Forum home› Fruit & veg
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Slug problems

Cowgirl4Cowgirl4 Posts: 1
in Fruit & veg
I’m a total novice and just got an allotment. I’m having problems with slugs eating the courgettes. What is the best  way to deal with them?
«13

Posts

  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,847
    I'm sorry to say that I'm a slug pellet user, there are other ways apparently, encourage frogs and toads and birds into the garden and they eat the slugs, the trouble is the slugs eat the lettuce before the frog eats the slug.
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    If you lift the leaves and those of nearby plants you may find the slugs lurking in the shade of the underneath leaves.  You could drop them into a container of water, squish or stamp on them.  I don't use slugs pellets as I like to encourage wildlife into my garden and you can't do both.  If you look for the slugs after some rain you should find more of the slimy creatures, or go to your allotment one night as that is when they are more active with a torch.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I recommend every gardener to buy, beg or borrow "The Little Book of Slugs" £3 from the Centre for Alternative Technology.  It's fun to read and explains numerous wildlife-friendly ways to destroy or deter slugs.  It's best to use a belt-and-braces approach rather than rely on a single method.  Or just stick to growing plants that slugs don't eat.  
  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630
    Fry them in butter with lots of fresh ground pepper mmmmm......

    Oh you mean the slugs?
    Have you heard of nematodes?
    A treatment you can buy to water on.  I am not sure if there are other brands but.
    https://www.nematodesdirect.co.uk/

    See what other allotmenteers are using.

    Old metaldehyde based pellets are being phased out, there are more wild life friendly versions available.

    Organically-approved pellets, based on ferric phosphate are supposed to be wild life friendly.
    There was a discussion recently about the phasing out of the old pellets, so not sure if they are still available to buy. I would only ask if you do buy pellets over other treatments please use the organic "friendly" ones. And note the instructions of only dotting a few about.

    As mentioned collecting them if you have time is good, also turning soil and exposing the eggs.Check around pots and edges of raised beds if you have any, they hide under leaves but also lay eggs in these areas.
    I tipped a few plants out of pots yesterday to check and found little piles of clear eggs and slugs.

    If you can afford to use nematodes to start with it will give you a good clearance and head start.
    Good Luck.
  • Bee witchedBee witched Posts: 1,295
    Hi @Cowgirl4 .... and welcome to the forum,

    I've been using nematodes for a few years now ..... I still get an occasional slug but nothing like the numbers in the past.

    Bee x
    Gardener and beekeeper in beautiful Scottish Borders  

    A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
  • HelixHelix Posts: 631
    We have a plastic ring (cut from a plastic bottle) around the main stem of our courgettes.  And then they have a clear space around them covered in gravel, coffee grounds, whatever we have to hand. Plus snail patrols when we feel motivated.  And it seems to work ok.  We loose the occasional leaf, but mot many.
  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    edited June 2019
    It’s the golden question...
    I tend to do something similar to @Helix - a combination of deterrents. I am trying wool pellets this year. I have come to the conclusion that tender plants cannot be safely grown in the ground in my garden, so all veg and tenders are in pots with a double, or triple, protection of gravel/egg shells/coffee grounds or wool pellets and sometimes beer traps and copper tape. I don’t use chemical pellets as I have birds, frogs and other wildlife - although there are obviously more slugs than them! The evening ‘slug patrol’ is effective, but hard to be disciplined - particularly if raining (which is exactly when you need to be on patrol). 
    Good luck! 🐌 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Snails are another story entirely.  I would give anything to hear a Thrush beating the snail shell on the steps or the stone wall just as they used to when plentiful - when I do find snails  "in the wrong place" I just remove them to somewhere away from my precious plants or vegetables.
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I can definitely recommend nematodes I used them 2 years ago in my garden which was slug central and the numbers have massively declined. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Another vote for nematodes here ... we use slug pubs too 👍 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





Sign In or Register to comment.