How to...Deal with Slugs in the Garden

[StuartDH]

Hot on the heals of the posts in this thread:

An invasion of Slugs

...we're building a guide to dealing slugs in your garden. We'd like to hear all your suggestions, tips and tricks, so please feel free to post your ideas here and we'll add them to new resources section of the website that is soon to be released.

To start you off, here's what we've got so far:


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http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...?p=549#post549

Identify their Favourite Plants

Slugs are especially keen on the following plants, so it may worth giving them special protection or even avoid planting them if possible:

Hostas, parsley


Make their Movements Difficult

A rough base around the plants keeps them at bay as it irritates their undersides.

Eg. Sharp sand especially if it is unwashed as it contains trace amounts of salt so they avoid it, washed is almost as good.

Bark chippings are not bad if small, the coarse sawdust from using a chainsaw is very good, but need replacing each year as it rots.

Chippings from an industrial chipper (the sort councils and tree surgeons use) seem to be the best as they are good and rough and the right size.

Seek out and destroy the damp areas where snails and slugs reside.


Get Some Help From Other Wildlife


Encourage Hedgehogs into your garden, they are quite common, even in towns, and they love slugs.

Don't forget to cover drain holes and put a ramp in your pond if you have one, they don't swim very well.


Feed them to other wildlife


If you have a snail problem and a pond with tadpoles in the spring, chuck the snails in the pond, tadpoles love them.

Encourage frogs and you'll never fear another slug again!! However, if you're finding it difficult to persuade the frogs to stay in your garden try...

Many birds love snails too, try to encourage the following:


Get Creative

Beer traps work well...

Fling the slugs somewhere else, maybe consider using a catapult or even a trebuchet


Reviews of Commercial Repellants

...


Reviews of Homemade Repellants

...


Relocate Rather than Eradicate

Move the slugs to another home, such as...



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Feel free to expand on the above, add more tips, more sections, more detailed description about the specific topic or associated info. For example, you can more add details about:

• The type of birds to encourage in the garden that will feed on the slugs.

• Encouraging hedgehogs, caring for them in the garden, building shelter etc.

• Describe how to build a beer trap, garden pond etc.

The options are endless. Scour the web, read books or ask your friends and family for tips, then add the info to this forum thread to help build a massive guide to dealing with garden slugs.

Thanks

Stuart

[henrya]

I'm not especially happy with the advice

Quote
Seek out and destroy the damp areas where snails and slugs reside.
Endquote

A lot of other creatures like such damp areas. Even slugs and snails have their place in the ecosystem - try to learn to live with them! Protect vulnerable plants like hostas using the various barriers described, encourage slug predators so that you don't get overwhelmed, and take a closer look at the slugs. They are quite fascinating creatures, and some are very beautiful - you might even learn to like them!

henrya

[StuartDH]

Thanks Henrya, that's exactly the sort of comment we're after!

We want to hear all the info on dealing with slugs, both for and against, and we'll add it all to the completed guide. For example, pouring salt on slugs works well, but if others can provide better solutions then post it here.

Unfortunately, if we can't provide enough info on the alternatives, people will continue to use salt and the slug will come to a sticky end.

So please feel free to post lots of detail on the alternatives

We've added a few different "route denial' methods above, but there must be many, many more. Some will work better than others (let us know which work best for you), and the more variations we can give, the more options people have to protect their plants.

[Jo-grez]

Carabid beetles are also very keen and slug and they also like to egg their eggs so you get to control populations before they've even started to slime.

If you're going to collect the slugs from your garden and remove them, then I find it easiest to hunt at night with a torch

if you rake over the topsoil in winter then you can usually bring lots of smallslugs and eggs to the surface, where frost and birds will take care of keeping numbers down in the following spring.

Really sharp crushed stones/gravel also make a good barrier to prevent them moving over the ground. Obviously, smooth gravel isn't much of a problem of them.

[Tinkerbell]

To protect young runner beans last year, I cut the bottom off large flower pots and slipped them over the plant. Then smeared petroleum jelly around the outside open top of the pot (apparently it's too slippery for the slugs to negotiate) - it gave the plants a fighting chance until they became established.

[icedbread]

sorry but the slugs in my garden have plenty to eat as do ALL the anamals cos i feed them.....stupid? maybe.....i like it

[Jo-grez]

Just watched some of Springwatch last night and they had a feature on slugs, so I took down a few notes for you.

slugs love damp, dark hiding places and there are about 200 in every cubic metre of soil
they eat twice body-weight per day to about 2kg per season
the UK is the slug capital of the world and warmer, wetter winters will produce more
black slugs are fairly harmless, only eat dead veg and they're good for the garden
little grey and brown ones eat your plants
with tasters on their feet, just follow their trails to find their favourite plants
each slug has about 27,000 teeth
hedgehogs eat about a dozen per night
bands of copper round pots give static elec charge and they don't like it
a moat of egg shells works well
vaseline smeered on pots will keep them off, petroleum jelly doesn't taste good (taste throught their feet)
they find half a grapefuit is irresistible, but it'll kill them

Hope this helps

[Pat]

I'm Afraid I'm like Icedbread, They're all Gods creatures and they're put on this earth for some reason whatever that may be, if you love your plants, protect them naturally but don't kill the slugs!

[Brisie]

If you do a 'Google search' with "Snail traps + Cheshire" you will get an excellent article written by The Wildlife Trusts - Cheshire (it is NOT easy to find on their website directly!!).

Secondly, there is another excellent article at UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program entitled SNAILS and SLUGS: Integrated Pest Management for Home Gardens.

Thirdly, there is a very good plan for snail traps on:
Slug Trap, The Cosy Slug Hutt, Bait, Garden Slugs

and another article is on:
Http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/advic...l?slugs/snails

If that is not enough to start with, then contact me

Brisie

[paulchandler6]

I'm inclined to go along with Henrya on this one. If I do have plants that need protecting from Slugs I would try creating obstacles for them,similar to Tinkerbells modified flowerpots.
However this year they were overwhelming and won the day. Thats life .
Cheers