The beer traps work a bit, but are disgusting to deal with, especially if you forget to empty them daily.
Slugs like rotting leaves and tiny new shoots best. Then they move on to your healthy leaves. So reduce the initial attraction by removing old, dying, rotting leaves as much as you can. If you plant out seedlings, and small plants, growing them on a bit in a slug-free place before planting out makes a big difference.
Organic slug pellets don’t attract slugs, which means you need to them spread lightly and evenly over the whole area, but at least you won’t be inviting them in. I try to use even these sparingly, and only apply them at dusk because blackbirds love them.
Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.
It's a common myth that having frogs and hedgehogs means fewer slugs. They only form a small part of their diet. Birds will eat snails [thrushes mainly] but not many will eat lots of slugs. We don't get lots of blackbirds and thrushes coming into the garden apart from winter, because there's no need -there's such a wealth of food in the area for them. The biggest problem with slugs is that they multiply so quickly, so it's a relentless slog to keep on top of them. Avoiding the plants they like is the best way, but it's annoying when there are plants you really like, so it's a challenge if you want to keep growing them. We have no need for drought tolerant plants here!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Has anyone seen any research regarding ferric phosphate around vegetables? My kale and other plants in my raised beds have been decimated this year (along with a few delphiniums and hollyhocks I was given). Im Happy to try ferric phosphate, but unsure about any health problems it might give rise to. There’s some chatter about EDTA (not sure that’s right) which has been added to the pellets, but can’t find anywhere what damage that might cause?
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As i adapt my hard, dry clay garden to more suitable drought tolerant plants i'm finding there's less and less for the slugs to eat.
Birds will eat snails [thrushes mainly] but not many will eat lots of slugs. We don't get lots of blackbirds and thrushes coming into the garden apart from winter, because there's no need -there's such a wealth of food in the area for them.
The biggest problem with slugs is that they multiply so quickly, so it's a relentless slog to keep on top of them. Avoiding the plants they like is the best way, but it's annoying when there are plants you really like, so it's a challenge if you want to keep growing them. We have no need for drought tolerant plants here!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...