My point is that it IS effective. I don't like killing things, either, but I do want a garden. As for throwing slugs on the grass - in some parts of my garden, on bad nights, there isn't room to put your foot down without stepping on several. Gardeners have caused this problem, both by their planting and by buying imported, contaminated materials. Nature can't solve this one.
Posy, ask advice on this board and you will get opinions, we all have our own way of doing things, who is to say one is right one wrong. You are actually doing it the best way a bucket with water and salt is quick and you get a lot together. There are no quick remedies as with all things in gardening it takes time and effort you will reduce the numbers in time. As you comment a garden is not natural although run correctly so that wild life birds and insects are encouraged to make it a home they are the best way of keeping a garden clean and free from pests.
I have slugs not many, snails more of them although keeping the garden free of places for them to hide helps, I turned over a board and found dozens of them and they got half a bottle of a famous household cleaner poured on them. At times cruelty is the only way though I hate doing that. We ask for advice and get some queer answers but mainly good simple answers from people who have had the same problems and experience has told them the best way to manage, you read them all and take your pick.
I agree, Frank, that everyone has a right to their opinions, but I do think that more experienced gardeners should be fair and honest with newcomers. When I first started I was really keen on this stuff about natural predators balancing out and one row for the birds and one for us. I lost almost 75% of everything I planted and 100% of most things. The pigeons ate every inch of my beautiful brassicas on the dawn of the first day after planting, the mole unearthed most of my strawberry plants just as they set fruit and as for the delphiniums and lupins ... Slugs and rabbits put paid to much of the rest. Even now, I cannot grow many of our traditional garden plants and I gave up fruit and veg completely. I have lots of birds and toads, not to mention newts, foxes, badgers and the rest but they can't make a dent in all the slug population. I do that by going out almost every night and picking off hundreds and it does work! That's not an opinion. it's a fact.
I will kill them however necessary, They quite often get chopped in half with the hoe when I'm weeding, I'll also smear them with a welly if I don't have anything else to hand, I also use the iron pellets.
I also live in a bog and have so many toads and frogs that mowing the lawn is quite literally mass murder, I counted the small frogs on my lawn once and came up to 30 in a square meter, we also have a good population of larger ones as well. They do NOT make a noticeable dent on the slug population.
This year I fed two FULL 15L buckets to my ducks, each bucket was split over three days, there's a limit to how many even they could eat. we have three adult ducks and up to 20 ducklings at a time, they do make a dent in the slime population, but unfortunately they will also eat anything saladey so they cannot be allowed into the veg garden itself.
If I do not wage war on them a fully grown iceberg lettuce is gone overnight, there is no "plant extra" all that gets you is more slugs and still nothing to eat, slugs (I don't have a huge issue with snails funnily) need to be removed by whatever method you find best easiest and fastest, the only ones I do not use are beer (I have two dogs with exceedingly bad taste) Salt (this would be salting the fields territory) and the old slug pellets as they kill everything
I do find that if I am diligent up until mid June I can slack off some on the control for the rest of the year.
I don't kill or use any chemicals although a few slugs been known the fly over the garden shed after they have been caught demolishing a plant I have recently purchased.
I grow a lot mainly for bees, butterflies and birds but there are some things I don't bother growing anymore because of snails and slugs (lupins and others). I still have them in my garden but mainly around the compost bin and eating dead material on the soil and don't bother my plants as much.
If you have to kill them you are right to avoid chems.
I have to agree with Posy on this. No matter how 'wild' our gardens are, they're 'phoney', and full of juicy stuff that molluscs love. There's only so much that birds, frogs, hedgehogs etc can do, and they aren't always in the right place at the right time either.
I'd agree with Skandi that if you work at it in spring when new growth is coming through, and plants are a bit vulnerable, it pays off. Once plants get going, they can generally cope better.
It's still a problem with certain plants though, and like GaryR, I now avoid plants which just attract them like a magnet. I don't have the time or energy to devote to it. I can have a certain number of plants which need a bit more attention, so I then have a reasonable balance.
I also enjoy a bit of slug tossing over the fence (the giant snails are easier to keep hold of and then fling, though ) but a pair of scissors is quick and simple.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I know most of us have had enough of slugs and the extensive damage they do to crops and plants. I use every conceivable option including animal friendly slug pellets, beer traps, gravel and beer traps
I also invented(I think) salt rings
PS. Salt ring are plastic cartons that you receives from Chinese takeaways. I use the lids and cut out the middle section leaving just the plastic channel. I pin these to the soil around plants with metal wire a then fill the channel with salt. For a bigger circumference of channel, I use 2 or 3 and cable tie them together. It works unless we get a lot of rainfall
Posts
My point is that it IS effective. I don't like killing things, either, but I do want a garden. As for throwing slugs on the grass - in some parts of my garden, on bad nights, there isn't room to put your foot down without stepping on several. Gardeners have caused this problem, both by their planting and by buying imported, contaminated materials. Nature can't solve this one.
Posy, ask advice on this board and you will get opinions, we all have our own way of doing things, who is to say one is right one wrong. You are actually doing it the best way a bucket with water and salt is quick and you get a lot together. There are no quick remedies as with all things in gardening it takes time and effort you will reduce the numbers in time. As you comment a garden is not natural although run correctly so that wild life birds and insects are encouraged to make it a home they are the best way of keeping a garden clean and free from pests.
I have slugs not many, snails more of them although keeping the garden free of places for them to hide helps, I turned over a board and found dozens of them and they got half a bottle of a famous household cleaner poured on them. At times cruelty is the only way though I hate doing that. We ask for advice and get some queer answers but mainly good simple answers from people who have had the same problems and experience has told them the best way to manage, you read them all and take your pick.
Frank.
I agree, Frank, that everyone has a right to their opinions, but I do think that more experienced gardeners should be fair and honest with newcomers. When I first started I was really keen on this stuff about natural predators balancing out and one row for the birds and one for us. I lost almost 75% of everything I planted and 100% of most things. The pigeons ate every inch of my beautiful brassicas on the dawn of the first day after planting, the mole unearthed most of my strawberry plants just as they set fruit and as for the delphiniums and lupins ... Slugs and rabbits put paid to much of the rest. Even now, I cannot grow many of our traditional garden plants and I gave up fruit and veg completely. I have lots of birds and toads, not to mention newts, foxes, badgers and the rest but they can't make a dent in all the slug population. I do that by going out almost every night and picking off hundreds and it does work! That's not an opinion. it's a fact.
I will kill them however necessary, They quite often get chopped in half with the hoe when I'm weeding, I'll also smear them with a welly if I don't have anything else to hand, I also use the iron pellets.
I also live in a bog and have so many toads and frogs that mowing the lawn is quite literally mass murder, I counted the small frogs on my lawn once and came up to 30 in a square meter, we also have a good population of larger ones as well. They do NOT make a noticeable dent on the slug population.
This year I fed two FULL 15L buckets to my ducks, each bucket was split over three days, there's a limit to how many even they could eat. we have three adult ducks and up to 20 ducklings at a time, they do make a dent in the slime population, but unfortunately they will also eat anything saladey so they cannot be allowed into the veg garden itself.
If I do not wage war on them a fully grown iceberg lettuce is gone overnight, there is no "plant extra" all that gets you is more slugs and still nothing to eat, slugs (I don't have a huge issue with snails funnily) need to be removed by whatever method you find best easiest and fastest, the only ones I do not use are beer (I have two dogs with exceedingly bad taste) Salt (this would be salting the fields territory) and the old slug pellets as they kill everything
I do find that if I am diligent up until mid June I can slack off some on the control for the rest of the year.
I don't kill or use any chemicals although a few slugs been known the fly over the garden shed after they have been caught demolishing a plant I have recently purchased.
I grow a lot mainly for bees, butterflies and birds but there are some things I don't bother growing anymore because of snails and slugs (lupins and others). I still have them in my garden but mainly around the compost bin and eating dead material on the soil and don't bother my plants as much.
If you have to kill them you are right to avoid chems.
I have to agree with Posy on this. No matter how 'wild' our gardens are, they're 'phoney', and full of juicy stuff that molluscs love. There's only so much that birds, frogs, hedgehogs etc can do, and they aren't always in the right place at the right time either.
I'd agree with Skandi that if you work at it in spring when new growth is coming through, and plants are a bit vulnerable, it pays off. Once plants get going, they can generally cope better.
It's still a problem with certain plants though, and like GaryR, I now avoid plants which just attract them like a magnet. I don't have the time or energy to devote to it. I can have a certain number of plants which need a bit more attention, so I then have a reasonable balance.
I also enjoy a bit of slug tossing over the fence (the giant snails are easier to keep hold of and then fling, though
) but a pair of scissors is quick and simple.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I snip slugs and squash snails. They're always gone by morning. I don't know what eats them, but they're welcome.
I know most of us have had enough of slugs and the extensive damage they do to crops and plants. I use every conceivable option including animal friendly slug pellets, beer traps, gravel and beer traps
I also invented(I think) salt rings
PS. Salt ring are plastic cartons that you receives from Chinese takeaways. I use the lids and cut out the middle section leaving just the plastic channel. I pin these to the soil around plants with metal wire a then fill the channel with salt. For a bigger circumference of channel, I use 2 or 3 and cable tie them together. It works unless we get a lot of rainfall