If not slug pellets, what?

[SealSong]

I'm so fed up with my garden, whatever I plant seems to get munched. I bought some new perennial shasta daisy plants and already they are getting eaten loads.
I'd like to protect them enough that they get established and hopefully will grow enough to cope with some slug attack themselves, but what can I use in the interim?
Are all slug pellets bad for birds/hedgehogs? Is there anything I can use? I fear things like coffee grounds and egg shells aren't going to cut it.
Thanks

[RedBugMug]

coffee grounds and crushed egg shells can help.
also wool pellets.
all these need to be renewed after a rain.
you can also put down beer traps.

[BellaGoth]

I've used nematodes this year and the difference has been amazing. The last 2 years my garden has been decimated but so far this year it's looking good!

[RedBugMug]

there are also nematodes that work well against slugs but if you also have a lot of snails that might not help witb the problem

[SealSong]

Loads of snails, unfortunately.

[sunnyhills]

Sluggo -

Sluggo is a totally organic compound that kills both slugs and snails without the usual poisons. After use, it breaks down into harmless fertilizer (iron phosphate). And, it's just as effective as metaldehyde bait, a known hazard to pets, children, and wildlife!

Unlike metaldehyde baits, Sluggo is not at all toxic to animals. Sluggo can be used around pets, children, and wildlife without adverse effects. It also remains effective after rainfall or irrigation. In fact, Sluggo can be used in vegetable gardens at all times, right up to the moment of harvest! (Metaldehyde products can only be used Sluggo Non-Toxic Slug and Snail Baituntil fruit begins to form on plants.) If Sluggo is not eaten by slugs and snails, it simply biodegrades into the soil, leaving no toxic residues.

Sluggo is attractive to snails and slugs, and lures them from their hiding places. Once snails or slugs eat Sluggo, they stop eating plants and then die within 3-6 days

I've recently bought but yet to work out how to distribute the tiny pellets the recommended 3 /5 cm apart .

Does anyone know if you can get refillable sweetner containers ?

[Scentofwater]

sunnyhills you can get really big bottles of spices that have big holes/ shaking gap thingys. I'm working through a kg of ground ginger for this!

Nematodes are amazing. I used them on half the garden as I didn't think I'd need them on the lawn bit. I then dug up some of the lawn for veggies and they have been mercilessly munched by slugs. The rest of the garden is pretty much untouched. Might be worth a try even if it doesn't solve the whole problem?

[sunnyhills]

ooh good idea scent .I've got a spice jar from Tiger with a thing that restricts the nos of holes . I'm going to see if that might work !

[sunnyhills]

I think the Tiger spice jar has it .Have covered all but one hole with masking tape and a sort of careful tip and pour action dispenses one granule at a time .

Have discovered that Hermesetas dispenser is easily refillable but doesn't work with Sluggo pellets which are tiny cylinders not tiny pills !

Right time for sunblock ,hat ,insect repellant and I'll see how I fare outside .

[Wecks]

I cut up plastic bottles and push into soil around newly planted snail food.

[MrsBertBibby]

Another vote for nematodes combined with slug and snail patrols!

[dudsville]

Don't toads eat snails? I'm off to google!

[dudsville]

yes! and frogs and hedgehogs. and you can rescue hedgehogs.

[MrsBertBibby]

This RHS page also has a list of plants slugs don't like.

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=228

[LilyTheSavage]

I sprinkle horticultural grit around my tender plants like delphiniums. I also make a copper bands with the top part of a plant pot covered in copper tape. We have quite a few toads in the garden and so far haven't had anything destroyed by slugs this year. In the past I have saved egg shells, baked them and then crushed them and sprinkled around like the grit. This helped too.

Scent - where did you get the nematodes from please?

[Intransige]

We use nematodes (bought here ). They've been very effective. They do seem to have some effect on snails as well.

We were really conscientious about applying them the first year but not as much the second year and that seems to have been enough in perpetuity - apparently the nematodes go back into the soil after a slug dies so the population is sustained after you establish it.

[JeNeSuisPasVotreMiel]

I'm trialling wool pellets this year for dahlias in pots

[Trethew]

Another vote for a slug pellet/nematode combination. BUT only using the ferric phosphate pellets which are approved for organic use

I have had limited success with barrier methods such as wool pellets. Slugs, especially the little brown keel slugs, travel within the top few centimetres of the soil and can therefore easily evade a barrier of wool above them. Also it becomes laborious and expensive to do this to plants individually, especially if you have many delicious offerings. Don't worry too much about the 5cm between pellet rule. I believe it's a guide intended to prevent excessive quantities being laid down, which increases the risk of accidental ingestion and is wasteful. It's best to sprinkle them sparsely, and when they have gone sprinkle some more, sparsely, and so on

[SealSong]

Thanks everyone. I'm trying the wool pellet idea, hope that will help somewhat.

[MrsJamin]

Are nematodes safe to use on veg plots?

[MrsBertBibby]

Yes they are. You will need to water frantically to keep the soil moist though.

Bastards have staged a comeback, I must have picked up 50 last night. New worms please.

[sunnyhills]

Trethew thank you for that ressurance and advice .
I can be a bit of a slave to instructions ,couldn't figure out how they could be followed though !

[arbrighton]

Wool pellets didn't do a lot in my garden.

In previous years I've done dusk patrols and that's helped a lot, but 35 weeks pregnant now so not up to the bending/ crawling about in the undergrowth it entails (and I chucked them all in the river to feed the fish)

Beer traps help for slugs, although emptying is grim.