snails

urbancookie1

Hi,
Ive just put some slug pellets around my plants this weeek as the were getting eaten away by slugs, id go out in the dark with my tourch but could never find any doing the dirty deed.

Ive been out this afternoon and found lots of slugs all mushed up and foamy if feel sooooooo mean it must be an agonising way to go, so im going to rake up as many as the pellets i can and try the garlic wash instead or maybe the beer in a saucer trick at least they'll die a bit happier.

Do the pellets affect the birds in any way? what about if they eat the mushy ones?

kazwookie

I use slug pellets..........

funguy

a very good way is to use a beer bait - you need to dig a jam jar or something similar in the soil so that the rim is just above the soil...half fill with cheap beer. cover the top so rain doesnt get in but prop up the cover so the slugs can crawl into the jar - they will be attracted by the beer and get drunk and trapped in the jar - you just need to empty it out in the morning and reset up.

Try it - it works as i use it every year!

olly300

urbancookie1 wrote: »

Hi,
Do the pellets affect the birds in any way? what about if they eat the mushy ones?

Never seen them eating mine.

Oh and I noticed that one of the pesky squirrels after eating my tulips flowers decided to eat a allium flower. Needless to say neither of the pair have been back to eat the rest. :rotfl:

So when I can bear it I will try the garlic wash on everything.

Lotus-eater

The birds eat the slugs that die and I think they can then die themselves, it can also harm hedgehogs, not very nice. There is an organic "advanced slug pellet" out there in a blue tub, it says it is safe for animals (not slugs )

The copper bands for pots is supposed to work really well. I would buy some for my raised beds but its just too expensive.

Otherwise a torch and a pair of scissors work well if a little annoying (especially for the slugs ) do it on wet nights especially, beer traps work ok but not more than that, no total protection.

rubiales

I use slug pellets due to a huge problem with slugs and snails, but they are special ones from a company called 'Growing Success' and were recommended by my local nursery as they apparently do not harm birds, hedgehogs etc. I believe most places now stock them and they are about £3.99 for a large container.

Lotus-eater

rubiales wrote: »

I use slug pellets due to a huge problem with slugs and snails, but they are special ones from a company called 'Growing Success' and were recommended by my local nursery as they apparently do not harm birds, hedgehogs etc. I believe most places now stock them and they are about £3.99 for a large container.

That sounds like the ones I was talking about, the cheapest price I found was £3.99, one garden centre near me was £5.49 _pale_

positivelymummy

ethansmum wrote: »

The hosta womans tip WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I have hollyhocks amd delphiniums they were getting slaugtered by snails so i made up the garlic wash and used it once- they haven't been back since!!! Try it I does work!!

excellent, i too saw the hosta woman with her 800 hostas etc, and all i was thinking was "ask her about the slugs!!" fab to know her remedy works as i've been telling everyone about it!:D

Davesnave

People have probably been here before on another thread, but I don't think there is much, if any hard evidence that slug pellets, used in a controlled, manner, cause serious damage to wildife. The old ones of 40 years ago were less wildlife-friendly than today's blue, metaldehyde mini-pellets impregnated with bitrex, yet there were plenty of song thrushes then. For me, that means something other than pellets has caused thrushes to decline.

The animal most likely to be poisoned is a dog, because dogs are often greedy opportunists with little sense of taste (and they have been known to eat the packaging as well!) I have a very piggish cat, whose doorstep basket is within three feet of some pellets, but she is just not interested. She'll go to extraordinary lengths to find one spilled fish pellet, but she knows the difference. Even the ferrets couldn't care less.

Because of the commercial nature of our growing, we've used pellets carefully for years on this site and we have a more-than-healthy frog, toad & newt population, plus regular hedgehog and bird visitors, though not thrushes in any numbers yet. Probably thanks to the wildlife, we seem to have fewer slugs compared with snails. Unfortunately, snails don't seem to be controlled so effectively by nematodes either.

There's certainly more room for genuine research in this area. Meanwhile, the garlic wash sounds interesting for limited areas/places, like hosta beds.

Lotus-eater

I thought about spraying my lettuces with garlic wash and getting garlic lettuces! Mmmm, I think I really will try this.