Methods to repel slugs without killing them.

marmiterulesok

All suggestions welcome please.

I have recently acquired a vegetable plot and have planted rhubarb,various cabbages,radishes,salad leaves,cucumber,fennel,leeks,celery, lots of tomatoes,parsley,Swiss chard,sage and basil.I'm going to buy a raspberry and gooseberry plant this week.

I read here that boiling some garlic and using the cooled water round the base is a repellant.Someone else said that putting vaseline round the bottom of the plant helps,except a lot of the plants are not off the ground yet.Someone mentioned spraying round the base with WD40.Someone told me yesterday that planting onions or garlic between the tomato plants repels them.
A friend has planted marigolds next to her tomatoes.Does this work?

Up until now I've been using broken up egg shells,except that I've run out.

What is your preferred method?

Thanks.

Zinger549

Can you not use organic slug pellets.

I_have_spoken

I wouldn't be spraying WD40 near anything I was going to eat! :eek:

As a repellent, steeping garlic gloves in boiling water, letting it cool then spraying on the leaves is your best bet.

mjm3346

Why wouldn't you want them killed?

LadyCoupon

mjm3346 wrote: »

Why wouldn't you want them killed?

Exactly my thoughts.

Mojisola

marmiterulesok wrote: »

I read here that boiling some garlic and using the cooled water round the base is a repellant.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1441355/Garlic-proves-the-kiss-of-death-to-slugs-and-snails.html

Someone else said that putting vaseline round the bottom of the plant helps,except a lot of the plants are not off the ground yet.

Putting a band of vaseline around pots will stop slugs climbing up to eat plants - never heard of putting it on the plants themselves.

Someone mentioned spraying round the base with WD40.

Never heard of this - I wouldn't do it with anything edible but run a few trials if you want to.

Someone told me yesterday that planting onions or garlic between the tomato plants repels them.

Possibly but I think the slugs will just avoid the onions.

A friend has planted marigolds next to her tomatoes. Does this work?

French marigolds do work for some other bugs but slugs are quite happy to devour them. Maybe they will eat the marigolds instead of your veggies?

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=231

wellused

Cut Oranges or lemons into segments and lay them around your plants the slugs are attracted to the citrus and you can collect them in the morning carrying them some way from your area and depositing them on a neighbours plot, joking about the neighbours plot by the way. ;-)

REEN

A friend told me she used wool pellets. They worked for her but were expensive.

savingmummy

1p`s and 2`p round the plants works for me!

clarryd

eggs shells work.

marmiterulesok

I_have_spoken wrote: »

I wouldn't be spraying WD40 near anything I was going to eat! :eek:

As a repellent, steeping garlic gloves in boiling water, letting it cool then spraying on the leaves is your best bet.

I know.That sounded a bit dodgy tbh!

mjm3346 wrote: »

Why wouldn't you want them killed?

I live next to a park and there are a lot of hedgehogs in and around here.I'd rather leave them for the hedgehogs.

I think I'll try the orange/lemon segments/garlicy water and persist with the egg shells.

Thanks to you all.