How bad are slug pellets ?

Lulubells

Hiya OS'ers,

I am growing a range of different veg & flowers etc in my greenhouse and garden this year which is great, except - I am under attack !! I seem to have been invaded by the dreaded slugs and snails....

My problem is that I am growing all this veg in order to know what goes into my food and have fresh - wholesome food. Now if Im putting slug pellets in the pots with the seedlings is that inadvertantly absorbed into the soil and so the plant?- are the chemicals in the pellets bad for you ?

I seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place - no veg or slug pellets....

advice appreciated,

Lulubells

ps - egg shells etc already tried to no avail

SnowyOwl_2

Slug pellets are, IMO, horrible things. The birds and hedgehogs eat them too, and of course they are poisoned too, even though they are your best friends in the garden as they eat slugs and snails.

One of my more successful ways of dealing with slugs invading potted plants was to surround the pots with a barrier of either salt or cat litter. They hate salt with a vengence. The cat litter is apparently too absorbant for them to slither over as well.

Regards flower/veg beds, well, that's another matter. My final solution was the gloved hand/pot of water. And yes, it is as gross as it sounds, and entails going out at dusk when they are rampant. They can climb out of the pot, so you have to chuck them back in. I sound like a right cow, but I hated the thought of inadvertently killing hedgehogs and birds, so for me it was either or. Some people recommend sinking a tin of beer into the ground, and the slugs and snails go mad for that, jump in and drown. What a way to go... Haven't tried it myself (I mean on the snails & slugs, not myself literally!).

I did at one point purchase some copper tape to put around an old Belfast sink full of strawberries and things. Waste of money, the slugs and snails didn't know they were supposed to dislike it and just marched on over it.

Some more knowledgeable gardeners may know about the organic technique of paired planting (I think that's what it's called!). It's where you plant your chosen plant along side the fav food of the pest in your garden - the pest then chooses their favourite dinner and ignores your prize specimens. It works, or so I am told if you can accept a bit of accidental damage, but again it's not something I've ever tried. I'm not sure what you'd do if the items you wish to cultivate are at the top of the snail and slug menu.

headcovers

My boyfriend and I are a bit partial to salted pistachios and I save all the discarded shells to sprinkle around my plants and they have the double whammy of being too sharp for the snails and slugs to crawl over and the salt in the shell makes them avoid them as well.

Another trick is to put piles of bran nearby and the snails and slugs eat that instead and the bran swells up in their insides causing them to literally starve to death as they can no longer eat any other type of food.

Never use slug pellets as you are killing the main predators for slugs and snails, the hedgehog and the bird. Frogs and toads are excellent hunters as well if you introduce a pond to your garden.

Use natural remedies, never chemical ones!

beer2006

The beer does work, the best way I found, although it is a pain and not the easiest way, is to use a torch and your hands, go out among your plants every night, especially when it is wet, from when its getting dark onwards, a quick walk around with an old pair of sissors *yes for cutting them up", will work wonders.
Put some bran, or something dry like that out, cut a couple of slugs up on it and you'll have tons of them over it every night, till you kill them all.

Its the cleanest (ie organically clean) way, but the most work, I always use it.

jenniferpa

There is a product that can be used without harming wildlife. Its active ingredient is iron phosphate, which occurs in the soil naturally. I don't know how many brands there are. My version is called Escar Go (LOL)

Jennifer

Lulubells

Thanks for the ideas I will definitely be using some of them and I won't use slug pellets in the garden now. I ahve already bought some slug pellets though - what if I just use them in the greenhouse until I transplant them out ?

beer2006

Up to you, I'd take em back.
Guilty concience......

GreenFingers_2

Ah…yes…the old Slugs and Snails…. one of my favourite subjects…. I use about two or three cans of beer myself either Lager or White Lightning… how wonderful….

Towards dusk on a nice warm, summer evening take your cans outside and sit by your pond or at the garden bench and open the first can… admire the sunset and listen to the Frogs croaking merrily away…:p repeat the process as often as you want....sip gently, relax…. and listen to the Crogs froaking….hee hee. Yes…there’s no doubt about it.... a few cans work wonders for lowering the blood pressure caused by our little friends… lol

maryotuam

http://www.garden-care.org.uk/hot_press.asp

I found this site which seems to indicate that, properly used, slug pellets are not harmful to birds.
Check it out.

wigginsmum

I collect slugs and snails twice a day and chuck them over the back onto the railway embankment - can't bring myself to kill them.

frosty

Please dont use slug pellets,some brands have really nice pictures of hedgehogs on them,they are still deadly,the labels are misleading.They have added something so wildlife dont eat the pellets ,but they dont seem to realise that animals that eat slugs and snails that have been poisioned with their product will die a slow and painful death.
I put shallow dishes of lager out for the slugs and we kill a lot of them in a week.We have also put a wildlife pond in the garden ,this is now attracting frogs and toads so this will keep the slug numbers down.Not sure what happens if a frog eats a drunk slug.