That's true. Very acrobatic, and multi tasking too. When you think about it, no wonder they're so hard to get rid of
Yes they do abseil, I've seen them do it! And they have an incredible sense of smell - I hung a suet bird cake about 5 feet on a wall and within 5 minutes a cheeky slug was climbing up the attached ladder. He bridged the gap between the cork and the ladder by just stretching up and up
This was in broad daylight too! Within 10 mins he was sharing the snack with a sparrow It actually makes me quite guilty for my obsession with their destruction
They eat any bird food spilled too @mikeymustard. If it's too late for birds to be out, they're in there stuffing their fat blobby faces
Sorry @D_wilko. Most of us know how frustrating it can be. In pots, you can limit the damage a bit by doing the aforementioned, or using copper tape etc, but it's much harder in the ground. There are other options, like not growing susceptible plants [hostas are among their favourites] or only growing them in one area so that it's easier to manage, but a good option, and natural, is nematodes. You can get them online, so that might be worth trying for next year. Early in the year, it's worth trying the search and destroy method, as it can reduce the numbers available for 'multiplying' quite significantly. Encouraging wildlife is also helpful - sometimes you need a fair bit of patience for it all to come together though. Most importantly, try not to get too depressed and jaded about it. You can always come here on the forum for a bit of a rant, even as the b***ers are devouring everything in front of your eyes.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
This year has been especially bad following a coupla mild winters. The only thing that saved some of my plants was putting copper mesh fences around them, and as for wildlife, my hedgehogs are useless and the blackbirds weren't interested unless I squished them first
We have found earwigs to be a big problem eating sunflower leaves, potato leaves and anything else that takes their fancy as well as the slugs. A good lamp and squashing the earwigs between 2 trowels works well but they do move fast if you happen to miss them. We have got rid of dozens of earwigs with that method. As for the slugs we collect them on trowels and then drop them into salt water which finishes them off quickly or squash the tiny ones, I have found that the later you go at night especially after rain, more of them have come out to munch. Nemotodes and collecting them seems to work well.
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I cant every night be out cleaning each plant ill be there all night.
Very frustrating situation
And they have an incredible sense of smell - I hung a suet bird cake about 5 feet on a wall and within 5 minutes a cheeky slug was climbing up the attached ladder. He bridged the gap between the cork and the ladder by just stretching up and up
This was in broad daylight too! Within 10 mins he was sharing the snack with a sparrow
It actually makes me quite guilty for my obsession with their destruction
Sorry @D_wilko. Most of us know how frustrating it can be. In pots, you can limit the damage a bit by doing the aforementioned, or using copper tape etc, but it's much harder in the ground. There are other options, like not growing susceptible plants [hostas are among their favourites] or only growing them in one area so that it's easier to manage, but a good option, and natural, is nematodes. You can get them online, so that might be worth trying for next year.
Early in the year, it's worth trying the search and destroy method, as it can reduce the numbers available for 'multiplying' quite significantly.
Encouraging wildlife is also helpful - sometimes you need a fair bit of patience for it all to come together though.
Most importantly, try not to get too depressed and jaded about it. You can always come here on the forum for a bit of a rant, even as the b***ers are devouring everything in front of your eyes.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...