Can you do anything to ‘protect’ plants from slugs/snails?

[Appuskidu]

I have the most lovely luscious and beautiful Senecio Angel Wings which I planted in the ground yesterday, but two of the (huge!) leaves were utterly destroyed overnight, so I have dug it up and put it in a pot on the garden table to recuperate!

Is there anything I can do? I’m guessing that even if I put the pot on the ground with my other pots, it will end up decimated like all my hostas. Do I have to have it on the picnic table forever? Or can I bring it in the house??

I'm having the same problem

I have an infestation of slugs but refuse to use pesticides

Apparently if you buy cheap beer and leave it out in a container they practically drown themselves so gonna try that next

Coffee grounds are supposed to help. And rosemary
.

Salt? Egg shells? Nematodes?

I tried everything but my garden has a huge infestation from years before. Nothing worked and all of my plants were destroyed. My mum still swears by salt but I don't believe her 🤣. The nasty blighters even started coming into my home to the adjoining shed (to get to the plants I was trying to being indoors and save)! In the end I used pesticides and that kept them at bay but they're still aplenty. It's not an ideal solution and next year I think I may hold back on growing veg that slugs like. They accosted my dahlias and lilies but with those I've just left them to it.

Plant lots of courgette plants. The slugs/snails will annihilate them, but they'll also go straight past pretty much anything else to get to them.

Put copper tape round the edge of your pots - wilko sell it. My hostas in pots don’t get touched as they can’t get past it.

I'm going to give copper tape a try; I had all my impatiens eaten the night I put them in the ground

Absolutely nothing has worked for me. I've been reduced to tears in my garden. In the peak summer I'd be collecting 30-50 slugs and snails from a 1m x 2.5m flower bed. They munched on my dahlias, marigolds, lettuce, etc. Coffee grounds did nothing, they crawled over the egg shells without a care...

I think the only thing to do is plant things they're not interested in eating, and keep vulnerable plants in pots and off the ground.

Beer helps put it in shallow dishes around the plants

My garden is alive with toads, frogs, hedgehogs, blackbirds and thrushes.

I do very little other than keep the local wildlife happy and alive.

I do have a massive issue with cabbage whites though

@SeaDreaming

I'm going to give copper tape a try; I had all my impatiens eaten the night I put them in the ground

My potted hostas (and tape) are both 5 years old and not a nibble. Two pots with courgettes in. Tape round both. One tape fell off as it was damp when I put it on (note - don’t do that) the other stuck. One courgette ruined - the other isn’t touched. Great stuff.

I poured coffee grounds, mixed with water in watering can over the lower leaves of my sunflower seedlings and hostas this spring after they were destroyed by slugs last year. Seems to have worked.

I put copper tape round the top of a cut off cylinder (like the top of one of those big plastic paint tubs, cut off at around 3 to 4 inches). I put these round plants in the ground (eg courgettes) as a protective barrier. I also encourage frogs and hedgehogs but that might be easier for me as I’m quite rural

In my limited experience, the only thing that reduces the damage is a multi-pronged approach.

Copper tape, coffee grounds, eggshells, coco bark seems to have limited success so I also use nematodes, raised beds, night time hunts and beer traps ...but the only thing that really works in my north facing, damp, woodland garden is buying slug resistant plants (not fool proof) and as a last resort slug pellets 2 or 3 times a season 🤷‍♀️

I feel sorry for the snails that have descended slowly and with determination up a courgette tub with anticipation of their delicious meal at the end only to be stopped by some copper tape... imagine how sad and disheartened they must feel

Ascended more like... 🐌

I tried the copper tape around a dahlia pot recently. It hasn't worked. Beautiful plant decimated in one night.

My Dad uses copper stripes rather than copper tape around his hostas. I have no clue what the difference is but he claims the stripes work better. I have no idea why.

Copper tape did nothing for me. Nematodes work if you have slugs but don’t work on snails. Unfortunately it’s snails that I have and nothing seems to get rid of the fuckers. I just grow lots of geraniums as they don’t seem to like those.

Eurghh I just went into the garden to check my dahlia (with copper tape around it) - there were 9 slugs (massive ones) in the pot and more around it on the cobbles it is stood on.

I've used nematodes this year for the first time on my raised beds and nothing got eaten, courgettes, beetroot, cauliflower, beans etc all were tiny from seed, all done fine

Garlic wash is magic, OP. It’s used by professional nurseries and is completely non toxic. Slugs and snails hate it, and won’t eat plants that taste of it.
It’s easy to make. Bruise and peel a few cloves of garlic. Put in a saucepan with two litres of water, bring to the boil, then simmer for fifteen mins.
Cool, then strain into an old 2 litre plastic drinks bottle. Screw the cap tightly, it will stink!
In the late evening, pour a good splash of it into your watering can and top up with plain water to about half a gallon.
Liberally water all your vulnerable plants such as hostas.
You need to repeat this after any rainy weather washes it off the plants. I’ve been able to grow several enormous hostas, where previously the snails stripped them to bare ribs.

Buy nematodes. Put the plant in a pot, not on the ground. Eventually it will get big and tough so the slugs won’t eat it.

I keep meaning to try that@Babdoc , you've inspired me to finally give it a go this weekend!

They like dark damp places so if you create one that they go to you can then examine it in the day and find them all and remove them? I look under plant pots during the day too as they hide there too annoyingly . I’ve also tried putting prickly gorse and brambles round our veg bed but it’s hard to lay it right!!

Copper tape round pots and copper rings round plants that are in beds.