I've put slug it down....

emmielou

and now i'm getting slug murder guilt!

Do slugs have a useful purpose?

dumb_blonde

I was going to put something down to get rid of the loads of snails in my garden,when im there in the evening there are loads in just one patch. I used to gather them and chuck them over next doors fence cos the house was empty, but someones moved in now.
Like you though, i felt really guilty about putting stuff down to kill them and i just couldnt bring myself to do it
( daft isnt it )
I dont know if slugs have a purpose, I suppose they must do.
Does anyone know where snails go in the daytime?
Also, if i put the snails in the council recycle bin, will they get crushed?

savemoney

I have no worries about killing them. I pay good money for plants work hard to get what little money I have and them little parasites come along and eat my bedding plants.

fwor

Slugs - hedgehogs love them. So much so that one I found in my garden last year could be hand-fed with them without curling up into a ball (I think it may have been hand-reared in early life though...). Blackbirds also have good slug-scoffing skills, though I suspect they prefer almost anything else.

Snails - thrushes will have them. They use convenient large stones as "anvils" to whack them to pieces.

elsien

emmielou wrote: »

Do slugs have a useful purpose?

Yes, basically to be the bane of our lives!

I've given up on them in my garden, as I didn't want to use slug pellets plus as soon as I've got rid of some, I seem to get a mass immigration from next door! (And beer traps pong to high heaven and are a waste of good beer.)
I mainly plant things that I know are relatively slug proof, and use copper tape/rings on more vulnerable plants and pots. I've found the garden still looks good and I'm not wasting money on giving pests a gourmet dinner.

jabba4

Since we got chickens in the garden my kids don't seem to mind going slug hunting so they can feed them to the chooks.

emmielou

I don't think the neighbours would be to pleased if I chucked them over the fence:rotfl:

Its annoying when they eat the plants, i've worked hard to make my garden look nice (unlike my friends who think gardening is buying a preplanted pot:eek:).

Well its done now.

I'm not sure about putting them in the recycle bin, the little monsters would probably escape!

I don't have any kids to send out on slug hunts, maybe I should borrow my little brother and put him to work!!!

oldMcDonald

emmielou wrote: »

I don't think the neighbours would be to pleased if I chucked them over the fence:rotfl:

I was given a 'slug shower' years ago when walking past some back gardens. There I was, walking along, minding my own business, when three huge slugs came hurtling over the high fence. Two landed by my feet and the third bounced off of my shoulder and hit the ground.

I was a rather mouthy 19yo at the time, but I was so stunned by these slugs raining down on me that I was unable to even shout back at whoever had lobbed them:rotfl:

Plasticman

emmielou wrote: »

Do slugs have a useful purpose?

No, they don't even make a nice crunching noise when you tread on them like snails do.

gingerbeer

I have no issues with killing the disgusing things, i do also buy organic slug pellets so that when they die they go and crawl off somewhere and don't leave goo eveywhere.

Teresita_2

I managedto get beer traps in poundland for a pound (doh obviously, I can be so blonde!!) I hope they work as they are devouring my greenhouse. Was trying coffee grounds but dont think thats working now, neither has my copper tape unless am doing something wrong.