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Same old story

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  • does anyone use slug pellets that are dog friendly and actually work?!! I just cant have the great cosmos massacre again like last year. it nearly finished me off!!

    ive seen organic slug pellets advertised, ive never used any pesticides in my garden, but im thinking,if theyre organic,dog friendly,..? worth doing?

  • WonkyWombleWonkyWomble Posts: 4,538

    My gardening efforts have inspired my SIL who lives in the flat beneath ours to tidy the front path to her door.....the following is a picture of the snails we evicted! I won't post a picture of their fate sufficient to say our path is both mushy and crunchy! image

    image

     

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190

    Nematodes work very well Fishy, I have used them. You may think they are expensive but not as much as 2 or 3 boxes of 'friendly' slug bait.

    You need to place them when its going to rain or you need to water them in. They will die if they get too dry.

    You have worked so hard on your garden through the winter and spring, I really think you should look around on the net or in the GC for some bait.

    My daughter buys some wooly looking stuff, she says it smells like wet dog, but says it works, it doesnt disappear so only one application needed.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Fishy65Fishy65 Posts: 2,276

    Thank you Lyn I'll do that...it seems the longer term solution and a natural one at that. As for now, I've scattered lettuce around the plants in question in the hope of appealing to the slugs/snail's better nature. Appeasement seldom works in the long run and they say never to do deals with terrorists, but I'm going to see how it pans out.

  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,064

    Someone has counted the slugs in Belgium and reckons this is the worst year ever - 300,000 per hectare or 120,000 per acre.   4 times the usual concentration.

    So pleased I've been protecting my hostas with regular scatterings of organic pellets.  My garden is too big to budget for nematodes.

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • marksman065marksman065 Posts: 51

    i use beer stout,by 2am there are drunk and bugger off to bed ha ha 

  • Pat 10Pat 10 Posts: 20

    Another one here who is in the second year for using nematodes and they work, when we first moved here we were plagued with slugs, but since I started using nematodes their numbers are drastically reduced.

  • FrannerzFrannerz Posts: 72
    Claire Goulding yeah the pellets made of sheep sheerings really work great because of the salt content in the wool.

    And after reading this thread I think 'sanjy67' you are my kind of person. Lol.

    I do exactly the same thing at night. I grab my torch and out I go to foil the slugs
  • Janie13Janie13 Posts: 5

    I had the same problem but prefer not to kill these creatures (not that I had much success as used beer once but was not happy doing it so did not repeat). I find slugs and snails interesting to watch. I do sympathise with losing plants you have lovingly bred from seed as it continually happened to me. However, I dug a wildlife pond about 15 years ago and within a few years, the majority of slugs and snails have disappeared. I have at last been able to plant my hostas in the garden with minimal damage. The pond contains frogs and newts. I also feed the birds regularly which I believe also helps.I realise this is a solution which is not possible for everyone. 

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,888

    When we first moved here I sprinkled " suet treats" bird food amongst the plants, the blackbirds soon came in and rummaged. I've given up on the suet , but the blackbirds remain.

    We also have a pond , if only we had hedgehogs image

    Devon.
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