Hi all , last year was the worst for slugs , yes you can eat them , I haven't but I saw a River Cottage program when Hugh deep fried snails and slugs as far as raised beds go , the imported soill may have slug eggs in it , I have tried beer traps with some success and slug pellets organic and non organic, last year a lady suggested that a gloppy mix of flour and water in butter boxes placed at soil level I wonder how that went ,Derek
My raised veg beds are all surrounded by pea gravel; that could explain why I only have a minor problem with slugs. my main problem is on the flower bed.
I use them, I don't really think they are expensive because I can easily get through 6 tubs of slug pellets in a year, probably more, so taking them to be 4.00 per bottle, the nematodes work out cheaper. Also if you buy a plant for a fiver and it gets eaten, then there's even more outlay.
They are clean and green, well worth the money.
I will also be buying the ones for vine weevil, I couldn't bare my beloved fuchsia and geranium collection getting their roots chewed.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
this is one of those questions if only we had the ansew, i have so far protected my young delphinums with half of a plastic bottle with copper band around the bottom, the pound shop has tape at the moment, also a few yougurt pots with flour and water in, this has been in place for two weeks, and i must say lupins and delphinums are looking better, but we are not really in slug season yet, but anything is worth a try ....................
I use a shotgun or dynamite (well, I would like to). Its horses for courses. Theres, boiled up garlic cloves, mixed with water then watered into the plants (slugs don't like it), Theres sacrifice (thats using another plant as bait, not on an altar), theres oats, theres crushed egg shells, theres copper tape, theres sharp grit, theres spent coffee grounds, theres nematodes, plastic bottles with copper tape, theres beer traps, theres pellets, theres murder, theres wildlife, theres night hunting, theres bags of salt or salt barriers (though not on the plants or soil), theres vasaline, theres catapults, I think the list goes on and on.
I also had some luck the other day, I was out clearing up a pile of rotting & freshly cut ivy, old rose branches & st johns wort that i had left on the patio and low and behold, underneath it were a load of young snails & slugs, I soon went to town doing a dance on them. It was just another trap and hiding place for them, easy for me.
Must be nematodes - worked brilliantly on my garden last year.
Can't wait 'til soil is warm enough to try again this year - was turning over some beds and adding manure yesterday and found several mini slugs waiting in the undergrowth
Discodave - wish I had your nerve - makes me feel sick to squelch them! May stick them out somewhere for the birds to eat though, once OH has done the deed on them
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Hi all , last year was the worst for slugs , yes you can eat them , I haven't but I saw a River Cottage program when Hugh deep fried snails and slugs as far as raised beds go , the imported soill may have slug eggs in it , I have tried beer traps with some success and slug pellets organic and non organic, last year a lady suggested that a gloppy mix of flour and water in butter boxes placed at soil level I wonder how that went ,Derek
My raised veg beds are all surrounded by pea gravel; that could explain why I only have a minor problem with slugs. my main problem is on the flower bed.
They are clean and green, well worth the money.
I will also be buying the ones for vine weevil, I couldn't bare my beloved fuchsia and geranium collection getting their roots chewed.
this is one of those questions if only we had the ansew, i have so far protected my young delphinums with half of a plastic bottle with copper band around the bottom, the pound shop has tape at the moment, also a few yougurt pots with flour and water in, this has been in place for two weeks, and i must say lupins and delphinums are looking better, but we are not really in slug season yet, but anything is worth a try ....................
I use a shotgun or dynamite (well, I would like to). Its horses for courses. Theres, boiled up garlic cloves, mixed with water then watered into the plants (slugs don't like it), Theres sacrifice (thats using another plant as bait, not on an altar), theres oats, theres crushed egg shells, theres copper tape, theres sharp grit, theres spent coffee grounds, theres nematodes, plastic bottles with copper tape, theres beer traps, theres pellets, theres murder, theres wildlife, theres night hunting, theres bags of salt or salt barriers (though not on the plants or soil), theres vasaline, theres catapults, I think the list goes on and on.
I also had some luck the other day, I was out clearing up a pile of rotting & freshly cut ivy, old rose branches & st johns wort that i had left on the patio and low and behold, underneath it were a load of young snails & slugs, I soon went to town doing a dance on them. It was just another trap and hiding place for them, easy for me.
Must be nematodes - worked brilliantly on my garden last year.
Can't wait 'til soil is warm enough to try again this year - was turning over some beds and adding manure yesterday and found several mini slugs waiting in the undergrowth
Discodave - wish I had your nerve - makes me feel sick to squelch them! May stick them out somewhere for the birds to eat though, once OH has done the deed on them
I cant squash them they seem to slip out the side of my boot and walk away.
I do go around with my secateurs and cut the in half. they dont escape from that.
I was given lots of bags of salt for the roads which never got used, could I sprinke that around plants or would it harm them (plants not slugs)