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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Are slug pellets the only solution to lettuce-eating snails and slugs?

16 replies

Caligula · 13/05/2006 15:14

Anyone know?

OP posts:
sleepycat · 13/05/2006 15:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Freckle · 13/05/2006 15:25

Keep all the shells from any eggs you use. Crush them into bits and sprinkle them around the base of any plant you want to protect from the slimey ones. Apparently they won't cross the shells because they are too sharp. Presumably some of the ornamental shale and suchlike would do just as well.

SaintGeorge · 13/05/2006 15:55

They don't like copper. You can buy special copper strips to lay down, or make your own barrier with 1 and 2 pence coins.

Nikkinoo · 13/05/2006 16:24

In a Gardening Which? experiment Bran was found to be the most effective detterent, however it must be applied frequently. It was also the cheapest option

Caligula · 13/05/2006 16:40

bran? Wot, as in Kelloggs bran flakes?

OP posts:
SaintGeorge · 13/05/2006 16:42

I heard they eat the bran and get really, really, really fat and then burst.

But that could have been my Monty Python fan DH winding me up.

Wafer thin mint anyone?

MamaMaiasaura · 13/05/2006 16:44

I use slug pellets - tried the whole organic stuff last year and the slugs won. Chemical warfare now.. (salt is very good [sic grin emocion]

Nikkinoo · 13/05/2006 16:44

Well they never mentioned that in the review, no wonder its effective Grin

Caligula · 13/05/2006 16:47

I was wondering about salt. Does it make the soil go funny? Does the rain wash it away?

OP posts:
Nikkinoo · 13/05/2006 16:48

apparantly so Caliguila however have just asked my DP who is a hortic. and has his own garden centre and he doesnt believe me either, but it was definately in Gardeners Which? you can browse their articles on line too, may be worth a look.

They also recommended copper rings quite highly too. They did the expt on Hostas.

MamaMaiasaura · 13/05/2006 16:51

Salt makes for an interesting experiement for the kids to try Grin my ds thought it was great.. then i had the whole moral thing.. then remembered i am not a proper buddhist :)

Rain washes it away - the pellets have worked a treat. The slugs and snails have stopped coming now

supakids · 13/05/2006 17:30

a heavy boot! Nice crackling noise.

brimfull · 13/05/2006 17:42

You can't eat the lettuce if you use pellets can you?

MamaMaiasaura · 13/05/2006 17:56

ggirl - of course you can.. I read instructions Grin - anyhow what do you think the use on the veg they sell?

hovely · 13/05/2006 21:05

what about biological treatments like those little worms (nematodes?) that you water into the soil and they infest the slugs and kill them?

PrettyCandles · 13/05/2006 21:20

Make yourself a Slug Pub.

(Are you ready for Blue Peter? Wink)

You need a huge fizzy-drink bottle, plastic colander or sieve smaller than the diameter of the bottle, a pair of scissors, and a can of beer. (No double-sided sticky-tape required!)

Cut the bottom 4-6" of the bottle off, and sink it in the earth up to the rim. Cut the top 6" or so of the bottle off - keep the lid on - and cut 5 or so large chunks out of the bottm edge. You need to make them wide enough for a snail to get through easily, and about twice as high. Fill the bottom part with beer, put the strainer in it and put the lid on top with the handle of the strainer poking through one of the holes. Press the lid down to fix it well into the ground, so that enthusiastic animals don't knock it over.

These work in all weathers, except for heavy frost. They work best if they are dark, but you don't need to paint them (unless you're feeling very Blue Peter-ish), just pile some leaves over. Check every week or so and tip the contents of the strainer on the ground - birds and hedgehogs love it. Top up the beer whenever necessary. IIRC, one Pub will deal with about 10 sq metres.

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