do slug pellets (the proper ones that work) really harm wildlife?

[Fillyjonk]

both my allotment neighbours use them ANYWAY

we have seen frogs and hedgehogs on the plot, and think they may be nesting, BUT they are clearly not eating the b*stards as every sodding year all my stuff is eaten. even the bloody tomatoes were eaten last year.

have tried all the usuals.

nemotodes no good-soil is far, far too clayey (we are working to improve it but...takes time)

am considering a pond but have 3 kids under 5, incl a newborn who will be toddling next year.

so I want to put pellets down but don't want to kill baby hedgehogs...

my guess is yes.

nuclear i expect.

oh dear

wtf do i do then?

we caught well over 100 in EACH beer trap at the w/e

And its only march...

check out the organic gardening catalogue for non harmful methods.
Slugstoppa does work but beer traps are the best IME.
Most slug pellets will poison the animals that eat them I'm afraid, so try to get your neighbours using something less toxic.

lots of beertraps then? and don't onions and garilc put them off? and eggshells?

nah have tried it all, have been there nearly 10 years, doing it organically

am thinking its time to pack it in, I don't want to kill hedgehogs but I am getting nothing off the plot.

its very dispiriting. There are so bloody many of them.

Slug pellets poison slugs and everything else that goes near them.

I have a slug & worm phobia, and my old house had a large-scale slug infestation problem.

Tried beer traps, didnt kill enough

Tried salt, didn't kill enough and we decided it was too cruel

In the end I had to overcome my phobia for the following highly effective organic method:

1. Scoop up all slugs in area with trowel, deposit in heap on patio

1. Ruthlessly, and without emotion, take a sharp trowel or implement and quickly, cleanly slice each one in half - so quick they won't know what's happening.

1. Get dh/dp to scoop up in bag and bin/feed to birds

1. Go indoors, pray for forgiveness and/or drink a very large G&T

Filly, one of the problems you may be having is that you can clear you patch but not everyone elses.

Perhaps you could bury some copper sheet or tape into the edge of your plot THEN apply nematodes, beer traps, bran traps etc. The copper will stop others straying onto your patch and once you have killed the ones within you will see a result.

good plan marmadule but I actually have a double plot. I mean, its HUGE.

mh-I do that, yes. These bastards eat ready-to-plant-out tomatoes. They are not really normal slugs.

What I think MIGHT work is to go and use hugh f w s trick of cutting them up but I am not allowed on the plot after dark (and bizarely this is enforced as the site secretary lives very close-I mean, who cares fgs)

Ferrous phosphate! I found this last year - apparently not harmful to other wildlife, it's a naturally occuring fertilizer, but it kills slugs and snails.

Worked like a charm in my garden.

where do you find ferrous phosphate? Is is ok for kids in the garden?

The box says it is, sure. You can buy it at garden centres and Homebase - the brand name is "Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer" (here).