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Hi everyone, i get loads of slugs on my veg every year and this time, i want to try and be organic. i've looked into copper rings, but they all seem so expensive Has anyone any ideas on good methods of preventing slugs.. or even a cheaper place to buy copper rings haha
thanks x

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Get going..Get gardening!

You could do this . Took this from a gardensite ( Copper Rings Standard - Pack of 6 rings approx 10cm / 4" in diameter £16.75 ) thats about 72 inches of copper Now goto b&q or the like . and get this ( Streamline Black Label EN 1057 Copper Tube X022L-3 22mm x 3m, X022L-3 ) thats 118 inches for less right now use a jigsaw /saw and cut inhalf longways now you got 6meters 236 inches ,you have saved about 3 pound and gained 164inches almost making 20 rings for the price of 6ish sorry if my maths is out but hope this helps .

Would you still need something to bend them with though?

No just flatten with a hammer and bend um round by hand or an old paint pot . I then drill a small hole in the ends and put a nut&bolt to fit it .

Are you growing your veg in open ground, raised beds or pots Daisy?

Hi I'm trying copper tape around the top of my raised beds this year to try and ward off the slugs from my lettuce. I was watching gardeners world this week and carol said vermiculite was good for keeping slugs off greenhouse seed trays, so i'm going to try it around the edge of my raised beds, see whether it works or not.

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ive tried the copper tape on my raised beds it doesnt work as the adhesive isnt strong enough and the tape comes off.

I use copper tape, but staple it to the wood with a staple gun. Can't say I've noticed it working though!

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Sarah

http://wixypixies.blogspot.com/

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

we have thousands and thousands of snails and slugs in my garden,last year the only thing which worked outside was to go out with a torch and pick them off one by one as i will not use pesticides,in the greenhouse the same its a pain but i have tried many a product and techniques none really worked its just a case of picking them off am afraid

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joanne culyer

copper rings and tape are very expensive, i had used slug pellets once, but then got wary as i have hedgehogs and thrushes and besides they dont last long anyway, so the ways i routinely do it is,
1. pot plants veggies etc, i use vasaline round the top, with salt sprinkled on, last's longer than slug pellets,
2. any spare grapefruit skins or orange skins upside down a little away from you patch helps, you go out in the morning and take em out and dispose of. (also deters cats as they dont like the citus smell)
3. stale beer in a pot helps but i found doesnt last long, and theres never really any beer spare
4. the twilight hunt is another way as they like to come out at night lift pots etc
slug pellets work to an extent put to be honest they attract slugs to the area you have put the slugs so its catch 22 really.
and a ever losing battle.
went through a stage of lust lobbing the slugs but the lil buggers always come back

in referance to the vermiculite, ive tried crushed eggshells, gravel, soot, it works on the lil slugs but the big beastys, you know the big horrid orange ones you get *shudder* they are determined to get your veg and salads stuff

i grow my veggies in raised beds and in the past have used slug pellets..although i want to try and and be as organic as possible this year
i've placed lots of bird feeders near my beds which do attract many birds however this isn't really enough as the slugs get everywhere! I'll try vermiculite but by the sounds of it, this doesn't really work either
We need a slug specialist to come on this haha
thanks x

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Get going..Get gardening!

You're right about slug pellets not working daisydaisy, I think they are a complete con, as they not only attract slugs and snails, they take a while to kill them.

This means that while the poisoned slugs are limping off to die, they get eaten by all the natural predators like birds, hedgehogs and beetles. A hedgehog can eat its own bodyweight in slugs in one night.

If you kill a hedgehog you are left with hundreds, if not thousands more slugs - and the slug pellet manufacturers are laughing.

They also make their claims about the pellets being 'pet friendly' on the back of starvation testing different animals.

The best thing you can do to reduce the numbers of these pests is dig a wildlife pond and build a log pile somewhere to attract more natural predators. Slugs only become a big problem when the natural balance is upset (such as where people have used pellets in the past).

I'm going for copper pipe on my raised beds (yes, I found the tape blew off, with help from the cats), and thanks to a suggestion from this forum I'm trying Nemaslug. I found the tape helped a bit last year (actually watched a slug going 'ouch' hahahahahaaaaahahahahha, sorry ....).

Hopefully with both, things should be slightly under control.

We found Screwfix cheapest for copper pipe and decided to bite the bullet on cost because it will last and you can wire brush it if it gets dull.

The wildlife pond is coming this year and I've spent all winter bribing birds!

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Nell

I use beer traps, which is an excellent way of luring them in, or pick them off and put them in a large jar of water and salt, screwing the lid on. I only use slug pellets in the greenhouse on my young seedlings.

Crushed egg shells are quite good and are free! Copper iin the past has really not worked for me and its expensive.

Nematodes are excellent and I use them twice a year, good to buy from

Pest Control.

We have to try something this year on the allotment as the slugs had a fine time eating our plants last year! The only thing that puts me off beer traps (apart from the waste of beer ) is getting rid of the sludgy remains. *Yuk*

I read somewhere, but can't remember where, that it doesn't have to be beer, any sugary liquid will do. Is this true?

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I've had my weetabix...

Hi - I did the copper tape last year around my raised beds, but still got slugs! Couldn't believe it - decided slugs had grown wings or large legs!!! However I hope you have more luck than me! Maybe two layers of tape will work! Not heard of the vermiculite solution, but will try that and the crushed egg shell!

Instead of beer you can use some dried yeast in a jar of tepid water. Much cheaper. I put copper tape around my raised beds, but I've found lots of snails in there already. I think they may get there via my compost.

On Womans hour last Thursday, they had a section on slugs. It was very interesting, apparantly the local slug population regulates itself. It does this by the big slugs sending out a signal which reduces the breeding of the rest of the group. If you kill the big slug all the other slugs in the group breed to fill the void.

BBC - Radio 4 Woman's Hour - Listen Again:*Thursday 20 March 2008

Tracey

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Michael Pollan

Crikey lol............best trap em with a pillow first then no other slugs will hear their secret codes lol.............

last year i transferred half a dozen frogs from my pond to my plot.seems to have worked for me.

has anybody got a hedgehog for sale lol,they love slugs and snails apparentley we had a hedge that used to come in my and the nighbours gardens i used to leave cat food out for it,but we havent had one now for a couple of years and then the slug problem accord,does anybody now how to encourage hedgehog activity?

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joanne culyer

someone told me to use tinfoil instead and so far it seems to be working on the slugs. Hedgehogs seem to come and go on our garden but we get flooded sometimes.

Contact these people, you could become a fosterer, or they could help you adopt one!

British Hedgehog Preservation Society BHPS

If you do dont forget about slug pellets as these little guys can die if they eat them!