How to keep slugs off plants

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I'm not allowed to kill the slugs.

I'm trying to grow vegetables for the first time ever, but my broccoli has been eaten. I'm assuming it's slugs but I haven't seen them so it might not be. They've also gone after my tomato plants.

I've got some copper slug tape which I've put around my things in pots, but I need something for the ones that are in the ground. My partner won't let me kill them, so things like slug pellets aren't an option.

I’ve heard egg shells around the plant can help. I’ve not tried it though - I use beer in a tub, would your dp let you kill them if they were drunk first?

Is there a reason that your partner doesn't want to kill them? Would a more natural alternative to slug pellets, like nematodes (microscopic worms), be an option? They sorted out our slug problem.

We used crushed eggshells. Works a treat.

Can't you kill them without telling your partner? Or just lob them hard in the direction of the garden of a neighbour you don't like? Otherwise you can surround each plant with something sharp and crunchy, like gravel, smashed up pots and crockery etc. Slugs don't like to slither over crunchy stuff. They also don't like to move over dry ground, so as they mostly come out at night, water your plants first thing in the morning. Failing all that, use slug pellets.

Watching for ideas.

Crushed eggshells are not working for me 😫

Slug pellets are bad. The slug eats it, then the hedgehog eats the slug, and the hedgehog dies a horrible painful death. Go out at night, pick up the slugs and squash or remove. Beer traps also work well.

crushed egg shells work to a point. also coffe grounds.

best thing is strong plants though.

Apparently they also hate ground coffee, so you can put that around the plants. Obviously fresh ground coffee rather than instant.

I use beer traps so they die happy.

Try to attract birds and hedgehogs to eat the slugs.

The most efficient imo: Go out at night with a torch, collect them all and chop them in half and feed to the chickens relocate them to somewhere nice and happy where they can live to old age.

Death is all that works. Copper
Tape & egg shells they will conquer. Beer is hit & miss. Water they get out of & taking them down the road, they'll be back in 3 days max.

I've given up caring about their rights as they've destroyed so much of my stuff.

Used nematodes this year - that was a mistake, think they are now eating my buxus roots!

I now pick them up when it's dark & drown them in soapy water

I found some nice fat ones when I moved some pots today.

How can I encourage the birds to eat them do you think?? I tried putting them in a small basket we've got hanging off a tree but they all slithered our!!

I had a year in my old house where I had literally hundreds....
I used to go out at night and use dishwasher salt.
Maybe not the nicest way for them to die, but it worked.

Nematodes, frogs and newts are natural predators so build a little pond and buy some nematodes. Although you are still killing them it is only indirectly.

Also suggest having a pond, even a teeny one, plus a compost heap, if you attract predators you will have far fewer pest problems.

Why can't you kill them,they are killing your plants
Egg shells they laugh at,coffee grounds are better as a compost accelerator.The best way is a touch at night,collect them in a plastic container,do it night after night then sent them to landfill in your bin to live a happy life out of your garden.
After the last dry spell we collected over 150 snails off the patio,paths,walls of our small garden when it rained in 30 mins.
But strong plants resist pests.Ive never lost tomat plants to slugs but my carrot seedlings were chomped this year and a fewcucumber seedlings.

Copper tape and crushed egg shells

A cup dug into your soil with some beer in it.

I didn't find that coffee grounds, egg shells or copper tape made much difference. The slug problem here has improved since a frog took up residence in the pond, but I've just lost a lot of young veg plants so will be trying the garlic spray tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

The RHS has done some trials into slug prevention. Their conclusion is that the coffee grounds, eggshells, copper tape etc don't work. They recommend slug pellets, nematodes, or going out at night with a torch and collecting them. They don't make any suggestions as to what to do with them when collected

A few years ago on Springwatch or similar, they had time lapse video of slugs at night

The blighters actually abseiled down on a string of slime into plants

That's when I gave up on strawberries

Beer traps every time. Killing kindly.

The newer ferric sulphate slug pellets are not dangerous to wildlife and are effective. Not the blue metaldehyde ones.

Beer traps every time. Killing kindly. Unfortunately they are indiscriminate and also kill ground beetles which are positive in the garden.

I believe the metaldehyde slug pellets have been withdrawn from sale.

I need to check the latest, but my (hazy) recollection is that the ban on metaldehyde pellets was imposed and then lifted. Somewhere I have a tub of the non-metaldehyde pellets but I'm holding off using them.

I haven't used beer traps for years, either, but the advice used to be to install them with the rim a bit above ground level, to stop beetles falling in.

Article from July 2019 about the lifting of the ban