Cheapest and most effective way to protect dahlias from slugs

[S3agr0v394686]

Any recommendations?

Thanks for this thread. I grew dahlias for the first time last year and had to dig them up because they got munched to nothing. I’ve actually started them in growth already and I’m planning to grow them indoors until about May. I might keep them in pots as that’s what I had to do for most of them after I dug them up. Been eyeing up Shell on Earth to top the pots. I was so excited last year that I planted them out when they were too small. I used Strulch around them which didn’t make a huge difference but looked lovely. The idea of nematodes creep me out but I’m starting to think it’s the only option… I was going to order these too: www.sarahraven.com/products/ferric-phosphate-sluggo

Diy garlic spray works a treat, but you need to always not forget to reapply after rain. I also do slug/snail patrols in the evenings

You can also pop the raw egg in the soil, as a fertiliser.

I like the look of slug rings, and have ordered some. I made my own last year using old plastic supermarket fruit trays and copper tape and they worked well but were a bit of a faff.

I had some success with nematodes, but they are very expensive to do the full treatment. You are right, you need rain for them to work well, last year was hopeless.

I made a spray of garlic and washing up liquid to use on blackfly but then thought I wonder if it would work to keep slugs off my dahlias, and it did! You do need to spray after rain but it really did help stop them all being eaten.
I also bought a wildlife friendly slug repellent barrier pellets to put around the plants when I first planted them and they were getting eaten.
However, my very first attempt to deter them was to cut rings from old plant pots and slather in Vicks vapour rub and that did seem to deter them quite a bit.
I didn't want slug pellets as I have a dog and we get hedgehogs in the garden, and if birds ate the poisoned slugs then they would be harmed as well. Plus, even though I don't like slugs, they have as much right to the garden as I do, and they do help eat other unwanted plants, and some slugs (Leopard) eat other slugs.

nematodes is the v best thing for slugs.

When do you start to do it?

I've used strulch and it's great, but we can only use it on an area which has windproof netting around it, because it's very light and will otherwise be blown away in the first bit of wind. It's also a bit pricey.
Anything sharp will do the job, really, so crushed shells, gravel, coir, whatever you can get. This is a bit niche, but we also use raw wool on our (huge) rhubarb patch, and it works brilliantly, both as a mulch and to keep down slugs and snails. Any that we do find are fed to the ducks.

I believe it's once the soil is 5°, so the organisms can start to multiply in the soil. It's been pretty warm so far this season, I'm planning mine from mid March but depends where you are!

Nematodes, but only if you repeat it several times - and it's not cheap. Other than that, vigilance and murdering the little bastards when you see them.

1 bulb of garlic to 1 pint of water, boil it up to a mush, and sieve. use the garlic juice in a spray bottle, can water it down if you want.

I find spraying the plants regularly with this keeps rabbits, slugs, greenfly and black fly away.

My slugs don't give a toss about eggshells, they glide over them whilst giving me the middle finger.