Slugs! TW for very foul and sluggist language!

[TonTonMacoute]

Fucking bastarding cunting slugs. I hate them so much. The RHS can fuck off with their 'slugs are our friends' crap. 'They only eat your lovely new seedlings because there's nothing else, they really prefer dead and rotting vegetation' says the Good Slug Guide. Really? Well you could have bloody well fooled me!

I thought it might be better this year as it's been so dry, but no. They have just demolished overnight all my cosmos that I planted out. I waited until the plants were a good size and they have just been felled. As for my dahlias, aaaargh.

I am literally on the verge of tears here. Fucking, fucking bastards...

Have you tried oats? Small piles of oats (not too near precious plants or they might snack there first). Slugs and snails love them, they swell and dehydrate the critters, who are then too lethargic to move or die - the birds then eat them, ready stuffed Slugs! It is endorsed by the RHS and I was gobsmacked at how well it works. If you go out with a torch after dark you will find a slug party on every little pile.

I will trade your garden slugs for the ones that come into my bedroom every night! I live in a bungalow so bedroom is downstairs and I think the slugs have infested the 5ft floor space under the building which is designed to take excess water from the marshy land the properties are built on. I have seen small thin ones sliming up through the tiny gap between the floor boards and the wall, where the carpet is fitted.

They then go on to have a party under my bed judging by the slime trails I can see!

Ive tried wedging copper wire into the gap ( can barely see it so hard to get the wire mesh into it), natural sprays on the skirting boards and sleeping with the light on.

I am reluctant to lay a line of salt or slug pellets in the bedroom as I don’t want the slugs to “ explode” yellow gunge over my brand new carpets!

I’ve not spotted any yet this year but was just thinking today when to expect them, I was hoping to get a few more weeks before my sleepless nights begin.

Note my user name, this has been an issue for about four years so I adopted this name when the invasion began!

Ughhhh I feel your pain. Tried all sorts, including creating beds of my own hair around precious seedlings... I've seen on reddit that some people make DIY electrified rings - this 100% works, but I just can't be arsed. Next year I'm planting stuff they definitely don't like.

I planted some plants last year in a nice high pot, that had a gap between the floor and the base of the pot. I put copper tape round the pot.

I think someone must have sneaked out and put a sign "slugs this way" because I came out that evening to find them lining up, all making a beeline for the pot.
I gave up and put salt out.

They are absolute cocking arseholes aren't they. After losing my salvias, sunflowers, cosmos and marigolds to them I've just lost it and been out in the rain in my pyjamas cutting them all in half whilst swearing at them. I've turned into one of those mad old women children are scared of.

Go out at about 10pm and pick them all up and throw them into a neighbours garden who you don't like.....not talking through experience 🫣

I used these one year. My dogs ate the lot! 😂😂😂

After the bastards ate 10 lupins in a single night, I discovered that they don’t like corten steel.

When I find any slugs or snails I put them in a small bucket then pour boling water on them. Then the 'cooked' molluscs are put out for the birds.
I am also in constant battle with the red lily beetle, decimating my oriental lillies. The little buggers are bright red and easy to spot, but I am obsessed with catching them and I have at least a dozen lillies in pots.
It's like having a full time job!

I see your bastard slugs OP and raise you fucking leather jackets. Those sneaky fuckers ruined DH’s lovingly manicured lawn 🤬

I’ve had fairly good results with garlic water - my dahlias are much less chewed this year - but I’ve mostly given up on anything that’s appealing to slugs. The hostas are imprisoned in hanging baskets and this is my last year growing cosmos from seed as, even though I waited until they were hefty plants before I planted them out, they’ve been reduced to rubble.

Garlic water has worked wonders on my Hostas, at last they’re living long enough to flower.
Thanks pp for the tip about oats.

Oh @Ihateslugs that sounds horrible. We used to find them in the house but since we had new doors and windows the slimy bastards can't get in.

@AdoraBell it's difficult to explain to non gardeners how enraging this damage is. You try and garden in a wildlife friendly way and this is how the little sods repay you!

Definitely going to try oats!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I've had a couple of red mist sessions too!

Sodding aphids have wrecked my potatoes too so I've been madly spraying soapy water everywhere. DH said it reminded him of Apocalypse Now - I love the smell of Fairy Liquid in the morning...

😂

Nematodes around slug-attracting plants.

Large bowl of beer to attract them away from the plants. Tiptoe out early in the morning for a mass slaughter with salt.

A drastic solution - get ducks or hens.

I too cut them in half, as it's the only way to ensure they are really dead. I try not to use salt because it can be dangerous for frogs, toads etc to eat the salt contaminated fuckers.

Cutting them in half is best done when it's nearly dark, and I'm out there in my pajamas. Neighbours already think I'm mad.
But I read recently that the average size garden has tens of thousands of slugs, so are we fighting a lost battle?

Yes, it’s because there are 2000 slugs in every cubic metre of soil (or whatever the statistic is) that I decided my attempts at slug Armageddon (Slugageddon?) were futile and pointless.

I’m still waiting for the bedroom invasion to begin - downstairs bedroom! I’m not sure when slugs start appearing in large numbers, although I kind of think my unwanted visitors are babies so maybe I need to research when they breed!

Was away for a week and dreaded the damage the buggers would do in my absence especially since the forecast was for a rainy week.
Strangely, things were mostly intact on my return yesterday. Dahlias and hostas in pots waiting to be planted out were spared somehow.
I noticed last night a few snails on my garlic but didn’t see any slugs. Fingers crossed that this will last!

Those of you cutting them in half have stomachs of steel!!! 😂

Needs must. The slugs, on the other hand, have stomachs of brown goo.

I have pretty much given up for this season, although I have managed to get hold of some nematodes at last.

However, I don't want to give up completely and found this video incredibly useful. I think he's the guy who is on the Jeremy Vine Show?

Hope the strategy works for you next season @TonTonMacoute. know how soul destroying the damage can be.
I’m not sure why we were spared this year given that my garden was crawling last year. We had a very dry spring here but by this guy’s reasoning the fuckers should have been reactivated with the heavy rain we’ve had recently.