Thanks. Yes, it seems to be the yeast that attracts them. I have a load of yeast to try in a sugar mixture. Peanuts also work well as an attractant, but are more expensive.
I use Hatherwood bitter from Lidl. Its the cheapest I can find. I don't drink beer, but the slugs seem to die happy in it. I use little Doff slug pubs with lids on.
I remember two things that I think were both on gardeners world so I take it they are accurate. The first was by Monty, who said there are about 200 slugs per metre squared in the average garden (remembering that a lot of slus are beneath the surface). The second which I think may have been said by a slug expert (and it could have been springwatch) but basically the slugs have a sort of loose hierarchy where large dominant slugs are only replaced by smaller ones once those large slugs have been removed, so by removing all the bigger slugs you just get more rapidly growing to fill the void.
I've personally never found a way to reduce the numbers or stop the damage they do, other than by encouraging natural predators so personally I think buying some hedgehog or bird food might serve you better in the long run.
I still think the best option is to stick to growing plants they don't eat. No matter how much you like a plant that they favour, you're on a loser trying to fight nature. There are many plants that I would really like to have in my garden but it's not to be.
I see this kind of stat about a lot. I suspect that it's a wild generalisation. There are so many hundreds of different types of slugs in the UK, let alone globaly. Each one comes with its habits. I am no expert at all; there maybe micro-slugs not easily visible to the eye, but in ten years I don't recall ever digging up a slug from depth. Going by the visuals, mine seem to live at the surface or the leaf litter. I did ask the question on the forum a few years ago, and about half the respondents said they didn't find slugs under the soil. Growing root veg, for example might bring in a different type of slug that like to burrow.
slugs have a sort of loose hierarchy where large dominant slugs are only
replaced by smaller ones once those large slugs have been removed, so
by removing all the bigger slugs you just get more rapidly growing to
fill the void.
Heirarchy or not, when there is such a large population in a garden that no actions seem to make a dent, it would suggest to me that the slugs are migrating in from outside the garden. So, yes, as I mentioned higher up in the thread, slugs seem to abhore a vacuum and will slide in to fill any gaps.
Buying some hedgehog or bird food might serve you better in the long run.
I'm all for the 'all and any' ideas that serve. I live near a scraggy park with a high rat population. I did feed birds for some years but now the rat threat is just to high for my comfort. Also, there are not that many birds in my part of the world that delight in live slugs. Birds eating dried out snipped slugs is another question. The main common birds that seem to enjoy slugs are ducks and thrushes (not blackbirds, though). I don't have any of either. In the UK I would say that birds help keep insect pests in check but not so much molluscs. Thrush numbers have plummeted in the last 50 years, aside from blackbirds, whose populations are pretty stable. There are some links in the thread that suggest nothing much predates Spanish slugs.
Our area of small terraced gardens have (without exception) new, high fencing. Around half are concreted at the back; nearly all front gardens are hard surface. I have very low expectation of hedgehogs where we are, though I have access holes through my own fences and are there campaigns afoot to encourage neighbours to do the same. But ultimately hedgehogs needs miles of easy food runs per night through multiple gardens with good cover. Ours are not going to be that any time soon. We also have a higher population of cats and dogs than we have people, which makes it hard for amphibians, birds and hedgehogs.
I have frogs and toads but they seem to enjoy slug company. Given the size of some slugs, I would imagine they are more likely to eat the frogs that the other way around.
I still think the best option is to stick to growing plants they don't eat. No matter how much you like a plant that they favour, you're on a loser trying to fight nature. There are many plants that I would really like to have in my garden but it's not to be.
I might agree, that pretty much knocks out herbaceous perennials and most tuber and bulb grown plants in beds. I try not to think in all or nothing ways.
Being at home this summer and not travelling, I have experimented with some new ways of growing for my garden. I have grown foxgloves and phlox in tall pots. They still got mollucked but managed to get there in the end and are currently flowering wonderfully. I grow dahlias in high pots and keep anything vulnerable as high off the ground as I can. This helps. I put some plants in beds when they were over two foot (hollyhocks, phlox, eupatorium, thalictrum). Again they got targetted but made it through. I don't suppose the last three will return next year and I doubt the hollhocks and foxgloves will get a chance to successfully self seed. I have a list of plants to keep a close eye on in the spring.
In the end it might mean growing a lot more plants in high pots in my small garden, and this might be fine - just a change in tack. It does mean waiting very much longer before putting plants in beds - two foot or more seems to work. This year of experimenting has brought me closer to a garden I love than ever before. I find the hollyhocks, phlox, eupatorium, thalictrum etc breathtaking. So, it's worth trying. Learning is pretty much the most engaging part of gardening for me.
Plus I'm always thinking of moving house - so I will carry any discoveries forward, no doubt, to other gardens in the future.
It’s nearly always damp here so many slugs around, I’m going to get rid of plants they eat, no more dahlias or hostas, they seem to be the worst, although the hostas are mainly eaten by snails. When we were working we found that the best slug traps were those flower pots on the graves with the holes in to poke flowers. We would empty those out, they would be full, and we would be almost sick, the smell is awful, and that’s just plain water.
Now I keep Giant snails I’m amazed at how much water they drink.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
the best slug traps were those flower pots on the graves with the holes
in to poke flowers. We would empty those out, they would be full, and
we would be almost sick, the smell is awful, and that’s just plain
water.
Interesting. I have a mini pond and never find dead slugs in there. I wonder if the slugs were attracted to the rotting flower stems...
Yes, I think they were, but trapped them, they can’t get back out. I’m just watching one of my snails drinking from its bowl, you can hear that 😀 The others are rasping on the cuttlefish, we can hear all these noises because there’s nothing else.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
I remember two things that I think were both on gardeners world so I take it they are accurate. The first was by Monty, who said there are about 200 slugs per metre squared in the average garden (remembering that a lot of slus are beneath the surface). The second which I think may have been said by a slug expert (and it could have been springwatch) but basically the slugs have a sort of loose hierarchy where large dominant slugs are only replaced by smaller ones once those large slugs have been removed, so by removing all the bigger slugs you just get more rapidly growing to fill the void.
I've personally never found a way to reduce the numbers or stop the damage they do, other than by encouraging natural predators so personally I think buying some hedgehog or bird food might serve you better in the long run.
When we were working we found that the best slug traps were those flower pots on the graves with the holes in to poke flowers. We would empty those out, they would be full, and we would be almost sick, the smell is awful, and that’s just plain water.
Now I keep Giant snails I’m amazed at how much water they drink.
Interesting. I have a mini pond and never find dead slugs in there. I wonder if the slugs were attracted to the rotting flower stems...
I’m just watching one of my snails drinking from its bowl, you can hear that 😀
The others are rasping on the cuttlefish, we can hear all these noises because there’s nothing else.