Slugs

[moose]

There once was a time that our pestilence of slugs would retire gracefully for the winter, allowing us a few weeks of respite before the nightly battle got underway again. However this year, they just haven't gone away, and now they're after my bulbs.

I think they only way we're going to get rid of them is by digging out the whole garden to a depth of several feet and starting again with new soil. As our neighbours concrete over their gardens one by one, more and more come to our patch.

Is there anything else I can do apart from the beer/eggshells/collecting them by hand things?

 

[seeformiles]

I've had a certain amount of success with spreading damp coffee grounds around plants as the little bastards find caffeine highly toxic:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20020629/food.asp

 

[Spark]

nematodes? I tried them last year. They're not cheap but pretty effective for slugs and also get rid of the ones buried in the soil. (unfortunately they're not very good at attacking snails which I have loads of)

 

[selamlar]

Nematodes have got to be worth a try. IIRC, the lack of 'proper' cold winter/very wet summer have made this year a bumper year for slugs. The beer works a treat tho. Or do what my Gran used to do and equip willing grandkids/helpers of some sort with a salt cellar and let them loose.

 

[moose]

We are still getting frost at night, though, and you can't use nematodes until the soil is over 5 degrees, by which point they've eusually eaten everything.

We tried the beer once, but I'm convinced it attracts more slugs in, and we ended up with a bin bag full of slug corpses And it still didn't seem to reduce the numbers.

 

[geminisnake]

I was going to suggest the coffee thing too. I had some success with the bran thing a couple of summers ago but it(bran) has to be dry, which isn't so easy at this time of year.

Are the nematode things the copper strips?

 

[Spark]

I was given a little book called "50 ways to kill a slug" for christmas. I think it's half serious and half silly. I shall consult it and see if it has any other ideas.

 

[Spark]

One tip it has is to hoe the garden to expose the eggs, which are small and white and laid all year round. Once they are exposed they will be eaten by the birds.

 

[ringo]

I just found their lair, little sods. Had an old mirror against a wall behind a bush - when I pulled it out I found about 40 slugs and snails, now relocated to the communal gardens on the estate. Still got some in the compost bin, but they can't do much harm in there.

 

[Mrs Magpie]

Are the nematode things the copper strips?

Nope.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematode

 

[veracity]

I'm increasingly of the opinion that the only thing to fight a plague of slugs is a sharp stick.

Nematodes are quite effective IME but if you can't use them (and I think the nematodes only destroy slug eggs anyway so no use to you at the moment), you've just got to kill the fuckers one by one. Sorry I know it's grim.

Death to slugs! Death to slugs!

 

[Badger Kitten]

Going round at night with a torch and collecting the buggers is the only thing that has worked for me, that and not planting hostas.

 

[veracity]

Actually scrub that, another good idea here http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/sep/23/practicaladvice.homesandgardens1

Empty plastic bottles cut in half make a good cloche: you stick the bottom bit into the soil around young plants to protect them.

I suppose the idea is to create some sort of assault course for slugs!

 

[Mrs Magpie]

It's to protect them from frost, not slugs, I thought.

 

[_pH_]

Yeah, thats the main reason but the protection from slugs is a nice side benefit

 

[Spark]

I tried using bits of plastic bottles last year. The slugs climbed over the top and also they come in underneath too.
Nematodes kill slugs by infecting them with a parasite and are effective. I have as much of a problem with snails though and they aren't so effective on them, because the parasite is absorbed directly into the slug through their skin. Snails have more protection so don't absorb the parasite as easily.

 

[lillia]

Are the nematode things the copper strips?

I'm trying copper - they're not meant to like crossing it

Not sure how true that is and whether it'll work but worth a try - I hadn't heard about coffee though - so will; give that a go too.

 

[May Kasahara]

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I'm trying copper - they're not meant to like crossing it

Not sure how true that is and whether it'll work but worth a try - I hadn't heard about coffee though - so will; give that a go too.

The copper thing works, I've watched them recoil...coffee grounds are acidic so you might eventually need to lime those plants that like an alkaline soil....that's just a guess though, you'll most likely be fine.

 

[moose]

Eeek! I couldn't do the scissors

Mr moose went on a mission last night and got 34 of the buggers but then was freaked out by a plague of bright green caterpillars

 

[Brixton Hatter]

slugs are the bane of my life - they've devestated bits of my allotment over the past few years. little b*stards the beer traps work well but you have to be disciplined at changing them after it's rained and keeping them topped up.

i've just read about this thing called "SLUG & SNAIL SHOCKA!" which is a kind of fabric ground cover with copper in it....which is supposed to stop the little fcukers getting near your veggies. anyone heard of it or used it before?

 

[susie12]

won't all this frost kill at least some of them though? I'm rubbing my hands every time it's frosty thinking of the slug massacre going on on our allotment.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Slugs?

I think he's ok.

"welcome to the house of fun, la la la la la"

 

[mr steev]

coffee grounds are acidic so you might eventually need to lime those plants that like an alkaline soil....

I thought that too.
Coffee grounds would also kill frogs I'd imagine - who eat slugs.

I don't like the idea of using scissors, so any I find go in the compost heap, with the reasoniing that there is enough food for them there so they won't stray onto the beds (and at least they'll do some good in there)... it seemed to work ok last year. Although the weather, onion fly and blight made up for any damage the slugs could've done.

 

[moose]

Coffee grounds would also kill frogs I'd imagine - who eat slugs.

Oh! Definitelynot trying that, then. We have three little frogs who visit every year and hang out round the waterbutt. One of these years they'll be big enough to take on the slugs

 

[bingiman]

I read somewhere that broken eggshells work well