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Right now it would be cheaper to go to the supermarket and just buy the slugs some vegetables. Thoughts?

43 replies

fillyjonk · 31/08/2007 08:53

Here is the thing

We have had pretty much nothing off the allotment this year. This is entirely the work of slugs.

I have really tried everything that is not slug pellets. If you go to the HDRA and CAT sites and scroll down the suggestions-have done pretty much all of them. Short list of what we've done: slug pubs, bran, salt, marigolds, sacrificial crops, "non-toxic" pellets, copper. Probably more stuff.

I haven't done a pond-we seem to need planning permission , plus we have young kids and another on the way and there is nowhere to site the pond in plain view. Am not allowed livestock so ducks etc are out

This has been a really bad year in that they even ate the tomatoes and most of the potatoes. But we NEVER have anything except tomatoes, potatoes, and berries. Am getting fed up tbh. We do grow a small number of courgettes, lettuce etc in the back garden where slugs aren't so bad, we are reasonably good at actually growing stuff, but the slugs on this plot are very bad.

The soil is poor, though we've improved it a lot in the last few years. In particular it is so clayey that there is no point using nematodes. Also, there don't seem to be many natural predators-birds, frogs etc-about, possibly because everyone ELSE is using slug pellets.

Thoughts? How bad ARE slug pellets? My kids won't touch them, they are pretty good, but am worried about effect on wildlife.

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 08:54

have you tried tubs of beer?

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 08:55

ah yes - just seen slug pubs.

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fillyjonk · 31/08/2007 08:57

ohhh yes, slug pubs

very satisfying but sadly not up to the job on my allotment



oh and please no one suggest schlepping up there at 10 pm to squish them, the allotment is 2 miles away and I am soundly asleep by then

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 08:57

If everyone else is using slug pellets I'm surprised that they haven't killed off your slugs too. Unless they see your plot as a refuge.
Or maybe even the pellets don't work.

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fillyjonk · 31/08/2007 08:57

btw I have an excellent slug pub tip

use empty milk bottles-the ones with handles. this keeps the rain out

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fillyjonk · 31/08/2007 08:58

yes its odd

but I have a double plot, and also there are a lot of disused plots around so there probably isn't that much slug pelletry around really.

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 09:19

I really hate slugs. Our old house (a city terrace) had hundreds. I would look out of the window on a rainy day and see them everywhere. And they were huge.
In our garden here though I have maybe seen 2 in 6 years. We have a bigger garden and are only joined by another garden on one side - our neighbour is quite chemically fuelled so I don't think much would get past him anyway but the slugs just don't seem to like it here. Luckily.

I did use pellets once but I was nervous about cats eating them. I can't remember if they made much of an impact. Would they go into the soil and affect your crops? Although I suppose at the moment the thought of at least having any type of crop would be a dream by the sound of it.

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 09:20

Can you put up a bird table?

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fillyjonk · 31/08/2007 09:21

have bird table

no birds

its really odd, there is pretty much no wildlife on the plot except slugs and red ants

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 09:25

Are there no trees?

I'm so hormonal today. The thought of there being no birds makes me feel weepy.

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fillyjonk · 31/08/2007 09:30

lol

yes there are trees but they are very small.

will this help?

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 09:33

I was just wondering about the lack of birds.

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cupcakes · 31/08/2007 09:38

I've just had a look at the RSPB website to see what suggestions they had for encouraging birds into your garden but I haven't gotton very far as dd2's nappy needs changing.
this is as far as I've got but it sounds pretty similar as what you've already read.

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majorstress · 31/08/2007 16:33

I have got a half-way solution for you;

SLUG HOTEL-they check in but they don't check out!

take a small plastic drinks bottle i.e. Coka Cola, cut off the mouth end at the widest part, turn it around and stuff it back in, sort of like a fish trap. Put some pellets inside. They go in, get drunk on the pellets and can't find their way out 99% of the time. Put 1 by each precious plant and throw away when victims accumulate inside.

What for? It stops the beneficial wildlife finding and eating the poisoned slug and dying. Not perfect but maybe a compromise?

Maybe for next year: I've got lots of climbing green beans by managing to keep the blighters off until they got tall, and planting lots, only a few plants made it but they are prolific.

Someone gave me some gherkin plants and they went very bristly, so they have worked.

I admit I broke down and threw pellets everywhere, I'm sorry to say now-because I had to put in 100 plug plants I stupidly bought, that annoyingly came before I was ready with the traps.

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littlefrog · 31/08/2007 16:44

will the nematodes really not work? i thought they worked better on not clayey soil, but would work on anything. Could perhaps be worth a try? the green gardener has a special offer of some kind on two lots of nemaslug 6 weeks apart.

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majorstress · 31/08/2007 17:39

I did one batch of nematodes this year, but you have to keep re-ordering and reapplying and I was on holiday then too busy.

Very dear.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 31/08/2007 17:42

ROFL at your thread title Filly.

We have been using slug pellets because we have a slug problem indoors. Quite aside from the worry about children getting them, it takes about a week of putting them down every night before it even slows them down, and then they just come back again as soon as there's another rainy night.

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OrmIrian · 31/08/2007 17:46

I don't know.

Which is why my garden growns only geraniums, nasturtiums, cordyline and phormiums...things that the bloody slugs don't like.

Bristly plants like courgettes even get eaten.

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Slubberdegullion · 31/08/2007 17:57

Kathy I'm with you, we have a revolting indoor slug problem. Slug trails every morning. I think they are hiding away in the day under the skirting boards. I was going to do a thread asking how to do away with them without pellets too (as dd2 would almost certainly eat them). Might try the slug hotel tip.

Oh and I made the mistake of going into our garage night before last at about 11pm.
Holy Hell it was a fucking orgy of massive yellow bastards. I'm normally quite hard but I did let out a shriek of suprise and alarm.

Filthy, disgusting creatures.

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Flibbertyjibbet · 31/08/2007 18:26

Oh I thought it was just me with indoor slugs...
We got without them last year cos dp took all the skirting boards off and put POUNDS of salt down before putting the boards back. But they've started coming in again.
I don't even notice them outside anymore since they all snuck in... there are as many but as long as they are outside....

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 31/08/2007 19:15

Slug trails in the morning I don't mind, it's if you come down at night and you see them all over your living room.
Eeeeeeeeeek.

I think ours are under the doorstep of our french windows.

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Kathyis6incheshigh · 31/08/2007 19:16

actually when I say don't mind, actually I do mind but can live with it.

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OrmIrian · 31/08/2007 19:17

The slugs and I use the house on a time-share arrangment. It works mostly.

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filthymindedvixen · 31/08/2007 19:18

Oh filly! this makes me feel a little better. I thought it was just me...Whatever hasn't been eaten by slugs is all silly and stunted due to lack of rain or too much rain. I have worked the hardest I have ever worked on the allotty this year - for the least ever results

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pointydog · 31/08/2007 19:19

get pet hedgehogs?

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