slugs and snails are decimating all my veg-help!

[ProperLavs]

They are eating my sweetcorn, they have completely eaten all my courgette plants and nearly all my beans. I have tried grazers, but it made no difference. I am reluctant to use pellets as I have a cat and there are lots of birds in the garden. Is there anything that works? last year this wasn't an issue but this year.....

I've got the same problem, little buggers keep mauling every single new shoot on my not yet established akebia vine. I'm waiting for some slug nematodes to arrive, (harmless to pets, I have cats too) but in desperation put some pellets in my pots. Also surrounded the akebia with so much copper tape it looks like it's trying to fend off alien mind-readers! I have also resorted to hunting them in the dark with a torch, putting them in a bag and stamping on them. I am way past any guilt.

I use a combination of beer traps and what I call 'slug bucketing '.That is rubber gloves,a bucket of salty water and picking as many off as possible.Seems revolting at first but weirdly satisfying I go out in the evening usually, especially if it's rained.I did try nematodes one year,and reports of their use are good,but for the size of our garden it would cost a lot to do regularly.

snuggle did that help? I used to skewer the buggers with a garden fork. The big ones popped in the most delicious way!

Nematodes are your answer. You can get them from Amazon.

A boundary of dog hair. Make friends with someone with a long haired dog.

Or get chickens or frogs. Both eat slugs

I had a huge problem as I find slugs really interesting (studied them in college) & couldn't bring myself to kill them. Tried to let the chickens do some pest control but they ate veg and slugs. Gave up in the end. I'm thinking of planting cabbage just to see the slugs & caterpillars!

I suppose the problems using chickens is that they are out to bed just as the slugs come out for dinner.

They hunt them down. Chickens are merciless

I used Nemaslug when I had an allotment and really rated it. Nemaslug contains a specific species of nematode: Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita and is safe to use with food. It will not harm animals pets or children

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Ive got an abundance of the buggers, slugs and snails. I've tried wool pellets, cinnamon, organic squirty stuff, copper tape, sharp gravel - fuckers still decimating my hollyhocks and phlox and shredded a new hosta. I've declared war - little blue pellets it is, plus going out every night hunting and dropping the slimy little beasts in salted water. Can't quite bring myself to kill the snails though so I've currently got a big carton of those that I am not quite sure what to do with!!

Nematodes. Used them last summer and had slug free growing; and going to buy some again this week as they have just started coming back.

Though it won’t help you this year, if you keep collecting them and removing them from your garden (I take the ones I collect to waste ground about 200m away) you should notice a reduction in the population next year.

Thanks all. I i am dreading gong out and string what has gone on last night.

This was mentioned on GW last night, but my friend does this and she says it works especially with Hostas. An easier option than the GW tip: Plastic spray bottle, tube of garlic paste. Boil a kettle, pour boiling water over a good squirt of paste in a glass jug, stir until it dissolves. Cool, put in spray bottle and spray Hosta leaves. Friend uses it on everything. She says it is cheap, effective and natural.
Keeps vampires away too!

That garlic trick sounds interesting, I’m totally going to give it a go! Snails have decimated my brand new cordyline and I am not pleased.

I've ordered my next batch of nematodes. i've tried every other solution in the book and this is the only one that actually works.

I make collars out of plastic bottles and put them around the base of newly planted snail food beans and courgettes. Then I put blue pellets inside the plastic ring so quite hard for birds to get at. I pick up the bodies and bury them.

oh that's clever. I will do that. I have five remaining bean plants out of 12.

Copper tape has been amazing for me on all of my pots.

DH was out at 4.30 on a slug hunt! He hand picked and disposed of them. This is war!
He’s off to bed now, ready to attack again tomorrow.

Hi, chipping in on the slug/snail thing: this year I’ve carpeted around the vulnerable plants with roughlycrushed eggshells and it’s work brilliantly! Better than anything I’ve ever tried, and free too.

Another vote for nematodes here.

Remaining plants are big enough to fend for themselves now. All advice taken on board 🙂

Wool pellets. Organic. Unpleasant for the little darlings to slime over.