Slugs in my garden

[ashgrove1]

I'm a regular poster on mn but have done a name change for this thread.

Slugs. I have gone to the garden this morning to find that they have eaten the lettuce in our garden. I've been tendering these for weeks and the little feckers have gone and destroyed the majority of them.

We can't put pellets down as we have a pond and have been told that frogs and toads eat the pellets they die. Therefore I'm tempted to go out late evening with a torch with my marigolds, a jam jar of salt and go picking any of the feckers I find and putting them in the salt jar. Not nice I know but i'm fecked off Anyone want to talk me out of turning into a slug murderer or am I within my rights to go Arnold Schwarzeneger on these feckers?

Saucers of beer so they can drown happy?

Frogs and toads are supposed to eat slugs so I would suggest that if they don't want to have to deal with slug pellets they ought to up their game

Nematodes. They are god sent.

Yeah bloody good point actually, where are these frogs and toads last night?

What on earth is a nematode?

Second nematodes, keeps the little buggers off my dahlias.

Beer or yeast in cut off bottles or yoghurt lots.

Even better birds go into them to eat the drunk dead slugs.

www.amazon.co.uk/Slug-Nematodes-12million-Treats-40sq-m/dp/B007RMW1OW/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ref=plSrch&keywords=nematodes&dpPl=1&dpID=519TR9qQgIL&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1531482920&sr=8-3

No your right slug pellets will kill frogs and hedgehogs even the 'safe' ones.
Ive had great success with the wool pellets (i think they are called slug gone) the only issue I've had is the plants are thriving so i have to keep making the circle of wool bigger!!
Beer traps work brilliantly but the wool pellets are more area specific. So i would do a combination

Ok just done some reading up nematodes. They sound effective so have ordered some. Will still take a few days for it to arrive though so I still have the pressing need to deal with these feckers asap.

can't see dh being upbeat about sharing any of his beers with slugs

It will take a bit for nematodes to work. Until then....
Murder them. Murder them with smile...

OP you can make a nice strong mixture out of yeast and sugar. Much cheaper than beer. Slugs and snails in my garden are fussy as the beer needs to be 4% or higher.

Yes we go out at night with a torch and get them and put them in a tub. Hubby then takes them quite a way away to a field and dumps them there. We can’t bear to kill them 🙂

Make your own nematodes. Takes 2 weeks.
www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningequipment/8675592/The-war-on-slugs-starts-at-home.html

I have posted that Telegraph link in the past, one thing to remember is that it doesn't always work, although worth a try.

I get Nemaslug from the Green Gardener, also get my ladybird larvae from them, to get rid of aphids. Once the slugs have gone you will probably need something to move ants on, you can also get that from there. No need for poisons.
www.greengardener.co.uk/

Wise about the slug pellets, they also kill hedgehogs if the hedgehogs eat the poisoned slugs. Try the beer traps until the nematodes arrive! Good luck! I have daily battles with the slimy little bastards too. I might be ordering nematodes too!

My tortoise keeps our slug population down but she also ate all our baby lettuces. And astors. And petunias. Actually I think she does more damage than slugs....
My mum used to use beer traps-I remember them working extremely well.

Used coffee grounds sprinkled on top of the soil. Starbucks usually have free bags of them.

Not in the garden but a couple of years ago I had an issue with slugs and snails coming in the downstairs windows when the were open at night. Also all over the steps and the number of times I nearly broke my neck rushing out the door and sliding on a slug was unreal I bought copper tape and stuck it under window ledges and edge of stairs and totally stopped instantly. Might work if you put it around pots or make a bit of a border with it.

Crushed eggshells round the plants seem to have worked pretty well for us this year.

Have you tried orange oil?