Shall I battle the slugs this year?

[Lucky13]

I've grown veg for many years, but after last year, I have lost the will to continue. Partly down to the weather, but mainly down to evil hordes of SLUGS!!!!

-I put down beer traps - but don't catch many or at least compared to the
numbers remaining.
-I go down at night and can catch 40 or more just in my greenhouse, let
alone the rest of the garden.
-I use coffee grounds - but it keeps raining and washing them away.
-I have a pond - but the snakes and fish eat the tadpoles/frogs.
-I have chickens, but the slugs are so big they don't know what to do with
these giant creatures
-I can't use pellets because of the chickens/dog/children

I don't have any more time to devote to removing these horrors.

I do have raised beds - does copper round the edge really work?
If I use nematodes - will it cost a fortune as I have quite a few large beds?

If anyone has any better advice, I might just give it one more year before I give up.

I lost the will to garden last year and tried everything including porridge which worked for a bit and I got the rage and salted them too.

I've been prepping the veg bed for weeks and hoping I've done enough.

I think I'll use net curtains (from the charity shop) as cloches to try and keep them out too.

Hope some of that helps!

Mu dad used copper tape around pots and he raved about it.

I have some square (trying to be modern looking) copper pots and they are brilliant. The slugs don't want to know any of the lettuce in them.

I have copper rings on my pots but they don't seem to work for me. I have just given up on certain plants (hostas, dahlias and some others).

I have used copper tape with success on hostas which previously have barely made it out of the ground (prior to using the copper tape). I'd give it a go...

porridge?
coffee grounds?
just sprinkle around the beds?

I've ordered nematodes but the forecast looks crap for them over the next few weeks. Far too cold for them :(

I had a parcel that dh had to go to the post office to pick up. I thought it would be my nematodes, so I asked him to put it in the fridge when he got back. Just opened the fridge and found that actually it was my new mooncup!

Kitten

How do you use nematodes? Do they really work?

You water them in and they last 6 weeks apparently. No idea if they work but my garden seems to have become The Place To Be for the fashionable slug.

You're fighting a losing battle I'm afraid.
I used to go out in the evenings with torch,collect the slimy bastards and put them into salty water.Was very pleased with myself until one damp,drizzly day-DH cut the grass the day before.I swear there was a mini slug on every blade of grass.
I had an old table in the garden and planted lettuce in pots.Unless there were slugs in compost they must've been flying.Table legs were smeared with WD40,copper grease and goodness knows what else.Nothing helped.

How about this?

www.harrodhorticultural.com/slug-and-snail-shocka-mats-pid7824.html

It's expensive but I'm sure it would be possible to find the same but cheaper.

Another thought but what about spraying with Bordeaux Mixture? Would that work?

The earlier you can tackle them the better as its breeding season for slugs and snails. I put a load of pellets down around target plants in Feb/March (yes sorry not organic I know) and had significantly less slug damage last year.

There are organic slug killer pellets now, with ferric phosphate that is not poisonous to other animals (quite good for them I think as it's iron) and they seemed to do quite well for me last year.

Hmm DH is feeling much more optimistic than I am.
I didn't know slugs have a breeding season - will all their eggs be in the soil now - or do they not work like that??
Surely any slug pellet wouldn't be good for chickens though would it?
I'm feeling the need to garden today - but it's so darn cold

I used nematodes few years ago and they were brilliant, not too pricey, prob worked about the same cost as the pellets. I am definitely going to use them again this year.

So talk me through the whole nemotode business. When? How? How many? How much?

Watching with interest, I hate the slimy slimebags!

I've ordered nematodes and copper tape from Amazon. No messing this year!

gave up my allotment after 9 years last autumn because of the awful weather and slug invasion. the final straw was slug explosion all over the slug pellets around the poor decimated plants. HOWEVER, it is nearly Spring and time to go to war! i will win. looking forward also to nematode info pleeeese.

nematodes are very easy - you just buy a pack, or packs depending on area, and mix with water in can and water in. I only did it once and it lasted at least 6 weeks, I just used a few slug pellets towards the end of the summer. I think the price is about the same as pellets, good thing about nematodes is it seems to go right into the soil. A friend of mine has slugs so bad they would eat through bulbs and roots - she used nematodes and the buggers were gone.

www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/gardeningequipment/8675592/The-war-on-slugs-starts-at-home.html

I'm doing my nematodes this weekend to take advantage of the expected damp weather next week.

what's the deal with nematodes and dogs/cats?
are they safe?

they are only dangerous to slugs and some snails :)