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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Slug and snail help!

49 replies

PurpleWisteria1 · 17/04/2023 14:45

Pretty much every plant I have put in my garden over the last few years has been totally munched by snails. On some plant every leaf of gone as soon as they come.
we have a cat so need something that won’t harm her.
Is there anything that’s actually effective to get rid of slugs and snails but pet friendly? please say there is!

OP posts:
Custardbanana · 17/04/2023 14:50

Nemetodes

Pootles34 · 17/04/2023 14:58

Yes exactly nematodes are your friends. My hostas weren't touched last year! They are a bit of a faff, so allow a bit of time to do the treatment when they arrive, but they are great. Now is the perfect time.

AppleTree16 · 17/04/2023 15:15

Nematodes and copper rings for the bigger plants

PleaseJustText · 17/04/2023 15:37

Nematodes for slugs and then picking up the snails after rain. I put the snails in our garden waste bin.

DRS1970 · 17/04/2023 15:38

Crunched up egg shells scattered around the base of affected plants also helps keep them off.

PleaseJustText · 17/04/2023 15:39

Also these plants might be good.

Slug and snail help!
Slug and snail help!
Original poster
PurpleWisteria1 · 17/04/2023 16:02

Thanks so much for the replies. I will look into nematodes. Tried cracked shells before but they are literally all over every bed both front and back so just too much to scatter. I have very narrow beds against walls so putting copper round doesn’t work either as the snails just crawl up the walls onto the leaves.
mMy rodedendron has been decimated. Cost me a fortune. Pretty much every plant except lavender and wisteria is eaten!

OP posts:
WildFlowerBees · 17/04/2023 16:05

Nemasays for slugs, I did it 2 weeks ago and have seen very few slugs since. Hedgehog food is safe again!

Original poster
PurpleWisteria1 · 17/04/2023 16:23

Humm looking at the nematodes I think they are for slugs mainly? I think my main problem is snails as I see them everywhere! There will be slugs too I’m sure at night. Do nemotodes work for snails too?
Also I’m a bit squeamish about the thought of microscopic worms 😝 I guess any pellets on the market are harmful to pets?

OP posts:
MerylSqueak · 17/04/2023 16:28

The nematodes are just for slugs as they go in the soil. I'm trying grit around my hostas this year. So far it's fine but Gardener's world says it's not effective

GlassBunion · 17/04/2023 16:50

This year I'm going to lay down Strulch which is an organic type of mulch that is apparently quite effective against slugs.

It's also supposed to be better than bark chippings as a mulch.

I'm planning on spreading it all around but layering it a bit more thickly near slug loving plants.

Fingers crossed .

And I'm also not a fan of nematodes. The thought of them makes me feel a bit queasy as I like to pick and eat produce as I wonder around plus you have to be judicious about applying it.

Gloriousgardener11 · 17/04/2023 16:59

I've been successful with grit mixed with sharp sand around my hostas.
Never tried nematodes, I still have a tub of slug pellets, now banned, but those are for special occasions!

Geneticsbunny · 18/04/2023 13:58

If you encourage birds and frogs they will eat the slugs and snails. Can you put a mini pond in anywhere?

Cuppa2sugars · 18/04/2023 19:48

I’ve never tried nematodes as I’ve heard you have to apply to the exact instructions, I’d like more info on where to get them and how you use them.

My secret weapon is garlic spray. crushed bulb of garlic boiled in 1 litre of water for 10 mins, sieve and pour into spray bottle. Yes, you do have to squirt every plant that you don’t want eaten several times. But it works.

im starting to grow salads not sure how I’m going to get round things not getting eaten as I don’t want my lettuces tasting of garlic 🤪

Justmuddlingalong · 18/04/2023 19:54

Scissors, a torch and a strong stomach. 🤮

lightlypoached · 18/04/2023 19:58

Nemotodes work. Also put a deep layer of sharp sand approx 15cm around the plants. That works and also makes the soil more free draining

Bonus

Bideshi · 18/04/2023 20:02

Nematodes work. So does a torch and a bucket. Beer traps are good. But I solved the problem by going organic. The bird, frog, toad and hedgehog population prospered and they look after things for me. It's the best option for a large garden where sufficient nematodes would be out of the question.

Sparklynewname · 18/04/2023 22:37

I was going to start a thread about this myself.
Last year I had a bucket with about 3” of water in the bottom and went round the garden constantly picking up snails and putting them in the bucket. DH was horrified at my murder bucket but I lose £££££s worth of plants.
We barely had any slugs last year but we think we had hedgehogs. No sign of them this year and I don’t know where they would nest. Last year they were under the shed but we got a new shed which is lower to the ground now.
We have huge crows around here… I was wondering if there is any way that I could create a slug/snail platter for them? My Labrador goes bananas when she sees one though so I don’t know what to do.

Original poster
PurpleWisteria1 · 18/04/2023 23:18

Geneticsbunny · 18/04/2023 13:58

If you encourage birds and frogs they will eat the slugs and snails. Can you put a mini pond in anywhere?

We have a pond already. Not many birds because of the cat. Occasionally see a toad but sometimes that’s squeeling as it’s been cornered by the cat.
Garden isn’t that big- medium size.
Im not sure how to make it organic? I don’t put anything down which wouldn’t make it so?
We live in a detached house but on an estate with lots of other houses so not really seen any hedgehogs

OP posts:
Original poster
PurpleWisteria1 · 18/04/2023 23:20

I will look into the garlic- good idea!
Unfortunately I won’t be able to directly kill anything living ie bucket of water. Slug pellets give me huge guilt but at least I’m not there to witness the end

OP posts:
Geneticsbunny · 19/04/2023 07:40

You could try beer traps? Bury jam jars up to surface level and put an inch of beer in the bottom.

For hedgehogs you need hedgehog holes in your fences/walls so they can roam over several gardens.

We have loads of cats in our garden and still get plenty of birds. We have shrubs and trees that they can hide in.

Muststopeating · 19/04/2023 09:33

I was also going to suggest Strulch... I bought it as mulch but one of its big claims is a deterrent to slugs and snails. I've just put it down so can't attest to whether it works or not.

I did wonder what people did with the slugs/snails that they pick off on the dead of night. Murder bucket answers that question. (Dread to think what PP did with the scissors).

I'm with you on can't kill directly so can see myself putting a bucket of slugs/snails in the car and rehoming them in the woods. Luckily for everyone involved we don't have too much of a problem yet... Though my daffodil flowers have been munched so this may be changing plus I am now planting lots of young things for the first time.

BigglyBee · 19/04/2023 09:50

I use Strulch, but only in areas which are enclosed with windproof netting, because otherwise it just blows away (very exposed garden in very windy area). It works really well and looks a bit fancy too!

In other areas, I have reduced the snail populations by collecting snails (daffodil clumps seem to be a favourite hiding place) and feeding them to my ducks. I also mulch with anything sharp or rough that I can get my hands on. We have sheep and the wool is worth less than nothing (shearing costs are far greater than price paid for the wool) so we keep the fleeces and use them in the garden. Some are used as an excellent mulch around fruit trees and rhubarb plants, and others are buried in bean trenches.

I have only used nematodes in my polytunnel, but they worked really well there. I once had some pet giant African land snails which got nematodes and died (I used the wrong compost by mistake) so maybe nematodes for slugs would work, I don't know. They might need different ones. (Scratch that, the RHS website says they can be affected but are less likely to come into contact with the nematodes because they spend more time on the surface.)

Wildwood6 · 19/04/2023 10:04

I feel your pain! Copper rings at the base of small plants and garlic spray do help, as do night patrols, gruesome as it is! I couldn't face it to start with either, but if you lose enough plants it definitely strengthens your resolve! My slugs and snails end up in the green waste bin too. I've never had much luck with egg shells personally. I now research any plant I'm thinking of buying to see if they're appealing to slugs and snails, and I have to REALLY like a plant to buy it if the slugs and snails have a taste for it. With these plants I'll often start them in pots and then put them in the ground once they're a bit bigger and tougher, with a copper ring around the base.

On the plus side, I've discovered lots of plants that slugs and snails don't particularly seem to have a taste for- roses, gaura, rosemary, lavender, poppies, erigeron, vibunums, honeysuckles, lily of the valley, nigella, peonies, cosmos and fushias all seem to not appeal to them.

goldenshoe · 19/04/2023 13:59

The only thing I've found to work is beer traps but I've not used them for years as I hate killing the things (and I'm not actually sure beer traps are legal!). So I bought a cheap pair of wooden tongs from Tiger and go around every night with them removing and relocating all the slugs I find, we get horrible big ones and I can't bring myself to pick them up barehanded!

They usually only eat my young dahlias and hostas, but they really massacred them last year so I'll plant them out later this year in the hope that a more substantial plant is too much effort for them. I might give nematodes a shot.