black slugs I was told to leave alone as they eat the others and do little damage to your plants. I lost 90% of my veg to the slimy critters last year and won't be this year...I've been out today and walloped the little so and so's whilst they were sleeping hehe I've tried the copper tape round pots and it didn't work; I'm sure they climbed the geraniums and launched themselves onto the petunias for a big meal time...most were gone by the morning! I'm tempted to try nematodes this year as last year we tried so many methods to no avail. Luckily I didn't find any in the greenhouse
Am thinking of getting nematodes to deal with the mass of slugs I am expecting again this year. I can't use pellets because sometimes there are children in the area and also they think birds may eat the pellets...has anyone else heard that.
Last year the slugs nearly murdered all the bedding plants in the raised beds, I am not going to let them get away with it this year. If you use nematodes do you need to change the compost later in the year or can you just put fresh compost on the top?
I just chop 'em in half with my weeding knife, if there's lots of small ones I go indoors for a nice cup of tea whilst the blackbird and sparrows fight over them. There must be at least two nests in the hedge, and sometimes the blackbird chases the sparrows off of 'his' feeding table. It doesn't matter, there's also a hanging feeding station that the blackbird doesn't use, I make sure there are fat balls or suet blocks in both, so they all get fed.
I put my nematodes down about two weeks ago and its looking very promising...only found 5 baby slugs the other night and they were on the grass not the borders and veg beds ....kind of miss 'the kill' though something very satisfying about squishing the little slimers
i have found they dont like fircones much.. so gather them up round my hostas and they dont go near them.. i also painted the tops of my raised flower/veg beds with black bitchamen (not sure on spelling) paint and they wont go over it at all. i do not like to use chemicals in my garden if i can help it..
If you find a slug that's dark grey with random spots all over it's a Leopard Slug - adults can be several inches long and really fat. See Google for pics. Please don't kill a Leopard Slug as it eats decaying wood and vegetation for starters and slugs for main course. On warm evenings I go on slug safaries with an old pair of scissors to snip nasty slugs - and I often come across my Leopards nibbling on smaller slugs and the remains of last night's kills.
just about to plant my runner beans for the second time! Beer traps worked quite well so adding more plus coffee,grit, night hunting and leaving the intoxicated pile near my log pile. Fingers crossed my hedgehog fancies a midnight tipple and I will be able to "harvest" a bean !
gardenfantic-that's a great idea with the fir cones...have a pine tree here so will pick them off as I prune it back! The bitumen paint sounds good too but do you make sure it doesn't touch your plants? I would think it may not be very good for them if it does! I have very large snails here but not so many slugs.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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black slugs I was told to leave alone as they eat the others and do little damage to your plants. I lost 90% of my veg to the slimy critters last year and won't be this year...I've been out today and walloped the little so and so's whilst they were sleeping hehe
I've tried the copper tape round pots and it didn't work; I'm sure they climbed the geraniums and launched themselves onto the petunias for a big meal time...most were gone by the morning! I'm tempted to try nematodes this year as last year we tried so many methods to no avail. Luckily I didn't find any in the greenhouse
Last year the slugs nearly murdered all the bedding plants in the raised beds, I am not going to let them get away with it this year. If you use nematodes do you need to change the compost later in the year or can you just put fresh compost on the top?
I just chop 'em in half with my weeding knife, if there's lots of small ones I go indoors for a nice cup of tea whilst the blackbird and sparrows fight over them. There must be at least two nests in the hedge, and sometimes the blackbird chases the sparrows off of 'his' feeding table. It doesn't matter, there's also a hanging feeding station that the blackbird doesn't use, I make sure there are fat balls or suet blocks in both, so they all get fed.
I put my nematodes down about two weeks ago and its looking very promising...only found 5 baby slugs the other night and they were on the grass not the borders and veg beds
....kind of miss 'the kill' though
something very satisfying about squishing the little slimers
If you find a slug that's dark grey with random spots all over it's a Leopard Slug - adults can be several inches long and really fat. See Google for pics. Please don't kill a Leopard Slug as it eats decaying wood and vegetation for starters and slugs for main course. On warm evenings I go on slug safaries with an old pair of scissors to snip nasty slugs - and I often come across my Leopards nibbling on smaller slugs and the remains of last night's kills.
just about to plant my runner beans for the second time! Beer traps worked quite well so adding more plus coffee,grit, night hunting and leaving the intoxicated pile near my log pile. Fingers crossed my hedgehog fancies a midnight tipple and I will be able to "harvest" a bean !
gardenfantic-that's a great idea with the fir cones...have a pine tree here so will pick them off as I prune it back! The bitumen paint sounds good too but do you make sure it doesn't touch your plants? I would think it may not be very good for them if it does! I have very large snails here but not so many slugs.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...