Grow Your Own Magazine

...the problem is getting them to drink it!

"It seems that caffeine will kill or deter slugs, depending on the strength of the brew. A 1-2% solution will kill them, and a 0.01% solution will repel them. Instant coffee is around 0.05%, with brewed coffee being stronger, so throwing a cup of coffee over the soil will not help, especially as it can also kill beneficial insects. If coffee grounds are placed directly on the ground, they can go mouldy if not spread thinly enough, and is not the best way to get the caffeine into the slugs. Strong solutions can affect some plants, causing leaves to turn yellow or display brown stains."
lifted from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2876862

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

maybe we should be putting red bull in the slug traps then save the beer for those who deserve it

Save the coffee too for those that appreciate it!

Would red bull give them wings though? Then they could escape from the trap.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Flying slugs - what a HORRIBLE thought!

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

Coffee grounds are quite gritty though, so they should deter the slugs from crawling over them. I've heard grit and eggshells recommended as a deterrent

Rustylady
I tried grit and eggshells, my slugs must have cast iron stomachs, just when straight ahead. Bark chippings was also meant to slow them up - no, garlic granules - no.
Tried vaseline round pots, that did seem to work but made a horrible mess and it was ghastly when you went to pick the pots up.
Tried garlic gel - no
Copper tape - some success
The "organic" slug pellets work OK

Anyone tried those new cardboard collars impregated with salt?

Sue

My slugs fly I throw my little? b*****s on to my neighbours (unkempt) lottie.

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

Be careful with that, they're worse than homing pigeons!

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Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

I made an I iron curtan the other year round a patch of ground and it kept them out. I used plastic lawn edging and put it round one bed...had no trouble from them all season, till they formed a peoples soviet and declaired me a Kulak and had me exiled.

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My phone has more Processing power than the Computers NASA used to fake the Moon Landings

Oh, strewth - am I in for an invasion.... man the salt walls.... prepare the copper bands.....LOL

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

I've stopped using beer traps for slugs - too many dead beetles and ladybirds. They all seem to like a tipple!

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Coffee grounds as a surface mulch will start to rot and will take from the soil, its better to dig it in, its an amazing source of nitrogen.

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--
http://gardenfan.blogspot.com

So ... doesn't it rot under the ground?

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

I used nematodes last year and they worked really well. They were a bit expensive though

I'm shore I read somewhere that starbuck coffee shop would give you the old coffee granduals if you ask they will keep them for you?

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Some things in their natural state have the most VIVID colors
Dobby

Great - so now I will not only be known as 'That Mad Cat Woman', but also 'That Dotty Old Crow Who Collects Used Coffee'

And soon to be know as 'Old Pallet Collector Woman'............!

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

Out for nout is my motto

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Some things in their natural state have the most VIVID colors
Dobby