slugs

John Mason

hi all

can one tell what wildlife i need to introduce into my garden to eat the 500 million slugs which reside there?

i had been using coffee granules to try and keep them under control but after the destruction of about 60e worth of plants in 3 days, i have realised this isnt going to work

at the moment i have those horrible blue pellets all over the place, i hate using them but just got completely desperate during the week and tbh i think they are immune to them, i have just pull 20 off one plant and there are thousands of them

thanks

crosstownk

Beer works well - they drown in it. Sink a 1/4 full beer can into the ground and they'll head for the free beer, fall in and drown. I've also heard that they don't like egg shells so if you disperse broken egg shells around your valued plants the slugs won't crawl over them.

The easiest (and unfriendliest) method is the pellets. They are most effective but I've heard that some pellets can be harmful to birds.

John mac

ducks, they are partial to slugs,
hedgehogs,
Slug Nematodes,
some stuff here

Minder

Thread here. I use a combination of picking the slimeballs into a bucket of boiling water, dosing the beds with nematodes and using the pellets, I also have copper rings protecting my hostas. At the moment we haven't had much rain where I am. I expect the garden will erupt with molluscs after the first deluge - If it doesn't, maybe my control measures are actually working.

foxinsox

I don't know what wildlife will eat slugs..

I use saucers of beer (cheapest can in Lidl) and just make sure the saucer is slightly lower than soil level so the slugs can actually get in..

They drown in the beer.. a blissful happy ending for them I hope.

I know some people use salt.. apparantly this means trapsing around in the mornings putting salt on the slugs as they head out for their breakfast. The beer is probably a much nicer way for them to die.

minifan

which.co.uk did a review of slug control methods - ducks came out well, but not very practical. I think top of their list was picking them off, followed by copper rings around each plant. I found beer worked, but too expensive, I'd rather drink it myself! sand or hair also supposed to deter them

Curvy Vixen

I use blue pellets...I know they aren't animal friendly but I pick my veg's health over them I'm afraid.

The big trick is to make sure that it is a 'Mission Impossible' style ring of pellets around the plants. If there is a gap, trust me, they will break through :rolleyes:

dardevle

.



when using beertraps make sure that the lip of the trap is about an inch above ground level so that ground beetles don't fall in and drowned(they eat slug eggs)...it won't matter to the slug that they have to climb in because they love the beer so much...:).



.

John Mason

thanks for all your advice

i cant do beer traps, cleaning out makes me feel really sick

i am going to send away for those nematodes

they must serve some purpose in the ecco system, so i would prefer that something ate them but ducks are really practical. someone else said hedgehogs, i am not sure how to get them into the garden, i would probably have to put food out for them which i dont want to do, as i have a cat and rat problem as well

sorella

Last night I finally used pellets very sparingly.

For months I have been using traps; need not be beer as anything fruity will do the same, eg jam that has fermented or just juice.

Losing lupins etc is not funny.

They fill rapidly with the creatures; I just empty the cans - most of them are empty cat food tins - into the hedge.

Also plastic collars made from milk cartons etc do well; but they were climbing inside them. ( I once left an empty coffee cup out overnight and there were two black nasties stuck in that in the morning... )

Interesting as they seemed nto to be able to get out again? Nothing in the mug and it had rained in the night.

So last night war was waged; surrounded each new runner bean plant with a mixture of salt and sand, put a collar on, then spinkled pellets VERY lightly.

This morning a crop of large, dead, ridged black creatures who seem to shun other methods. And no damage to new plants.

A combination that seems to work - without spending more than the plants/food would cost.

They will also crawl under any black plastic or wood lyinga round and can be collected in the morning; but you have to get used to that.

tampopo

Hedgehogs are a protected species in Ireland so if you don't already have one in your garden, you can't bring one in...

Gordon Gekko

Here's what I did last night, which is a bit gross but works really well

Go out with a scissors and snippety snip in half any slugs you come across. Go back inside for a couple of hours.

A little known fact is that slugs and snails will devour their fallen comrades and it seems to me actually prefer to eat their snipped in half mates than eat plants.

Go back out two hours after your first sortie and you'll find millions all around the dead ones you cut in half earlier. Dispatch carnivores in the same manner as the earlier victims. Repeat for 2-3 rainy nights in a row.

There. Told you it was gross

mor_rigan

I use lime and it works quite well. It's a plus for carrots and brassicas as well as they like a limey soil

geordief

has anyone a suggestion as to how to keep the slugs in one area of the (vegetable) garden and mainly ignore the parts you especially need to protect?
I have noticed that if you disturb an area they are infesting (long grass) that they will obviously be a much greater threat to nearby plants.
People suggest sowing sacrificial lettuces etc but I always am fearful it will attract as many as it distracts.

queenie1

Please do not harmful slug pellets see the attached link

http://thesecretgardencentre.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-beg-to-differ.html

http://www.cat.org.uk/ihateslugs/slugpellets.tmpl

Ducks, hedgehogs, birds and other organic means far better.

Degsy

Sloworms eat slugs by the ton.
I'm not sure where to get them but they're common enough in england.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anguis_fragilis

geordief

I think they are a protected species in England.
Also they are apparently attacked by cats in an unpleasant (slow) way.
I tried to get a hedgehog but was told that ,as they are also protected , it was more or less out of the question unless one adopts you- and you are not allowed to restrict its passage to your garden.

sorella

I know, but it does depend which sites you use.

Sometimes the pellets are the only way used very, very sparingly and carefully.

Ducks are very destructive in a vegetable garden. They have large feet and hungry beaks.

And the number of slugs here is overwhelming.

Interesting; twice I have accidentally left an empty coffee mug out overnight.

No dregs; no sugar. Both times there have been black slugs in it in the morning. Plain mug too.

Another way discovered by accident was a dish of dog scraps that got left out; the large black slugs congregated therein.

But the pellets work.

Not needful to make a ring; just a tiny amount works well.

queenie1 wrote: »

Please do not harmful slug pellets see the attached link

http://thesecretgardencentre.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-beg-to-differ.html

http://www.cat.org.uk/ihateslugs/slugpellets.tmpl

Ducks, hedgehogs, birds and other organic means far better.

luckat

IMHO, using slug pellets is counterproductive, because it kills the birds who would otherwise eat tons of them. This clears the way for future generations of slugs to expand.

I have a couple of good slug traps - I fill them with Guinness or cheap Polish beer and the slugs head in. Next morning I turn on the hose and take out the lid of the trap, which has a kind of grille gadget in a circle underneath, so the slugs are lifted out with it. I dump them on the grass for the birds (Limaces marinée en Guinness, delicious, their fave treat) and rinse off the grille part of the trap and put it back in.

Then every few days I take the traps in and wash them in very hot water with bleach and detergent, and rinse them in very hot water, charge them with new beer and set 'em again.

Otherwise, I generally go out at 10pm and midnight, and occasionally again at 2am, and snip up the slugs.

Slug predators: birds, foxes, hedgehogs, frogs, newts.

If you want to do the Saddam on them, you can use nematodes. These are a parasite that infects whole populations of slugs and kills them wholesale. You buy it (Mr Middleton in Mary Street, Dublin used to sell it, probably still does) and mix it with warm water and spray it or sprinkle it on quite a large area of your garden. After a couple of weeks they'll die in masses like Europeans during the Black Death.

If you're using this, the best time to do it is when your plants are babies, because the slugs aren't such a problem when the plants grow bigger. It works for about six weeks.

For hostas, you're probably best ringing the pots with the toothed copper bands sold here: http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acatalog/Copper_Snail_Slug_Tape.html - expensive, but it works.

A friend of mine in Tipperary had terrible trouble with slugs in her lettuce, and she made a raised bed about thigh-high and ringed it with a two-inch-wide band of copper tape, filled it with clean compost then religiously went out and killed any slug that appeared inside it for the first few weeks. She had an absolutely slug-free bed using this method.

Does anyone know where to get slug traps in Dublin at the moment, by the way? I could do with a few more. I sometimes use yogurt pots or half-pint milk bottles, but the traps are more economical on beer.

sorella

There is no real evidence that slug pellets kill birds actually.... traps are easy to make:)

queenie1

sorellaThere is no real evidence that slug pellets kill birds actually.... traps are easy to make

No real evidence.....let me work that one out, slugs get poisoned,birds eat poisoned slugs and then birds get poisoned due to the increased toxins they consume via original slug pellets. MMMMMM BASIC ENOUGH FOR YOU SORELLA

Amalgam

Luckat, are the Nematodes species specific, or will they affect snails too?

We have Hedgehogs every year, but they seem to prefer the snails. This year we've had some goliath slugs, almost 5", 6", quite impressive creatures.

sorella

In decades they have never seen a bird eat a dead slug.

And no need for that tone of voice either.

We do care and we are careful.

queenie1 wrote: »

sorellaThere is no real evidence that slug pellets kill birds actually.... traps are easy to make

No real evidence.....let me work that one out, slugs get poisoned,birds eat poisoned slugs and then birds get poisoned due to the increased toxins they consume via original slug pellets. MMMMMM BASIC ENOUGH FOR YOU SORELLA

luckat

I'm not sure if the nematodes kill both slugs and snails - they'd tell you in Mr Middleton's.

As for whether slug pellets kill wildlife, I may be wrong. However:

http://www.diyweek.net/news/news.asp?id=12350&title=Inquiry+after+dog+killed+by+Homebase+slug+pellets

Inquiry after dog killed by Homebase slug pellets
Calls for better labelling on hazardous products after family pet dies from ingesting own-brand pellets.

An inquiry has been launched into the labelling of DIY chain Homebase's slug pellets following the death of a Labrador that ingested them.

<snip>

queenie1

did not realise thats birds have the ability to distinguish from slugs and snails that have dined on the old blues. wow you learn something every day.

luckat

Some studies on slug pellet toxicity:

http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/toxic/Metaldehyde_Toxicity.html
http://veterinaryrecord.bvapublications.com/cgi/content/abstract/128/11/245

skywalker_208

Did I read on a post somewhere around here about someone letting their chickens roam their veg patch which ate the slugs?

IKOS

what about getting a chicken as a pet? they eat the slugs! but the mess they leave is another issue.

The Sweeper

Chickens will eat the slugs - the fancier breeds, like silkies, will be gentler on your garden beds, but they WILL consume seedlings etc.

They're useful to have if you're squeamish about handling slugs - you could bring them with you around the garden and overturn slug hiding spots and the chooks will barge in and clear the place out - e.g. leave a piece of old lino or something on your grass, over a slug trap, for a night - turn it over in the light of day and let the chooks do their thing.

luckat

I never found that my hens, when I had them, ate slugs; an occasional snail, yes, but not slugs, and not many snails. What they did eat with muted enthusiasm was slug and snail eggs.

Really it's a case of "the best manure is the farmer's foot" - if you're out there killing them every night, you wear them down.

This article - http://www.eartheasy.com/grow_nat_slug_cntrl.htm - says that changing your watering so you water in the morning rather than at night can reduce slug damage by 80%. Unfortunately I read it just after watering lavishly.

old boy

the rhs has an envoirnmently friendly slug pellet, it can be ordered online

luckat

A recent New Zealand study found that black beetles are the best weapon against slugs, and that the best way of getting a really good black beetle population together is to have patches of rough grass.

A three-year-old square metre of cocksfoot and Yorkshire fog (http://www.irishwildflowers.ie/more/grasses.html), never cut, will, in the thatch at ground level, have a population of ground beetles that will eat slug eggs up to 60 metres away at night. For the first year or so it will, of course, be a perfect slug habitat. But then the beetle population will move in and start work.

jobrok1

I've noticed a langer load of black beetles around my garden.
Doesn't seem to be affecting the slug population too much though.
The bastards are relentless.

luckat

jobrok1 wrote: »

I've noticed a langer load of black beetles around my garden.
Doesn't seem to be affecting the slug population too much though.
The bastards are relentless.

Or maybe it takes a while for the populations to balance. I go out every night like Jack the Ripper with my implements of death and slaughter them wholesale. But really that only means 15 or 20 a night.

Apparently earthworms eat them too, and slug pellets kill more earthworms than slugs. Weapons of mass destruction.

joseph brand

Ducks are very destructive in a vegetable garden. They have large feet and hungry beaks.

Is it just me or did this line make anyone else smile?

Conjures up a very silly image.

Thanks.


Kev

Minder

Last year I had a huge problem with slugs and snails. I used nematodes and beer traps, copper tapes and wholesale slaughter using a bucket of boiling water and a pair of gloves.

This year I have deep raised beds, copper tapes and rings, two doses of nematodes and a liberal dose of safe slug pellets. I have found very little slug damage and less slugs. Not much snails either. Been dry here so maybe that contributes, but I'd hope the nematodes and pellets have done the job.

old boy

a local hair dresser tells me that she has unusual demand for the shorn hair, as people are using as a slug deterrent,

Amalgam

old boy wrote: »

a local hair dresser tells me that she has unusual demand for the shorn hair, as people are using as a slug deterrent,

How does that work?

deisemum

old boy wrote: »

a local hair dresser tells me that she has unusual demand for the shorn hair, as people are using as a slug deterrent,

I've often heard of using hair as a deterrent

Gordon Gekko

deisemum wrote: »

I've often heard of using hair as a deterrent

I've heard of using it as a deterrent for foxes but never slugs.

gnu

You can get organic slug pellets made of iron phosphate. They are non-toxic to birds, children, pets etc. I haven't used them myself but experienced gardeners have recommended them to me. One brand name is Advanced Slug Killer and I've seen it in Homebase.

I've also been told that a combination of methods is best and that persistence pays off!

I ended up leaving them alone - I don't like them but can't reconcile myself to killing them - yet!:D Apparently they can help improve the soil in similar way to earthworms. But not many people want their seedlings composted by slugs!

geordief

Amalgam wrote: »

How does that work?

they don't get tangled in it as you might suppose.It apparently irritates them to death.The hair has to be in very small lengths and I think animal hair (horse?) is supposed to work as well.
I have had no success with it myself but maybe I didn't use it correctly or in large enough amounts.
I also think it may work in wet weather.

davenewt

Hey folks. I currently have a coldframe where I'm growing on courgette, spinach, pepper and lettuce seedlings. Some have already fallen to slugs which have crept in to the coldframe, but thankfully there are plenty left.

Anyway, I am soon going to have to transfer these plants into the garden. Am going to dig a new area about 1m x 3m...

My question is: is it worth constructing a frame around this area, and wrapping the sides with plastic, or netting, or felt - and burying the sides into the ground? Creating a mini "walled garden" if you will?

Has anyone tried this and does it help in the prevention of slug invasion, or would I be wasting my time?

If it's not worth it, I may just try edging the patch with enviro-friendly pellets instead, or some other method.

Any thoughts?

Minder

Build your raised bed and top the boards with copper tape - available on ebay if nowhere else. I find the copper tape and copper rings is the best deterrant for molluscs.

geordief

davenewt wrote: »

Hey folks. I currently have a coldframe where I'm growing on courgette, spinach, pepper and lettuce seedlings. Some have already fallen to slugs which have crept in to the coldframe, but thankfully there are plenty left.

Anyway, I am soon going to have to transfer these plants into the garden. Am going to dig a new area about 1m x 3m...

My question is: is it worth constructing a frame around this area, and wrapping the sides with plastic, or netting, or felt - and burying the sides into the ground? Creating a mini "walled garden" if you will?

Has anyone tried this and does it help in the prevention of slug invasion, or would I be wasting my time?



Any thoughts?

I do it often - with fleece which is quite cheap if a bit unsightly.
I bury the edges having made sure there are no slugs trapped inside.
It doesn't always work for very small seedlings but should work otherwise.
Your plants may get too big eventually but they should be big enough to withstand slug attack at that stage..
I think it comes in 2 metre widths .
I like it because you don't get mould like you might with plastic.

davenewt

Thx geordief... I've just been out and caught about 20 slugs this evening! Not sure whether to be happy or annoyed. They're everywhere. I expect the smattering of rain has brought more of them out this evening...?

I've now got my new larger veg patch into which I've transplanted about 40 leek seedlings and half a dozen courgette plants which were coming on really well. One of the courgettes and a couple of leeks have already fallen to the slug invasion!

Still, 20 in one evening? I was quite surprised.

Think it might be time to ring-fence the veg patches with pellets. I've already surrounded with wire and covered with mesh, to keep birds etc. out... but of course this is no problem for the slugs.

Pellets might be the only option left? And if I surround the veg patch rather than put the pellets *on* the patch, I should avoid any potential contamination, yes?

Edit: actually I wonder if I can get copper tape or somesuch from a garden centre?! Thanks for the reminder, Minder

6th

I'm getting them again the last few days and i'll be going back to the old reliable:

6th wrote: »

I used to make my own beer traps when I had a slug problem, it took a couple of minutes and was taking out 20/30 of the feckers at a time. A sharp knife, 2lt bottle and some tape did the trick. They can get in easy but its not to simple to get out.

davenewt

davenewt wrote: »

Pellets might be the only option left? And if I surround the veg patch rather than put the pellets *on* the patch, I should avoid any potential contamination, yes?

The most common slug pellets use Metaldehyde, which breaks down over the course of a few weaks into harmless compounds like H20 and CO2.
Surrounding the patch, has been effective for me. The slugs seems to be attracted to the pellets.
A very small amount of are needed, Literally one pellet every 3-4 inches. One tiny pellet is capable of killing 17 slugs.

davenewt

Moonbaby wrote: »

A very small amount of are needed, Literally one pellet every 3-4 inches. One tiny pellet is capable of killing 17 slugs.

You mean you leave gaps in the "wall" of pellets? Hmm. Not sure I'd trust them not to go straight through...?!

girseach

Have 2 lovely hostas and the slugs are is full swing in our garden at the mo but got 2 plastic slug traps in Aldi a few weeks back basically small pot with lid that you put beer in, seems to be working so far but seen an interesting posting on garden.ie at the weekend where you boil a bulb of garlic in water and then spray this garlic water on the hosta and the slugs keep away as dont like the smell, to be repeated every fortnight. Might try over the next week to see if it works, would be cheaper than the beer:D

davenewt

davenewt wrote: »

You mean you leave gaps in the "wall" of pellets? Hmm. Not sure I'd trust them not to go straight through...?!

Trust me they do. It is all in the instructions on the pack.