Ive found that nothing deters slugs, egg shells, coffee, copper. I even bought some special slug deterrent stone mix(That turned into clay and really ruined my garden) Slugs love to eat and nothing will stop them, I've heard about them climbing through letterboxes for cat food.
The best thing I have found is to hunt them. Go around the garden an hour after dark with a torch strapped to your head. Pick them up one by one and squish them. If feeling lazy put out 5-6 trays/plates/jarlids with a spoon of peanut butter on. Then go out once every half hour after dark and pick up the ones that have gone for the food.
If you don't like squishing them you can put them in a tub and then use salt (But its a bit brutal)
I remember talking to some people in Italy a long time ago - they said that the problems with the Brits is that we try to enforce the keeping of the EU rules and regs, whereas everyone else (well, the Italians anyway) only prosecute if someone contravenes one of the rules and then something awful happens as a result.
That seems the sensible way to me
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If there are envionmental reasons for a pesticide ban, then the bad results would not be immediately obvious. The annoying thing is that commercial growers are still allowed some of the chemicals banned to the rest of us, even though we would use them on a small scale and in a very targeted way.
But in practice I can't imagine even the UK police knocking on my door to ask what precisely I was hoping to achieve by putting coffee grounds on my flower beds. If it's lawful to use as a soil conditioner, it can't be harmful as a pest deterrent.
I think the trouble is that there's some blanket rule saying that any substance used to kill or even deter wildlife has to be approved. This is where it gets silly, as some creatures are deterred by harmless substances - and some, like slugs, are not likely to be an endangered species anywhere!
I collect slugs and snails from the garden and toss them in the duck fence... quick end of slug and happy ducks.
Magpie, contrary to commong belief private gardeners' use of chemichals is really quite heavy in relation to agricultural use (not just pesticides, but also harsh fertilizers and herbicides), and I am all for stricter legislation in that sense, and the enforcing of it too, especially because so many private gardeners are so trigger-happy with their spraying cans that the usage is not always as well targeted as all that.
That said the thing with coffee grounds is utterly ridiculous, and I suspect it's due more to industry pressure than anything else... Slug and snail pellets are **by far** the most popular pest control product with private gardeners, and the industry would be really pissed if a home made alternative were to shw up and ... gasp... work.
That said, I only drink instant coffee, so I am not going to try ... And I am Italian, lol
If there are envionmental reasons for a pesticide ban, then the bad results would not be immediately obvious. ................ I think the trouble is that there's some blanket rule saying that any substance used to kill or even deter wildlife has to be approved. This is where it gets silly, as some creatures are deterred by harmless substances - and some, like slugs, are not likely to be an endangered species anywhere!
Yes, of course - I was thinking more of the 'harmles substance type' rules, like salt and coffee grounds - otherwise I'm all for strict policing of the rules
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I can't bear to kill anything but I must admit I do move the slugs away from any plant I particularly like ! How could anyone kill a snail- they are nice ! So what if they nibble some leaves.....
You will find though that soon many of the common pesticides will not be available due to something called REACH which is slowly limiting toxic chemicals whether sold alone or in mixtures.
Hi, I happened to find this in an article by Anna Pavord I read recently, and I trust her to write sensibly, since, while being organic in general disposition she is not a fanatic.
This was about the US though, and it was meant not so much on absolute mass of chemicals used as, in on usage vs surface treated. "The National Academy of Science in the States discovered that homeowners use up to ten times more chemical pesticides an acre than do farmers."
Is it true? I don't know, never being to the US, but I know that when a farmer sprays a field, because of the surfaces involved, he must spend a hefty sum of money. So he will not do it on a whim.
My neighbour last year had yellow hydrangeas. Chlorosis, nothing more. He told me proudly, "I don't know what it was, so I sprayed them with insecticide on monday and fungicide on tuesday." That unfortunately represents the attitude of many, many uninformed private gardeners, who, unlike farmers are totally unsupervised while spraying poisons right and left.
I am a 100% organic gardener myself, but I think that if chemicals are acccepted, they should be used to produce food, not to mention the farmers' livelihood, not to produce green lawns (which serve NO purpose at all). (I mention lawns because the article was a bout lawns).
Not an attack on anybody here, god forbid, just my two cents, since chemichals and farmers were mentioned.
That's a good point, Katherine, about food production vs cosmetic purposes. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to protect my fruit and vegetables, but am much more relaxed about ornamental plants, lawns etc.
It's the same with watering - my ornamental plants just have to make do with rainfall but I water the food crops as necessary. When we had a water shortage I was quite angry when farmers could use mains water on crops, while gardeners were not allowed to do so. I feel rather the same about using chemicals on food crops, although I can see that it would be impractical to ban certain substances from use on flowers and allow them on fruit and veg.
If I were to lose my whole tomato crop to blight or all my salads to slugs, I'd end up going to a shop to buy replacements which would almost certainly have been subjected to much higher levels of pesticides etc than I would have used - how often do you find a slug or aphids on a bought lettuce?
All very good points Magpie, although each garden and gardener has their own situations. My current garden is newly planted, and in the climate of SW France, you have to water new plantings or they just won't make it, but on the other hand I didn't even make a lawn to begin with
This spring I had to use some slug pellets, for the first time in ages... but aside from that we don't use anything else... last year we had a very chilly damp summer and all the tomatoes were blighted (but not the potatoes, funny enough). But the broccoli were super. SO I think when the weather is bad for some things, other things will do fine.
It is always a loaded discussion, pesticides and stuff, and tempers invariably flare up, lol. Personally I really wish a more responsible and far-sighted approach to the environment would finally ensue at all levels, but as long as chemical stuff is on the market I think its use should be policed much more closely.There is much, much irresponsible and misinformed usage, and it does affect all of us in the end.
When I see people spraying round-up on the whole front lawn because there were some plantains, and they decided to start from scratch rather than pulling the weeds, I feel my blood pressure going up like the Space Shuttle
Posts
Ive found that nothing deters slugs, egg shells, coffee, copper. I even bought some special slug deterrent stone mix(That turned into clay and really ruined my garden) Slugs love to eat and nothing will stop them, I've heard about them climbing through letterboxes for cat food.
The best thing I have found is to hunt them. Go around the garden an hour after dark with a torch strapped to your head. Pick them up one by one and squish them. If feeling lazy put out 5-6 trays/plates/jarlids with a spoon of peanut butter on. Then go out once every half hour after dark and pick up the ones that have gone for the food.
If you don't like squishing them you can put them in a tub and then use salt (But its a bit brutal)
I remember talking to some people in Italy a long time ago - they said that the problems with the Brits is that we try to enforce the keeping of the EU rules and regs, whereas everyone else (well, the Italians anyway) only prosecute if someone contravenes one of the rules and then something awful happens as a result.
That seems the sensible way to me
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If there are envionmental reasons for a pesticide ban, then the bad results would not be immediately obvious. The annoying thing is that commercial growers are still allowed some of the chemicals banned to the rest of us, even though we would use them on a small scale and in a very targeted way.
But in practice I can't imagine even the UK police knocking on my door to ask what precisely I was hoping to achieve by putting coffee grounds on my flower beds. If it's lawful to use as a soil conditioner, it can't be harmful as a pest deterrent.
I think the trouble is that there's some blanket rule saying that any substance used to kill or even deter wildlife has to be approved. This is where it gets silly, as some creatures are deterred by harmless substances - and some, like slugs, are not likely to be an endangered species anywhere!
I collect slugs and snails from the garden and toss them in the duck fence... quick end of slug and happy ducks.
Magpie, contrary to commong belief private gardeners' use of chemichals is really quite heavy in relation to agricultural use (not just pesticides, but also harsh fertilizers and herbicides), and I am all for stricter legislation in that sense, and the enforcing of it too, especially because so many private gardeners are so trigger-happy with their spraying cans that the usage is not always as well targeted as all that.
That said the thing with coffee grounds is utterly ridiculous, and I suspect it's due more to industry pressure than anything else... Slug and snail pellets are **by far** the most popular pest control product with private gardeners, and the industry would be really pissed if a home made alternative were to shw up and ... gasp... work.
That said, I only drink instant coffee, so I am not going to try ... And I am Italian, lol
Yes, of course - I was thinking more of the 'harmles substance type' rules, like salt and coffee grounds - otherwise I'm all for strict policing of the rules
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I can't bear to kill anything but I must admit I do move the slugs away from any plant I particularly like ! How could anyone kill a snail- they are nice ! So what if they nibble some leaves.....
You will find though that soon many of the common pesticides will not be available due to something called REACH which is slowly limiting toxic chemicals whether sold alone or in mixtures.
Hi, I happened to find this in an article by Anna Pavord I read recently, and I trust her to write sensibly, since, while being organic in general disposition she is not a fanatic.
This was about the US though, and it was meant not so much on absolute mass of chemicals used as, in on usage vs surface treated. "The National Academy of Science in the States discovered that homeowners use up to ten times more chemical pesticides an acre than do farmers."
Is it true? I don't know, never being to the US, but I know that when a farmer sprays a field, because of the surfaces involved, he must spend a hefty sum of money. So he will not do it on a whim.
My neighbour last year had yellow hydrangeas. Chlorosis, nothing more. He told me proudly, "I don't know what it was, so I sprayed them with insecticide on monday and fungicide on tuesday." That unfortunately represents the attitude of many, many uninformed private gardeners, who, unlike farmers are totally unsupervised while spraying poisons right and left.
I am a 100% organic gardener myself, but I think that if chemicals are acccepted, they should be used to produce food, not to mention the farmers' livelihood, not to produce green lawns (which serve NO purpose at all). (I mention lawns because the article was a bout lawns).
Not an attack on anybody here, god forbid, just my two cents, since chemichals and farmers were mentioned.
That's a good point, Katherine, about food production vs cosmetic purposes. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to protect my fruit and vegetables, but am much more relaxed about ornamental plants, lawns etc.
It's the same with watering - my ornamental plants just have to make do with rainfall but I water the food crops as necessary. When we had a water shortage I was quite angry when farmers could use mains water on crops, while gardeners were not allowed to do so. I feel rather the same about using chemicals on food crops, although I can see that it would be impractical to ban certain substances from use on flowers and allow them on fruit and veg.
If I were to lose my whole tomato crop to blight or all my salads to slugs, I'd end up going to a shop to buy replacements which would almost certainly have been subjected to much higher levels of pesticides etc than I would have used - how often do you find a slug or aphids on a bought lettuce?
All very good points Magpie, although each garden and gardener has their own situations. My current garden is newly planted, and in the climate of SW France, you have to water new plantings or they just won't make it, but on the other hand I didn't even make a lawn to begin with
This spring I had to use some slug pellets, for the first time in ages... but aside from that we don't use anything else... last year we had a very chilly damp summer and all the tomatoes were blighted (but not the potatoes, funny enough). But the broccoli were super. SO I think when the weather is bad for some things, other things will do fine.
It is always a loaded discussion, pesticides and stuff, and tempers invariably flare up, lol. Personally I really wish a more responsible and far-sighted approach to the environment would finally ensue at all levels, but as long as chemical stuff is on the market I think its use should be policed much more closely.There is much, much irresponsible and misinformed usage, and it does affect all of us in the end.
When I see people spraying round-up on the whole front lawn because there were some plantains, and they decided to start from scratch rather than pulling the weeds, I feel my blood pressure going up like the Space Shuttle