Not keen on using slug pellets ! I am into starting early in the season handpicking the snails from the leaves and putting them somewhere else in the garden. At least this year that seems to have reduced the leaf damage to about 25%. Have also had to be mindful of the snail(minors) that develop and can be difficult to find but receive the same treatment.
Just a side note - i planted some marigolds this year - some of which have been savaged to the stalk - not happy ! :-) Enjoy your gardening.
The Centre for Alternative Technology publishes "The Little Book of Slugs" which describes numerous non-toxic methods of controlling the little slimeballs. The last time I looked it was £2, and it's a fun read.
I remember an episode of GQT when one of the panel wryly recommended hostas as a form of slug control: if you have a plant which you want to protect from molluscs, plant hostas around it, and they'll leave the other plants alone!
I find the only sure and successful way is to go out when there is a full moon, roll up my trouser leg, it has to be the left one, place my foot in a bucket of water,sipping a glass of moonshine, it never fails to get rid of the blighters!
Ps, you have to leave your shoe on, brown or black, green ones don't work!
Buy some "Strulch" from your garden centre. About £7 for a huge bag. It is a sort of fermented straw mulch treated with coppery minerals. Apply it shickly as a mulch around your plants and it will both feed them, stop weeds growing and deters those slugs and snails for good.
I'd never heard of Strulch. Just Googled it and the nearest supplier is over 20 miles away. It does seem to be something of a niche product at the moment.
JIMMMY - something tells me you're not taking this seriously.....
None of the recommended 'controls' are totally failsafe. You have to do what you have to do, be it beer, grit, copper or pellets, or else grow plants which are unnattractive to slugs and snails. Our houses round here are rendered with crushed shells, but I regularly find them several feet up them. It depends how much time and energy you have to devote to trying to deter them.
I often use a 'sacrificial' hosta - although that doesn't work all the time either.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Posts
Not keen on using slug pellets ! I am into starting early in the season handpicking the snails from the leaves and putting them somewhere else in the garden. At least this year that seems to have reduced the leaf damage to about 25%. Have also had to be mindful of the snail(minors) that develop and can be difficult to find but receive the same treatment.
Just a side note - i planted some marigolds this year - some of which have been savaged to the stalk - not happy ! :-) Enjoy your gardening.
The Centre for Alternative Technology publishes "The Little Book of Slugs" which describes numerous non-toxic methods of controlling the little slimeballs. The last time I looked it was £2, and it's a fun read.
I remember an episode of GQT when one of the panel wryly recommended hostas as a form of slug control: if you have a plant which you want to protect from molluscs, plant hostas around it, and they'll leave the other plants alone!
Last edited: 16 July 2017 13:12:40
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Slug and snail control!
I find the only sure and successful way is to go out when there is a full moon, roll up my trouser leg, it has to be the left one, place my foot in a bucket of water,sipping a glass of moonshine, it never fails to get rid of the blighters!
Ps, you have to leave your shoe on, brown or black, green ones don't work!
I know it's tempting fate, but nearly 3 months on from applying copper tape to all of my hosta pots and not one of them has been attacked.
Buy some "Strulch" from your garden centre. About £7 for a huge bag. It is a sort of fermented straw mulch treated with coppery minerals. Apply it shickly as a mulch around your plants and it will both feed them, stop weeds growing and deters those slugs and snails for good.
Ooops 'thickly'
I'd never heard of Strulch. Just Googled it and the nearest supplier is over 20 miles away. It does seem to be something of a niche product at the moment.
JIMMMY - something tells me you're not taking this seriously.....
None of the recommended 'controls' are totally failsafe. You have to do what you have to do, be it beer, grit, copper or pellets, or else grow plants which are unnattractive to slugs and snails. Our houses round here are rendered with crushed shells, but I regularly find them several feet up them. It depends how much time and energy you have to devote to trying to deter them.
I often use a 'sacrificial' hosta - although that doesn't work all the time either.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Fairy!!!!!!!!
"I often use a 'sacrificial' hosta "
Last edited: 21 July 2017 14:52:45
Sorry Hosta - I was hoping you wouldn't see that.....
It's been cut back and has recovered though
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...