Help needed with snail and slug control please!

[pelmetman]

We went to a talk by a hedgehog rescue once and remember being told that even the pellets that are supposedly safe to animals can still kill hedgehogs and we all know hedgehogs love snails.

Sadly we have never seen one hedgehog here. Been told its because we have loads of badgers who kill hedgehogs to eat. So we either have a lot of hungry badgers or people putting lots of pellets down.
Sue

[happyhippy]

I did post a thankyou yesterday but for some reason it did'nt come up on this thread!!!!Anyway a hug thankyou to all that contributed into helping me out.I will definately use some of the tips suggested.I'm trying so hard not to use the pellets but at this rate the slugs will be eating much better than we will be!!!! Again thankyou to all,very much appreciated!x

[Jessiebean]

Ah we don't have hedghogs to worry about here- I wish we had more things that ate slugs and snails to worry about- maybe then I wouldn't have so many...I must go and collect a few snails and pop them in the deep freeze before I put pellets about as the director of my sons' creche has a blue tongue lizard in the garden who is partial to them(snails- not my sons).

[happyhippy]

Ah we don't have hedghogs to worry about here- I wish we had more things that ate slugs and snails to worry about- maybe then I wouldn't have so many...I must go and collect a few snails and pop them in the deep freeze before I put pellets about as the director of my sons' creche has a blue tongue lizard in the garden who is partial to them(snails- not my sons).

Noticed you're in Tassie,I'm from Adelaide! No I did'nt have a problem with snails where I lived (country)in SA,I guess it was too dry!The odd one we did get was soon eaten alive by my chooks!Gardening seemed so much easier in SA than here!No hardening off,greenhouse heaters,battling with slugs and snails!Ah well one day I may move back home,then I'll be whingeing about the drought!

[thesunflowergal]

I too collect them up and feed them too my chooks, I am collecting between 20-50 a day!!

[Durgan]

In the Toronto area, the old country Italians collect the snails after a rain and feed them in a box with corn meal for about four days and then cook them and call them escargot. In restaurants six are served an an appetizer for about eight dollars.

Now for slugs, I muse about frying them, but only muse. Fortunately, I have only a few small ones, which I sort of control by laying a long board around the garden edge, and turning it over periodically and crushing all that are present.

[pelmetman]

Have tried them on visits to France. Don't like them in the garden or on my plate

[theabsinthefairy]

[Veggiesauraus]

i've put a couple inch thick band of sand around my veg plot this year as they don't like crawling over it Ive been told! I let you know if it works!!!

[Jessiebean]

Noticed you're in Tassie,I'm from Adelaide! No I did'nt have a problem with snails where I lived (country)in SA,I guess it was too dry!The odd one we did get was soon eaten alive by my chooks!Gardening seemed so much easier in SA than here!No hardening off,greenhouse heaters,battling with slugs and snails!Ah well one day I may move back home,then I'll be whingeing about the drought!

Whereabouts are you living now?
I find gardening in Tassie much easier than the Gold Coast which was cursed CURSED!!! I tells ya- I never got the hang of Qld gardening. I am worried now about the iron based pellets harming the precious worms.. I just found about 60 when I was raking the fallen leaves and I am delighted but I do like the convenience of the iron based pellets...anyone know a good place to find out about the effects of the iron pellets on earthworms?

[happyhippy]

Noticed you're in Tassie,I'm from Adelaide! No I did'nt have a problem with snails where I lived (country)in SA,I guess it was too dry!The odd one we did get was soon eaten alive by my chooks!Gardening seemed so much easier in SA than here!No hardening off,greenhouse heaters,battling with slugs and snails!Ah well one day I may move back home,then I'll be whingeing about the drought!

Whereabouts are you living now?
I find gardening in Tassie much easier than the Gold Coast which was cursed CURSED!!! I tells ya- I never got the hang of Qld gardening. I am worried now about the iron based pellets harming the precious worms.. I just found about 60 when I was raking the fallen leaves and I am delighted but I do like the convenience of the iron based pellets...anyone know a good place to find out about the effects of the iron pellets on earthworms?

I live in Wiltshire (UK).Gardening is ok here once everything is planted into the garden(except of course dealing with on going problems of slugs.snails!!!)Its just the initial start up that gets on my nerves lol.Come February our house looks like a mini garden centre,trays of seedlings growing in every window sill and beyond!!I don't know whats worse actually,Adelaide has been on water restrictions now for probably 5 years,which means you can only water your garden for 2 hours maybe twice a week?Hideous when its mid summer and temps are over 30c+ most days.We were back in Adelaide last May,and to be honest most gardens resembled a nuclear war zone lol.

[grahamhobbs]

Jessiebean, sorry I've had a problem with the 'organic' iron based pellets. I found I was feeding the mice and rats and not the slugs. I'd put them down one day and the next they had been hoovered up, all gone.

It is difficult but to defeat the slug problem, poisons are not the answer, you need a holistic approach, understanding the role of the slug in nature's master plan. Slugs mainly devour decaying or rotted material, but they will also very efficiently seek out and destroy any weak or sickly plant. These are important functions in nature.

Having just seen slugs destroy 5 tomato plants I'd planted out in the polytunnel, I realised the ones they eliminated were some that were weak and leggy. They also ate some beetroot I'd planted out but forgot to water. I also left a load of lambs lettuce going to seed beside them, so providing good cover for the slugs.

So the moral is only plant out good strong healthy plants (and look after them) and don't provide cover for the slugs either. Be rigorous in this and you will not need to resort to poisons - although sometimes I wish I had a couple of ducks!

[Jessiebean]

So far this year there hasn't been too much of a slug problem- there are many small fat slugs and the occasional leopard slug- these are beneficial aren't they?
I am currently only using the pellets in a container so the soil doesn't bear the brunt of the iron and hope that being vigilant and tromping about with a torch at night will help keep them down. I am also destroying any eggs I see...I will keep an eye out for mice eating my pellets- would they be poisoned by them too?
Happy Hippy- I had forgotten about water restrictions- they were crippling on the coast- did the water quality in Adelaide affect your gardening?

[energysaving]

I have read that fresh ground coffee (the cheaper the better, but sadly you can't use it first) works. Apparently it doesn't harm other insects, but you might find them gathered round the plant on Sunday mornings, reading the papers.

It certainly kills the blighters (we tested in on a particularly nasty looking one last weekend).

They probably go out on a caffeine high.

We're going to try it round the courgettes. It seems to work on the lone runner bean, but that might just be because they don't like runner beans.

[energysaving]

Also read (same article, apologies to whoever it was for not crediting them) that the options that cut the slugs (diatomataceous earth, etc) work slowly, so the slugs have time to have a family - INSIDE THE BARRIER.