slug wars!

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi everyone! I'm a brand new member to the grapevine - also a first timer at growing veg in my garden. Have planted various seeds and they are sprouting well - discovered I had a bit of a slug problem - baby slugs, no mummys or daddies - can anyone recommend a good non-chemical way of getting rid of the little blighters? Many thanks PS any tips on planting seedlings into a new plot gratefully received!

[Lesley Jay]

You can buy slug pellets that are safe for the birds or try putting down some bran. Apparently they eat it and explode! Another one I have just found is mix two parts distilled white vinegar to one part water and spray them with it. This also kills them - supposedly.

Welcome to the grapevine Dexterdog. Good to have you on board.

[Nicos]

Happy hunting!!

[Alice]

Hello Dexterdog, if I could give you a non chemical way of dealing with slugs I would be a millionaire. Slug pellets are the only answer. Tried all the other remedies with very limited success. Some pellets claim to be less harmful to the environment than others. Up to you to read the blurb and decide. As for your planting out question if you pose it more specifically sure you'll get lots of help and advice. Happy gardening. What a great day for it today .

[sewer rat]

Hi Dexterdog and welcome to the 'Vine - sure you'll enjoy it.
Don't be fooled by size, your baby slugs are very probably adults and will certainly eat like them. Use pellets, and/or do a nightly slug patrol either armed with a pail and pick them off, or spray them with LJ's concoction, or shake salt onto them. You can also set beer traps or half grapefruits round your veggies to help you control the little beggars.

[Lesley Jay]

Rat I am still trying to catch what ever it is eating my cabbages in the greenhouse. With the grapefruit or orange shells will the slug still be under the shell the following morning?

[Birdie Wife]

Use pellets, and/or do a nightly slug patrol either armed with a pail and pick them off, or spray them with LJ's concoction, or shake salt onto them. You can also set beer traps or half grapefruits round your veggies to help you control the little beggars.

If I were you I would use a combination of at least two of these methods. I have a massive problems with slugs in my last garden and although nightly patrols seemde to make the biggest difference (EVERY night for two weeks then every few days), I also had beer traps and oranges and bran and pellets and still the buggers came back for more. One other suggestion is to keep a few chickens, they will relish the extra protein. The people I know who keep a few hens have very few slugs, if any.

Yes, with the oranges, you need to check the morning after and dispose of the ones you find.

[lyndap]

Hi,everyone. I'm new to this computer lark,but been dealing with slugs for years. Pellets seem the only thing to work;but I am experimenting with 'pennys' around the base of some of my veggies. So far have noticed if the pennys are wet/damp the slugs pull away from them. I'll try anything to detere the little blighters!

[Jaxom]

Hi Lyndap and welcome to the vine.
Just worked out why pennies would work. It's the high copper content.
Heard on the news today that due to the stock markets rise in copper prices a pre 1992 2p piece is now worth 3p.

[blackkitty]

Hi Dexterdog and welcome. I think we all fight slug wars all the time. My preffered method is to go out after dark and cut the little b*stards in half with the secateurs. One strange thing, one of our cats occasionally demands to eat al fresco, if he leaves any food I can get a fair number of slugs in the bowl in the early morning.

[hils]

G'day Dexterdog, do not know if this suggestion will work but I found, by accident rather than by design, that if you deliberatelly leave a tasty morsel out for the chomping b*****s (an over ripe banana is ideal) they feast on that rather than your precious greenery. I must admit that I have a bijou garden so this may not work in a lottie or a large garden.

[lyndap]

Hi jaxom. I couldn't afford copper rings for all my plants, so as my father-in-law had given me some bags of pennies,and I thought they should have decent amount of copper I'd give them a try. Seems to be doing the trick at mo! They haven't cost me anything and I can gather them back up and spend them if I want to. Interesting bit about stock market. You learn allsorts on here!

[herbivore]

Nemaslug is a (rather pricey) biological control which I've found works well combined with the old grapefruit trap method (I chuck them in boiling water which sounds savage, but at least they die instantly - don't know why people want to torture them with salt and cleaning fluids etc). Hunting them after dark is good (you can also catch vineweevils and caterpillars) tho' your neighbours will think you're bonkers. Keeping the garden free of too much debris, regular digging and hoeing also seems to help. Or grow plants they don't like (e.g. spicy salad mixtures rather than lettuce).

[Doggler]

What about that copper tape that you can get? Is that any good? Bit reluctant to put pellets out as the doggo has a habit for eating whatever she finds - chicken manure pellets were a particular favourite, gave her lovely breath!

[Lesley Jay]

Slug pellets will kill cats and dogs along with hedgehogs and other animals. The copper tape does work - it gives the slugs and snails an electric shock. But it's not cheap and how do you protect an allotment plot with copper tape? This year someone on our site is trying copper pipes laid around the plot so it will be interesting to see if this works.