To feel sorry for the slugs?

[GreenSlide]

I'm a member of a few gardening pages, one of which makes a point of not allowing comments about killing insects or other creatures, but people still do it. There are awful comments from people who drown slugs in beer, use slug pellets, I've even seen people saying they go out at night to hunt them and cut them in half with scissors

It's not that I'm a fan of slugs, I get how annoying it is to lose plants to them (they ate my dahlias last year and a whole crop of kohl rabi) but there are other ways to deter them that aren't cruel. The main one being just don't grow things that slugs like to eat.

I know there are bigger issues in the world right now, and I do have plenty of other things to worry about! But AIBU to also care about the slugs?

Yanbu. All creatures great and small have their place and deserve to be left alone to get on with things.

I care about them too (though that might just make us equally U!)

I feel like that with slugs and snails. Last year I used to go out after dark with a torch, pick them up and take them to a nearby wood in a bucket

But slugs eat everything! They decimate my garden. I chop them and leave them for the birds and hedgehogs to eat. I feel like that is the most humane and environmentally friendly way.
I hate it but I have failed to find a better alternative and I don't want them munching my garden!
I do have slug repelling plants but they don't seem to care at all.

In what way is cutting a living creature in half humane...?

That's horrible. :(

People chop up slugs?

I'm sure there are better ways to repel them. Dh uses copper tape on our pots which seems to work. We have hedgehog visitors so would never use any chemicals.

I don't mind slugs, per se, but I get really upset, year after year, of losing the majority of my crops to the little b*tards.
Last year I lost all but one of my lettuces, all of my hollyhocks, all of my basil and loads of my Summer bedding, most of my peas, mange touts and sugar snaps.
I've tried to be kind by using wool pellets as I won't use beer traps or slug pellets. I don't want to use nematodes either
Think I'll stick to tomatoes and pelargoniums.

Well it's quick.
They don't drown slowly or get poisoned and tortured.
Dry your eyes.

I want a garden big enough for a pond with frogs. My parents slug problem disappeared when they got frogs.
Is that an acceptable control method?

YANBU - I don't like the thought of any creature suffering

Everything you eat involves the death of creatures like this in one way or other. It may seem inhumane however People who are practicing this sort of gardening for food are killing a lot less than any mass produced food product (including organic produce). I think this is disturbing to people because they are so disconnected to the process of growing food. If you limited your diet to only things you could grow that slugs didn't eat, you would most likely be very hungry.

@TierFourTears you don't need a big garden for a pond, ours is tiny but we get loads and loads of frogs

Snipping them and leaving for birds/hedgehog is infinitely better than poison and drowning. And those that don't like animals suffering...are you vegan?

Yes frogs and hedgehogs are a gardeners friend, not so much the slugs so the problem still stands. And Cars squash hedgehog which is why they're in rapid decline. So don't own a car or eat vegetables that slugs eat...

Yanbu that is awful.

Chopping a slug in half doesn't hurt them - they gave no cerebral cortex so can't feel pain.

Cutting them up so that they don't eat your plants and are an easy snack for predators is a great way of dealing with them. Except for squeamishness.

@TierFourTears

I want a garden big enough for a pond with frogs. My parents slug problem disappeared when they got frogs. Is that an acceptable control method?

I hope the frogs kill the slugs humanely.

I've seen slugs eat dead slugs. They aren't fussy what they eat.

Well now I feel a bit better. It is a horrid thing to do but the alternatives don't work.
I have copper tape and mesh. Munched plants.
I tried homemade traps....they drown and it's still gross.
I don't want to go down the chemical route as I have animals and children and I don't want to stick crap in my soil.

I just can’t feel sorry for slugs. I actually think the people who chop them up are probably more humane than the pellets and beer. But I can’t do it so I go with beer traps.

Copper does feck all, ime. Fine don’t grow hostage or whatever but once your emerging vegetable crop is munched to stalks by the fuckers, you do start to feel pretty murderous.

Best thing is to start slug patrol early and often. Don’t give them the chance to multiply.

Chickens solve the slug problem, although I'm not convinced it's humane. The feathery fuckers bring their own issues though.

My chickens won't touch slugs.

Not all slugs are bad. Some of them are detritivores. They eat dead leaves etc, they dont munch on living plants and leave little parcels of compost as they go.

YABU. Why shouldn’t I grow things I want to eat because the slugs might attack it?

When you’ve spent months raising plants from seed in a small garden it’s bloody galling to come out in the morning and find it all eaten. They’re pests.

Many people can’t afford to grow so much that they can lose 30% to slug damage. If you can, then good for you, but I’m not going to stop trying to limit their effects when they wreak so much havoc in our garden.