I throw snails over the hedge into the field, slugs get cut in half and dug back in the soil, a few slug pellets around the Hosta's. I have placed slugs on the bird table,mthey never get eaten, and slugs only make up 5% of a hedgehogs diet, they would rather not eat them at all, so that leaves the frogs, plenty for them especially around the pond end of the garden, but I have to agree with Verdun that there's not much point in growing stuff for slugs to eat, especially if you are relying on veg that you are growing.
I collect all my slugs in a poly bag, after my slug hunt, which I do nearly every day and put the in my rubbish bin and if they escape thereafter somewhere else then that's ok . I cant bring myself to kill them because they have a right to life as we do..and I am not religious either. I even find it hard to throw a plant away that I know is on its way out. I even save the spiders that have fell into the bath , couldn't flush them down the plughole.
If I see I spider in the bath , I lay a length over toilet roll over the edge so that it can get out. I never see them again. Although I read somewhere that we all swallow a number of spiders in a lifetime
Our immune system destroys vast numbers of viruses and kills millions of bacteria every time they start an infection - we only become aware of this when it can't keep up with their reproduction and we get ill. And then antibiotics will kill bacteria (well, not all of them these days).
Our immune system, or drugs, also kill(s) protists such as those causing malaria or amoebic dysentery, should we be unlucky enough to get those. What about mosquitoes, that carry malaria? Or tse-tse flies that carry yellow fever or sleeping sickness? Should we let them all go about their business unmolested? Tapeworms? Liver flukes?
The weeds that infest your garden? Do they have a right to life? The Japanese knotweed down the road? What about the fungi that cause potato blight or rose blackspot? Should we let them survive?
I'm guessing that most people would happily bump off most of the above. But not each other, and not our cats, dogs, hamsters etc. ..... So where do we draw the line?
Personally I'd be happy if I never saw a slug in the garden again!
What do we think?
(This is not meant to be a challenge to anybody, nor a dig, nor a criticism, nor to give offence - just an attempt to move the debate forward).
I suspect slugs are like grape hyacinths or (my current bugbear) lesser celandine - you can't just have a few! Point taken though. I wonder what else slugivores eat?
Good points Steve, and all those, malaria and all are kept in the virus bank.
lets hope they don't escape like the Foot & Mouth one did.
i am not sure if we were slug less that anything would suffer, there would be lots of other insects for creatures to eat.
i think worms would be the most missed.
Lesser Celandine, don't get me started on that, I have cleared tons of it from here in the past few years, finally got on top of it. Not completely, give me a another couple of years.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
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I was surprised to read recently (and I'm trying to find the publication) that there is an EEC directive that it is illegal to put salt on slugs.
I throw snails over the hedge into the field, slugs get cut in half and dug back in the soil, a few slug pellets around the Hosta's. I have placed slugs on the bird table,mthey never get eaten, and slugs only make up 5% of a hedgehogs diet, they would rather not eat them at all, so that leaves the frogs, plenty for them especially around the pond end of the garden, but I have to agree with Verdun that there's not much point in growing stuff for slugs to eat, especially if you are relying on veg that you are growing.
theres more brutal murders mentioned in the Bible than I could do with slugs in a lifetime.
I collect all my slugs in a poly bag, after my slug hunt, which I do nearly every day and put the in my rubbish bin and if they escape thereafter somewhere else then that's ok . I cant bring myself to kill them because they have a right to life as we do..and I am not religious either. I even find it hard to throw a plant away that I know is on its way out. I even save the spiders that have fell into the bath , couldn't flush them down the plughole.
If I see I spider in the bath , I lay a length over toilet roll over the edge so that it can get out. I never see them again. Although I read somewhere that we all swallow a number of spiders in a lifetime
...but not usually as big as those you see in the bath!
All virus's are kept, not one has ever been destroyed. And you, yourself would never be able to kill one. It's a skilled job
I never kill spiders, I am lucky that I don't mind picking then up, so can rescue then easily.
Our immune system destroys vast numbers of viruses and kills millions of bacteria every time they start an infection - we only become aware of this when it can't keep up with their reproduction and we get ill. And then antibiotics will kill bacteria (well, not all of them these days).
Our immune system, or drugs, also kill(s) protists such as those causing malaria or amoebic dysentery, should we be unlucky enough to get those. What about mosquitoes, that carry malaria? Or tse-tse flies that carry yellow fever or sleeping sickness? Should we let them all go about their business unmolested? Tapeworms? Liver flukes?
The weeds that infest your garden? Do they have a right to life? The Japanese knotweed down the road? What about the fungi that cause potato blight or rose blackspot? Should we let them survive?
I'm guessing that most people would happily bump off most of the above. But not each other, and not our cats, dogs, hamsters etc. ..... So where do we draw the line?
Personally I'd be happy if I never saw a slug in the garden again!
What do we think?
(This is not meant to be a challenge to anybody, nor a dig, nor a criticism, nor to give offence - just an attempt to move the debate forward).
I suspect slugs are like grape hyacinths or (my current bugbear) lesser celandine - you can't just have a few! Point taken though. I wonder what else slugivores eat?
Good points Steve, and all those, malaria and all are kept in the virus bank.
lets hope they don't escape like the Foot & Mouth one did.
i am not sure if we were slug less that anything would suffer, there would be lots of other insects for creatures to eat.
i think worms would be the most missed.
Lesser Celandine, don't get me started on that, I have cleared tons of it from here in the past few years, finally got on top of it. Not completely, give me a another couple of years.