Bastard slugs

[SilverSixpence]

Any ideas on what to do about them?? They've eaten two lupins, all the sunflowers I planted with ds and two squash plants

I don't want to kill birds and hedgehogs with pellets and am not touching the damn things either!

Okay Funky, but they lay eggs don't they? I only use slug pellets sparingly around the plants they seem to go for and things I want to protect - they don't go for everything. Therefore surely some of the 'new' ones hatch from eggs laid in the garden and some of them just move from neighbouring gardens? I'm not buying it that using slug pellets attracts them from far and wide and if they do and they die then that's not a big deal.

Well, I've only started using pellets this year (I've got the ones in Idealist's link). My neighbours have been using them for years and it never tempted any slugs out of my garden, otherwise I wouldn't need to bother! I only sprinkle a couple of handfuls around the plants at risk.

We have quite a big pond and I an assure you that this dosent stop the horrible slimy slugs from attacking the plants. We use the blue pellets, but sometimes the slugs eat the plant first , then the pellets. I have used salt but I hate seeing a salted slug, it's gross .

no no no, not the slug pellets, they do affect wildlife and they will get ur cat, even if it doesn't eat them if it rains, they dissolve a but cat walks through it, licks paws, you have a) bloody expensive vet bill or b) a dead cat. MIL uses crushed up egg shells sprinkled in the soil

Three things keep me totally slug-free in order to grow my peas, radishes, spring onions and herbs:

Beer traps placed every day two weeks before planting. By "beer" I mean store-bought yeast mixed with value honey and water. It's the yeast they love.

Crushed egg-shells mixed in the soil after planting. This adds nutrients to the soil and the slimy buggers get torn to pieces if they attempt to climb over them.

I also line my beds with seaweed straight from the beach. The salt content deters the snails/slugs (and kills them if they go across it) but isn't harmful to your soil. Straight salt is.

I still get the odd one or two but nothing like we used to when whole plants would be destroyed. The first time I did beer traps I had about 30 in each trap!

I either pop them in a jam jar of salty water or stab them with a knife I have especially for the purpose. When I can't be arsed to go on a killing spree I use slug pellets.

We have quite a big pond and I an assure you that this dosent stop the horrible slimy slugs from attacking the plants. We use the blue pellets, but sometimes the slugs eat the plant first , then the pellets. I have used salt but I hate seeing a salted slug, it's gross.

Probably because the blue pellets have killed the wildlife that would normally feast on slugs.

I go out on damp evenings either with a pair of scissors to just cut them all in half as I find them, or a wooden BBQ skewer to stab them with. My record was 3 full skewers in 30 mins one recent rainy summer, maybe 2011. I have also tried nematodes which worked well but are quite a lot of work with a medium+ sized garden unless there's a lot of rain around the time you apply them.

Sob- the little slimey gits have eaten all the leaves off my young runner bean plants- that's it for the plants then isn't it? Just poor little stalks left poking through. The bastards nibbled through the mesh that I'd put up to protect them . Feel really annoyed as I bought plants this year as opposed to growing from seed as I'd left it too late in the year. About a tenners worth of plants have been chewed up by slugs and snails. This. Means. War.

I've just been to our local nursery and bought organic approved slug pellets which don't harm wildlife apparently. I have bought some new plants and protected them with a sprinkling of pellets

The RHS has an advice page on slugs and slug pellets.

Is there any reliable evidence for or against the effects of slug pellets on wildlife? The RHS page suggets the problem is when they are eaten in quantity. In my garden, I am sure the dearth of birdlife is caused by the high level of bloody cat ownership in the neighbourhood.

Get some straw and place them around the plants, doesn't need to be anything special. It stops them because they don't like the edges. You'll need to keep putting the traps out, which is a PITA, this just stops them going anywhere near your plants. Works for everything!

ribena we still have wildlife, frogs, newts, birds ( lots ) and the odd fox.

I used the organic pellets which are supposed to be safe for kids and wildlife. I have young children and cats and they seemed to work very well.

I've heard good things about these which are wool pellets that you after until they form mats of rough surface around the plants.

www.greenhousesensation.co.uk/slug-pellets.html

Bastard slugs just ate a whole tray of thyme seedlings which had been out for a week without being touched. Were they doing some cooking??!

You need a bell [[http://www.slugbell.com]] They're amazing.

We have one (and a nosy toddler and a nosy dog) and it's super safe. I very much enjoy seeing all the slug carcasses!

Hmm major link fail there

slugbell

I've been out planting up annuals this evening and local wildlife in good nick: lots of birds, next door's cat (okay, animal life rather than wildlife), squirrels and frogs. I use the blue slug pellets sparingly around the plants the slugs go for.

Got the best solution - bought from garden centre last year. They are pellets made of sheeps' wool. So smell a bit like a sheep (!). Just sprinkle around plants and they act as a mulch as well. Slugs hate the feel of it on their disgusting slimy alien sucker pod feet and leave plants alone. I got 2 bags for £6 and they lasted me all summer and this year too, and I had the best ever petunias. Yay for the sheep! Link here:
www.greengardener.co.uk/product.asp?id_pc=3&cat=27&id_product=27

Winner, I don't think it's too late for runner bean seeds yet. Try it and see! this seems to agree with me.

Only planted mine last week, really behind this year.

Honestly, just get some straw!

Will pistachio shells work at keeping slugs and snails under control?
I eat a ton of the unsalted ones.

Probably. They don't like straw because of the spiky edges so they may work. Give them a try

Right, pistachios down - slugs beware...

I agree - nematodes are the best. I got a pack of Nemaslug for about £12 from eBay, was enough to do all the flower beds. Will need to do it once again later in the summer.