Slugs and snails are rampaging through my bedding plants!

[petunia]

My bedding plants are being eaten by the blasted creatures. Don't really want to put slug pellets down because of DDs. Are there any bedding plants that slugs/snails don't like?

[Marina]

What they hate is potting grit all around the stalks - they can't get at them then. You'd better not stand still too long petunia or you will be next
I have given up putting out verbenas and petunias in our garden, which is a mollusc magnet because we too don't do slug pellets and next door nuke their garden with pesticides.
We've gone a bit wild and opted for geraniums and lavender, which don't get eaten.
You could also do bio-control using nematode worms (nemaslug) but 1) it costs more than pellets or glasses of beer 2) you need to do it every three months 3) they do warn on the packaging that if your soil is very heavy and clay-ey nematodes are less effective.

[Bugsy2]

Crushed eggshells around the base of your plants works well too.

[liath]

I have a MAJOR slug problem in my garden but out of all my bedding plants they haven't touched the dianthus. Phlox & sweet peas seem fair game, maybe because it's been so cold & wet they haven't grown fast enough to escape the onslaught.

Catching dozens of the b*ggers in my beer traps, mind you !

[petunia]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Not sure the nematodes would work because of our heavy clay soil (another of my major gripes about my garden!)
I've never tried beer traps before but put some out earlier and already caught some slugs. Have to go and have an inspection tomorrow morning and see how many I've caught!

[CarolinaMoose]

bit of a hijack, but can someone explain exactly how you do beer traps? do they need to be sunk into the ground? and how deep should the beer be?

thanks!

[Marina]

Cheapo plastic glasses sunk into the ground with a couple of inches of beer in them. (Cheap beer too...once resorted to Hoegaarden and nearly got divorced in consequence).
The only downside for this is the not very lovely drowned slug/beer mix for disposal the next day...

[Marina]

I find it curiously annoying that nematode worms work least well in the preferred soil environment of your average mollusc. So much for mother nature and the circle of life...
We do have loads of very tubby blackbirds and thrushes though

[liath]

at the hoegarden - DH was none too chuffed when he found out I'd put Stella in ours!!

[petunia]

Liath seems to be the expert here!

But what I did today was use some of those plastic pots that fresh pasta sauces come in and those tiny fromage frais type pots and filled them almost to the brim with out-of-date beer (didn't drink those quickly enough!) Then put them so that the rim was level with the soil.

[CarolinaMoose]

thanks!

I kind of resent buying a round for the little blighters, but I spose it's cheaper than pellets.

( at Hoegaarden and Stella)