Plants SLUGS (GRR) Don't Eat

emmahip

Hi All
Just thought it might be nice to share ideas and experience on plants the dreade slimey ones leave alone. After having most of my first (tenative!) go at veggie gardening munched by the little blighters I'm looking to grow less appealing food for them next year.
Have got loads of wildlife in my garden to I'm not going to use pellets, the beer in pots trick works ok but not in the torrential rain we've had (plus the dogs LOVE it - yuck).
Got a very large garden so some things are just no good, like egg shells - I'd need MR Hellmans amount. I am going to try and make raised beds surrounded by chippings next year - be only having a very small selection of veg otherwise!

sO FAR i HAVE:-

Bad (Good for SLUGS!!!)
Runner beans
Asparagus
Carrots
Onions
Chillis from home grown seed (2 bought plants have been ok)
Cabbage
Brocolli
Chard
Nastursiums (though these did grow faster than they got eaten at least)
Ecinachea
Sambucus
Hostas
Loads more I cant think of at the moment as I saw them for such a short space of time.....

Good (Bad for the slimey hoarde)
Peas
Tomatoes
Garlic
Leeks
Aqualegia
Penstemon
Lavender
Red Hot Pokers (think they have loved all the rain)
Hardy geraniums
Astilbe
Snap dragons
Hellebores
Cyclamen
Any evergreen shrubs
Nettles, Brambles & Bracken :rotfl:


I did do extra sowings of:-
Runner Beans
Carrots
Asparagus (worried about moving these though)
Pak Choi &
Cabbage

in pots lined with copper tape and these seem to be doing OK.

Biggles

I'm surprised by your putting peas under 'bad for slugs'.

I gave up on peas because they were totally destroyed. OK, most of what I saw were snails rather than slugs, and I did conquer them in the second year by using nematodes (but the expense was too much to do it again), but I don't grow them any more.

But I've never had damage to my carrots. Maybe this is, once again, because I have more snails than slugs - is the damage to your carrots underground?

Larumbelle

I'm not sure that slugs actually hate anything except possibly alliums. They'll certainly eat a lot of the plants on your list, though only if you've got nothing better on offer

emmahip

Biggles wrote: »

I'm surprised by your putting peas under 'bad for slugs'.

I gave up on peas because they were totally destroyed. OK, most of what I saw were snails rather than slugs, and I did conquer them in the second year by using nematodes (but the expense was too much to do it again), but I don't grow them any more.

But I've never had damage to my carrots. Maybe this is, once again, because I have more snails than slugs - is the damage to your carrots underground?

One day lovely littl ecarrot sprouts showing - next day slimey slug/snail trails over bare earth!

olly300

silvercharming wrote: »

I'm not sure that slugs actually hate anything except possibly alliums. They'll certainly eat a lot of the plants on your list, though only if you've got nothing better on offer

They don't seem to like plants with fragrant leaves i.e. lavender, rosemary and Red Hot Pokers but I agree they will definitely eat others on your list like tomatoes. This summer obviously wasn't wet enough for them in London for them to go on a tomato rampage like they did last year.

Myrtle

Your best off sowing into pots and then only planting out once plants are well established. With things like runner beans I plant them in the soil with an old large plant pot with bottom cut out around it for protection. Seems to work - slugs are rife in my garden but the veg patch still thrives.

I don't bother with Hostas though. They must taste like slug caviare because they'll leap over anything to get to them

Larumbelle

Lol you've reminded me that one year we thought we'd be really clever and plant hostas as a 'distraction' from the main game. We thought they'd be so busy with the hostas that they'd leave everything alone. All we succeeded in doing was seemingly attract every slug in the area to come join the party in our garden Not one of my most successful experiments, that one.

Loopyloolou

So far I've used copper tape around my raised beds/pots, slug traps and letting my chooks loose and haven't had too much trouble from sluggsies. But in my little plastic greenhouses copper tape didn't work well i obviously didn't tape enough because i lost all chillis and peppers and what was left of my tomatoes (after the early storms destroyed most of them!)

Also snails that seem to fly have been found in my raised bed as thats the only way in for them!! lol Either that or they are using feathered friends for a lift!!

Plants that attract slugs my beautiful hostas and thyme, they seem to go for those most! also afforementioned chillis and peppers.

Also used pepples and chippings and the larger slugs don't seem to mind those and carry on journeying around over them, any other suggestions gratefully received. Thanks.

elsien

The slugs have left my courgettes well alone. On the annual front, busy lizzies seem to be fairly immune as well. And don't forget the good old wallflower. The coreopsis seems to depend where in the garden I put it. It was slug free in one border, and I moved it a couple of feet further away, in similar soil, and twas no more.:(

dark_666_angel

I have real problems with slugs too. Greedy suckers eat pretty much everything in my garden. I tried egg shells but I cant seem to get enough for my raised beds. I have purchased some copper tape from ebay, I figure that would work pretty well around my raised beds.

I saw on BBCs grow your own that sunked jam jars with beer in work pretty well, any ideas on how far apart to sink them??

Leopardlady

I have a huge slug problem, definitely huge with such a small garden! I have tried, sharp sand, nemetodes, egg shells and beer traps. I think the most successful is the beer trap, but needs to be dry, no rain, and then you need to empty them every morning. (eewww)
My chili plants tend to do ok, maybe it is because i rarely try the seedlings outside, my OH is a little obsessed with "his" chili plants!
Courgettes are great, high yield and no trouble from the slimy ones. The slugs don't like my tomatoes and spinach tended to grow faster than it was eaten. My cabbages survived quite well, we got to eat them, good wash and a few slimy ones removed on the way to the house! They did well until the massive influx of caterpillars i have had late august.
I am hoping to create some raised beds this autumn, then i can line them with copper tape and hope this works, as i would love to try beans again, only ever got a centimeter before they then vanish.
I did go on a slug slaughter last night, just after one rain shower, before the next. I killed over 130 with a stick, felt horrible but also a little pleased with myself!
Good luck and happy gardening.