Those Damn Slugs

peter4sks

Hey All,

I started gardening a few months ago. I have some nice tomato and courgette plants growing but the slugs keep on eating all the leaves from them.

I had 3 tomato plants completely destroyed. My brother in law told me to leave some beer out in a cup which works fairly well to draw them in but i still have loads of them in the greenhouse.

they seem to leave everything else alone and just go for the tomatoes and courgettes.

Any tips?? i've tried leaving trails of salt but it's not long lasting..

lazybones32

The saucers of beer do work, so you could put down a few more?
I've used about an inch of sand around the base of dahlias and no slug has touched the dressed plants.
I've never used the copper-wire method: parallel unbroken lengths of wire (a few mm gap between them) around the plant. As the slug passes over it, the wire conducts some bio-electrical charge and shocks the slugs. Leaving copper wire outside - no matter how small the amount - may induce other 'pests' to your area though...they seem to be drawn to the smell of it.
Slug pellets: if used inside, the risk of birds or hedgehogs entering and feeding on the poisoned slugs is greatly reduced so it could be considered.

Don't use salt anymore. Concentrations can build up and poison the soil.

Qualitymark

I've stopped using beer, but now use a mix of sugar, flour, warm water and yeast that foams up. This works best in the bottom of one of those conical cheapo honey jars - leave a scrape of honey in the bottom and they'll love it.

I also go out and kill the swines mercilessly almost every night. And I've got frogs in my garden (from my pond, but they stay around under plants when not ponding).

And bronze tools help too - they leave a scent or something in the soil that our slimy companions don't like. Dear, but they last years and are a pleasure to work with. http://www.kupferspuren.at/en.html

I've never heard of copper attracting other pests…?

seamusmacc

I used garlic. I chopped them up and scattered around the plants, it acts like a repellent and keep the slugs and snails away.

Mickalus

used a beer trap last night for the first time this year. Noticed something nibbling on the hedge and saw some slugs one night. There's always plenty that aren't too far away anyway.

A whopping 32 slugs having a bath this morning! + 1 monster fat one I kicked in right after I put the beer out!