I spoke to a friend with an allotment over Manchester way and he says that since he put in a pond he hasn't had a problem with slugs for at least 3 years. He reckons the frogs come out at night and eat the bu66ers!

Haven't heard this one so before I rush out to dig a hole in the ground anyone have any advice on this one? I'm wondering if it may be that it's more likely to be hedgehogs rather than the frogs.
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"..I went from adolescence to senility, trying to bypass maturity.." Tom Lehrer

Originally Posted by Rossa

I spoke to a friend with an allotment over Manchester way and he says that since he put in a pond he hasn't had a problem with slugs for at least 3 years. He reckons the frogs come out at night and eat the bu66ers!

Haven't heard this one so before I rush out to dig a hole in the ground anyone have any advice on this one? I'm wondering if it may be that it's more likely to be hedgehogs rather than the frogs.
___________________
"..I went from adolescence to senility, trying to bypass maturity.." Tom Lehrer

Frogs and toads eat a lot of slugs and will certainly keep the little blighters down. Make sure your pond has shallow sides (so they can get out) and plenty of sheltered nooks (an old tile over a couple of bricks against a fence makes a good toad hole) to encourage them in. If possible get a bucket of water from an existing pond to kick start your own.

Hope this helps

Kitchen Gardener

well i hope so, cos i have a huge bucket of frogspawn ready to go in my pond

Great. Thanks for that. I'll have a word with my lottie partner (strapping 16 year old farmer's son) and ask him nicely to dig a hole in the ground for me....oh to be young again...haha!

I think this is bordering on an urban myth !!!

From what I remember of looking into this a few years ago, yes, frogs do eat slugs but not many. They mainly use ponds for mating (and maybe over-wintering) and live on land during the rest of the year.

IIRC a typical back garden has something like 5,000 slugs of various types that live under the soil with only certain varieties being seen above ground.

I sat and watched 10 pairs of frogs mating in my pond last week ( perv or what!?!?) and last year the ground around was full of froglets - but my garden is still rife with slugs!!!!

If you dig a pond for frogs make sure you do not mow or strim the grass around it and leave lots of hiding places for them.

And remember that if a frog eats a slug that has been poisoned with a slug pellet (even those safe for pets) then the frog is likely to die.

Many years ago, myself and other children often kept frogs and such as "pets" in old fish tanks.
I can remember offering a selection of foods to frogs - slugs, woodlice, worms, ants and so on. Slugs were the least favourite and were often spat back out by the frog. Also, frogs don't have much interest in things that don't move.
I often find frogs sitting at the base of my apple trees, where they seem to eat the ants that try to run up and down the tree.

I don't regard frogs as significant slug-eaters, but I suspect that they eat a few.

I have frogs on my lottie(put pond in 2 years ago) I have very few slugs.
My pond is an old children's sand pit got off free cycle.

I have many frogs/toads, but no pond, some of them even live in the greenhouse! There are however many untidy - I mean natural areas for them to hide in. Trying to beat the slugs is an ongoing gardening job, I'll take all the help I can get!