Ridding pesky pests without poisoning 'ickle people & pets

[spikemomma]

What are the most affective way of stopping pesky snails and other pests munching my garden - without the use of chemicals? I don't want my kiddies or cats having a munch on blue pellets. My sweet pea are really suffering and i want to fight back the critters who are scoffing them.

I have a similar problem, we have a patch of garden which I would like to use to grow veg, but everything I plant just gets munched by slugs.

I can't use slug pellets, cos our loopy rescue dog would eat them. Similarly, she would drink slug-pub contents (inc slugs if they had fallen in YUK!).

So I'm stuck, looking for suggestions too.

Best thing is to make sure you have planting which encourages birds/wildlife as song thrushes and frogs eas slugs and snails.
I often collect up the snails and leave them on the lawn for the birds to find and eat (which they do).
Gravel (small, gritty types) are also good at deterring slugs and snails and you can place it around flower/veg beds.

Apparently snails and slugs can't cross coffee as it's too drying for them.

Have you tried nematodes? I've used the Vine Weevil variety and they were safe for use around children and pets.

Apparently they don't cross wool either but I've not tested it yet!

This year I'm trying copper rings around my sweet peas. So far no munching. I find beer traps quite good but they're more of a lure away from plants than a protection around them. I think the main thing that has helped is our pond is next to our veg patch and we have about 10 frogs living in it at the moment.

I never had much luck with coffee or broken eggshells, but I suppose they help a bit. Pannacotta's gravel is a good idea.

I heard there were some new slug pellets that aren't toxic to animals but haven't really researched it.

Copper rings are good. I've used the supposedly non-toxic organic pellets this year (and they must be becuase I caught ds eating one the other day and he's still alive) and there has been a dramatic reduction in slug damage. But then it has been a lot less wet & cold than last spring which probably helps.