Slug Wars

[dontdarepokethebear]

The bastards are back.

They have decimated my salvias and daisies. Egg shells and tossing them over the back fence hasn’t deterred them.

What works???

Or should I just give up and tarmac over the garden.

Any slug stopping wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Nematodes work but you have to get the timing right and reapply when they inevitably migrate back.

Only permanent solution is frogs. 🐸 Which are surprisingly easy to cater for.

Maybe a different breed of slugs here but last year they were decimating my onions too!

wow Salvias - never heard them go for that. Mine are growing a storm and I have snails and slugs galore. However I have also never sprayed my garden and know I have toads and also loads of little birds. I feel it's in reasonable ecological balance. I don't bother with lupins or hostas as they do get decimated.

Is your garden well fed (compost etc) and well watered? Plants naturally produce anti-slug etc chemicals when in good health. I've watched caterpillars attack one half of a row of veg plantings before that were desiccated but leave the well watered other half entirely.

NO SLUG PELLETS!!!!! Bird and amphibian killers.

Ducks?

I found the slug spray quite effective, but as with all deterrents you have to be ahead of the game remembering to reapply it after rain.
If I find any slugs or snails I put them in a small container and pour boiling water on them, I then chuck the cooked pests into the border for the birds and hedgehogs!

The old type of wildlife-unfriendly slug pellets is now illegal. But the new ferrous ones are legal and wildlife/cat safe.

Nematodes definitely help, but don't have much effect on snails.

Throwing them over the garden fence is no use. They just come back.

The trouble with pellets is they kill all slugs, including the slugs that eat other slugs. Not all slugs eat new growth either, according to The Good Slug Guide.

I tried a new mix in my slug traps which has worked brilliantly and is cheaper than beer.

Half pint of lukewarm water
2 tablespoons of flour
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tsp of yeast

Mix together in a container and leave somewhere warm for an hour until it starts to ferment (you will see bubbles begin to form on top).

Have you tried Strulch? I've found that a thick ring of that round vulnerable plants or the top of pots does quite well. And if you are only using it for slug prevention rather than a general mulch then a bag goes a long way.

I read on here about a MNer who went out every night with a head torch and a bucket of boiling water. Her DH called it her murder bucket,. Still makes me chuckle but unfortunately I can't bring myself to kill the bastards.

I had such a nightmare last year with slugs and snails on my new allotment that I bought some of these https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1036911908/slug-and-snail-deterrent-x-4-pack-humane - they're little plastic moats that can be filled with salt water to deter, or maybe beer as a trap.
I've not tried them yet so can't recommend for sure. This year seems so far much less extreme compared to last year, when, for example all the flowers were eaten from my little daffodils. Mainly I've been buying 'slug-resistant' perennials though!
(I just realised my new user name fits this thread!)

Where are people finding nematodes please? I haven’t found them in stock anywhere yet.

Yep not back in stock until late May....

I dug a small pond last year in my garden and I have frogs using it now.

I have noticed a reduction in slugs this year so I assume the frogs have been eating them!

After last year's nightmare I ordered mine as a course in December.

However early impressions are that the slugs are definitely not dead.

yep normally in stock from mid May - can only be used once soil is a certain temperature

Oh that’s interesting about the dates thanks. I thought I read you needed to start using them in March/ April, maybe I am confused

Mostly plant things they don't destroy but I do want some variety in the garden. I am waging war on slugs this year, we are plagued by them. Due wet conditions and the fact that we have a lot of wild areas around the garden where we leave to wildlife. Great for birds and hedgehogs but also creates breeding grounds for slugs.

I have a large jar and go out with a torch and old gardening gloves on and collect them all in a jar. I then fill the jar with freshly boiled water. Instant death.
Beer traps work well but you have to keep emptying and refilling them every few nights and when you have a big garden you need so many of them so I've given up on that method.

We really need to put a pond in. I might just do a mini one for now in the hope of attracting more newts etc. We already have newts around as sometimes find the odd one under leaves or in long grass. They only eat the small slugs though. I don't think much eats the big ones. I'm trying to reduce the population singlehandedly like a mad woman. Got to the age where I don't care if the neighbours see me out with my torch. So far this year, my plants are doing much better with the deslugging most nights!

depends which beast you are destroying. chafer grubs nematodes are used in autumn i think to start with. but slugs is mid may ish then through summer couple more times i find. you have to keep using every 6 weeks or so through the summer while it is warm.

Pond with frogs, encouraging birds, and Strulch works for me at home and allotment. Also not growing plants they like to eat from seed sown directly, potting them on until they are stronger. I have several compost bins that I think helps as they prefer to eat rotting plant material. I actually don't even think about slugs anymore now and I grow a lot of veg.

Nematodes work well as does encouraging birds or fostering a hedgehog.

Chickens, I have no slugs in my back garden now. I also have no nice plants as the girls eat them as well. Sorry.🐓

In my garden I tend to avoid plants I know will get eaten, dahlias, hostas, bedding plants. The slimy horrors eat practically everything else.

All the plants they do eat I tend to put in pots now and I bought heavy duty pot rings so that the large pots don't sit anywhere near the ground. This has worked for the past two years. I'm doing the same this year too.

I did find smearing vaseline around the rim of the pot and then pressing sharp grit into the gel worked quite well too when I had my hostas in a pot. Kept them relatively of damage all season.

Squares of wet cardboard. Leave them out overnight flat on the ground, esp. near vulnerable plants. Turn them over in the morning and deal with the slugs that thought they were a good hiding place. You can drop the slugs in water with a good squirt of washing up liquid to kill them if, like me, you're too squeamish to squish them. Or rehome them.