Slugs, slugs and more slugs !!!

nursemolly

Is it just in my garden or is there an abundance of them this year?? Trying every trick in the book to avoid using pellets.....but everything is being chomped away at...even my potatoes and tomatoes which usually escape them.
Another sign of climate change perhaps......................

CliveOfIndia

If you want a non-chemical approach, a good old-fashioned beer trap always seems to work quite well.  Get an old jam jar, fill it about three-quarters full with beer (any old rubbish will do, if you're friendly with a local landlord ask him if he'll give you some from his drip-trays), then bury it in the ground so the rim is pretty much level with the soil.

Set several of these around the garden, and in the morning you'll find them full of drunk/drowned slugs.

Or do what my grandad used to do.  Go out in the evening just after sunset with a torch and a bucket, and pick them up individually.  You'll probably get some strange looks from the neighbours

Or else you could go down the nematode route.

You'll never get rid of them completely, but you can make quite a dent in the population.

Katiehound

Up turned empty grapefruit skins might catch a few! ... but then of course you will have to find a way to get rid of the nasties inside!

if you are talking pots you can put a thick layer of vaseline (petroleum jelly) around the rim. That is working for most of my pots of juicy hostas but have to make sure that the leaves are not hanging over the edge.

twopenny

I use sheeps wool.

First I used the wool pellets which are pricey but work all summer.

Then I started to collect the wool left on the fences and grass in spring and I wrap that around my plants. Seems to work a treat and it's free.

I used to use soot given by chimney sweeps as recommended by an aged gardener and that worked very well and fed the plants - but heavy rain and it soaked into the soil and had to be replaced.

Have tried egg shells, coffee grounds but they don't seem to work at all.

Can't bring myself to waste beer

fatbelly

If you can get up early you should be able to catch them in the act and remove them

nursemolly

Currently trying scouring pads,repellent spray,copper tape and bits of cucumber dotted around to entice them away from my plants.....but not really having any effect.
Will have to look into these suggestions.....but definitely feels like there are loads more this year........
Thankyou

nursemolly

fatbelly said:

If you can get up early you should be able to catch them in the act and remove them

fatbelly said:

If you can get up early you should be able to catch them in the act and remove them

Am sure they would set their alarms extra early just to annoy me lol

Cloverleaf2

I have a woodburner so I save the ashes all winter in a wheelie bin, then in the spring when I plant out any french or runner beans, brassicas, cucumbers, courgettes and sweetcorn etc I put a couple of handfuls round each plant and the slugs leave them alone, I've been doing that for over forty years and almost never lost a plant.  However, this year as you say there seem to be loads more slugs than usual and they've been having quite a field day amongst my strawberries, which are just starting to ripen.  It's not really practical to distribute wood ash all over a large strawberry bed so I haven't got an answer for that one yet! 

subjecttocontract

I use a torch and a sharp knife at around 10pm and CUT them in half. Got around a 100 a couple of nights ago. There is an epidemic of slugs this year because of the wet weather.

Bettie

I make traps with dried yeast dissolved in water in yoghurt pots. Plus spray with water that has been boiled with garlic. 

Chloe_G

Found two in the house!!!