can grow 10 a penny, also means collecting them up is real easy every night.

Brummieben, how do you dispose of them?

the old underfoot method, Mind, I have to say dead slugs make even better bait than young lettuce to other slugs.. I do occassionally use pellets but very very very sparingly. I try to get one pellet every 4 square inches. And this is only at start of season on my raised beds. They are set in a gravel area, so it's usually only the keeled slugs in the ground that need killing.

Just been googling ways to get rid of slugs and think this sounds a good use for all those fiddly pennies we seem to collect!

Protect your crops with Copper. Slugs get an electric shock when they touch the shiny metal. You can buy ready-made copper plant guards or just adorn your raised bed frames with copper flashing and hot-glue rings of pennies around the tops of containers. Drop captured slugs into a jar of pennies and watch ‘em spark!

from experience copper strips aren't always effective, however a mini electric fence with a 9 volt battery is. Very simple and easy to stick around raised beds..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZdeyWuHbAE

I'm ok because I decided my raised beds would have gravel around them, because the beds get the sun most of the day, I don't have a mollusc problem with my veggies, I use sacrificial crops to protect my flowers.

here's another one, the setup is really simple, maybe useful for the non gravel raised-bed types

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_269554&feature=iv&src_vid=EQ8RFlR0mD4&v=ZoBeKS64_xc

Hi all , last year was the worst for slugs , yes you can eat them , I haven't but I saw a River Cottage program when Hugh deep fried snails and slugs  as far as raised beds go , the imported soill may have slug eggs in it , I have tried beer traps with some success and slug pellets organic and non organic, last year a lady suggested that a gloppy mix of flour and water in butter boxes placed at soil level I wonder how that went ,Derek

My raised veg beds are all surrounded by pea gravel; that could explain why I only have a minor problem with slugs. my main problem is on the flower bed.

this is one of those questions if only we had the ansew, i have so far protected my young delphinums with half of a plastic bottle with copper band around the bottom, the pound shop has tape at the moment, also a few yougurt pots with flour and water in, this has been in place for two weeks, and i must say lupins and delphinums are looking better, but we are not really in slug season yet, but anything is worth a try ....................

I use a shotgun or dynamite (well, I would like to). Its horses for courses. Theres, boiled up garlic cloves, mixed with water then watered into the plants (slugs don't like it), Theres sacrifice (thats using another plant as bait, not on an altar), theres oats, theres crushed egg shells, theres copper tape, theres sharp grit, theres spent coffee grounds, theres nematodes, plastic bottles with copper tape, theres beer traps, theres pellets, theres murder, theres wildlife, theres night hunting, theres bags of salt or salt barriers (though not on the plants or soil), theres vasaline, theres catapults, I think the list goes on and on.

I also had some luck the other day, I was out clearing up a pile of rotting & freshly cut ivy, old rose branches & st johns wort that i had left on the patio and low and behold, underneath it were a load of young snails & slugs, I soon went to town doing a dance on them. It was just another trap and hiding place for them, easy for me.

Must be nematodes - worked brilliantly on my garden last year.

Can't wait 'til soil is warm enough to try again this year - was turning over some beds and adding manure yesterday and found several mini slugs waiting in the undergrowth

Discodave - wish I had your nerve - makes me feel sick to squelch them! May stick them out somewhere for the birds to eat though, once OH has done the deed on them