'slug proof' plants

[Imicola]

I don't know what the deal is with the slugs and snails in my garden, but they are devouring my plants selected for their 'slug proof' reputation! Pulmonaria and astrantia can't get beyond a couple of tiny leaves before they are decimated. Hellebore flowers are all gone, but at least the leaves are intact.

So far roses, geranium, aquilegia, Japanese anemone, astilbe are surviving.

Have tried coffee grounds and egg shells which didn't help, and also some slug granules which are really ugly and also haven't helped.

Anyone else have slugs and snails with odd tastes? Have just ordered some more plants so I hope they can survive! Sweet box, more geraniums, cyclamen, vinca, heuchera, and bergenia. Was hoping for a flower filled garden this year, but so far progress isn't great!

Snails seem very keen on my tomato seedlings. I think they go off them if I can get them big enough.

@FusionChefGeoff, it looks like WitchWindows has already answered most of your question.

The only thing I’d add to that is that the nematode packaging says to apply nematodes every six weeks, but I’ve found that applying once in early Spring and once in Autumn is enough to keep the issue under control. The early Spring application gives my plants a good chance to get established and the Autumn application is to stop them coming back in huge numbers in Spring. I may do another application around April/May if I notice a lot of damage.

Nematodes can’t survive in hot weather, so it doesn’t make much sense to me to keep applying them over July and August, although I’m sure the manufacturers would love us to 😉

Applying nematodes is not an exact science. It makes most sense to do it during, or after it rains as that will actually encourage the slugs to come out. Nematodes don’t have a particularly long life span, so you want to hit the slug & snails with the nematodes as quickly as possible.

I’d also make sure you get your nematodes from a reputable supplier as they need to be kept cold, dispatched quickly etc to maximise the chances of them working

A thick strulch mulch has helped my slug/snail problem massively. Plus I recently tried the garlic recipe someone posted on here on my hostas, with remarkable results!

Oh I meant to link to strulch:

www.strulch.co.uk/

snapdragons
& put out beer traps - they die happy & hedgehogs love beer flavoured slugs & snails (I have visions of hedgehogs the next day with head aches from hangovers - saying "never again"

Do frogs really eat slugs and snails?

They must be like a third of their size? That's like me eating a giant cake.

This year I’ve tried to not apply pellets again hoping that things will balance themselves out. I did put down a few organic ones early spring but felt guilty and haven’t done it again. And actually, it’s not been too bad this year. I have loads of self seeded sunflowers, maybe 15. Some got munched (it’s so sad when you go and check in the morning and there’s just a leafless stalk and some slime) but the other seedlings have been left. So now I’m trying to think more about sacrificial plants. Salads and suchlike. They seem to love sunflower seedlings. Also, not planting out small seedlings without protecting them. I put a half plastic bottle cloche over small seedlings at night. I’ve just put in a pond so hope to get some frogs maybe next year. We have slow worms around here so that’s good. And I’m going to put a hole in our fence for a hedgehog highway soon. If there’s any about. But the things that don’t get touched are lavender, crocosmia, milky bellflower, fuschias, iris, meadow cranesbill, California poppies, astilbe, jasmine, acidanthera.

I am psychotic about slugs and snails. I've done nematodes from the green gardener, which I think reduced them overall but this year they started to get to my dahlias so I got out the sluggo pellets (non harmful) and scattered a million around. Twice. Seems to be working. But (don't judge me) I will also kill them with a bamboo skewer.

Little fuckers (snails) ate the flower buds on one of my amazing acanthus Millie's rue Ledan so it probably won't flower. Not happy. It's neighbour will. I had no idea why there were no flower spikes on it.

There is almost no such thing as a snail or slug proof plant - and they also shelter under so called safe plants. If you can bear to go out at night with a torch you can get a lot of them. Then it's sluggo and nematodes too. Show no mercy. It's them or your plants