Eco way to kill snails and slugs

[posalie]

I posted this earlier in Chat and was sent here to find the real experts 😊

What's an eco way to kill snails and slugs? We inherited a beautiful garden, and it's just full of snails (and some slugs) at the moment. The previous owner had lots of slug pellets and similar, but we're worried these will also harm hedgehogs and other wildlife. Is there an eco way to kill them?

(I know some people prefer not to kill them at all, but I need to kill them I'm afraid.)

I don't think so. Nematodes are specific to species. The ones that work on slugs are different to the ones that work on vine wevils or chafer grubs.

I did email the nematode manufacturer to specifically ask about hedgehogs and just got a stock reply. I also asked the rescue (this was when the nematodes first came out) about it and they said don’t use anything to kill them as it will get into their food chain.
Which makes sense to me, so I have avoided them just in case.

i should think now nematode use is pretty wide spread they will have a better idea if they do have an affect on wildlife’s food chain.

Egg shells! Collect them, bake to sterilise and then put in a food processor to finely crush them and then spread around the base of your plants

I've seen slug pellets claiming to be 'organic' and safe for pets and wildlife (apart from slugs and snails presumably!)... Always been a bit sceptical about these... Does anyone know anything about them?

I'm not so sure about the food processor advice. Egg shells are tougher than plastic so your processor bowl dies a death by a thousand tiny cuts. Use a pestle and mortar instead, it's not much effort.

The old metaldhyde slug pellets are now banned, these are the ones that are really bad for wildlife. Slug pellets on sale now, often labelled "organic" are an iron compound. They are much better but probably not harmless to birds/hedgehogs.

However you control slugs you are basically killing them, either directly or by stopping them getting to food.

I'd suggest having a blitz with the iron based slug pellets and then switching to prevention methods like sprays, regular slug patrols with a torch to pick them off and cutting back undergrowth and removing pots and other places where they can hide close to the plants you want to protect.

They still kill wildlife, just do it slower

I've just read a new one - bran. Apparently they gorge on that.

These are the things I have found helpful.

a - Beer traps. They fall in and drown.

b - Make sure there is a hedgehog-sized gap in your fence, so that the local population can find their way into your garden and have a feast.

c - For snails: go out into the garden on a damp evening armed with a torch, some gloves and a bucket. Pick up all the snails you can find and take them to a wild area and dump them there. It needs to be quite a long way, as they have a homing instinct believe it or not, so the other side of a river or a busy main road would be ideal.

e - Encourage blackbirds and thrushes into your garden.

Not tried it myself but you can buy nematodes which seek and destroy.

@evilpea do you mean the iron pellets still kill things like hedghogs but more slowly???? If so that's awful and how can they market them as being pet or wildlife safe????

Sadly so, the slower part is the fact that they have to ingest more to have an affect, but if you and your neighbours happen to use them that’s a lot of poisoned slugs around.

I heard on Gardener's World (though I now can't find any source to back it up) that snails and slugs increase their breeding when there aren't many other slugs and snails around, and so most attempts to reduce their populations are pointless as they just cause a rise in breeding.

This chimes with my own experience whenever I've moved into a new house, I've had the most unbelievable slug year. In all cases I have found things in the garden suggesting the previous owner used slug pellets and I don't, suggesting some kind of rebound effect - slugs have a mega breeding year in response to being poisoned, but when the pellets are stopped to populations briefly go beserk. The first year stopping killing slugs and snails is a nightmare but it's always been much more normal in subsequent years, so hold your nerve and wait for it all to settle if you can.

Some of the techniques mentioned on here work a bit (nematodes, garlic, possibly copper tape) most don't really. I take the view that if it's not going to work anyway, why waste time gathering them in a bucket or crushing eggshells. I save my energy for weeding feeding watering and pruning which is ultimately doing my garden more good than pursuing endless home remedies against the buggers.

I have quite a few pots on my patio and some snails were eating the plants. I just couldn't bear to kill them so I ended up putting a few old lettuce leaves and cucumber slices around the pots in the evening so they ate them instead. I don't know if this a good idea but they stopped eating my plants. They didn't multiply in numbers and seemed to be the same gang.

Same. What's eco about killing nature? It's like saying 'What's the vegetarian way to cook meat?'

Of course you can kill snails in an eco way vs. non-eco way. There's nothing oxymoronic about it at all. Just like there's an eco-friendly way to farm animals vs. non-eco. The end result is still killing animals for meat.

Thank you to everyone who's made suggestions. I've had enough of the judgmental comments now, so will take my leave.