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#*!~#**! stupid #*%^&%$£$ slugs #"£$!£%$£ $%£%&#!!!! And snails!!! Stupid #%$£$%^$% £$%£%" %^%^&%!


Grrr!

There's sooo many!

*Goes off for supplies*

I find slug pellets counter productive - they kill off the predators as well

You need one of these :)


Mistle Thrush by British Red, on Flickr


Song Thrush with worm by British Red, on Flickr

You can always do what we do - grow our own ;)


Mistle Thrush Fledglings by British Red, on Flickr

Red

... or a few of these.

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Frogs

Mike

..... or a few million of these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmarhab ... maphrodita

Beware evolution producing a slug that changes colour and pattern to match the food it's eating...

Odsox wrote:..... or a few million of these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmarhab ... maphrodita

We do use nematodes in the greenhouse where the birds can't get - they work superbly I must say.

Nematodes might be an idea. Do they work on snails too?

Snails are the main problem in our greenhouse, they just keep appearing. At least they're easier to spot and pick off than slugs. I'm also helping out in a friend's garden but they'd put the tomatoes by an overgrown bit when they potted them on. Poor toms. Just been out to buy an early birthday present of a little cloche greenhouse and popped that, what's left of the toms and other newly planted stuff on a concrete bit of the garden.

Alas, no chance of any birds in our garden. There's a tabby tom cat who's made our garden his home. He seems to have become king of the neighbourhood, he likes to hold meetings in our garden when the dog's not out. Had 7 cats out there yesterday.

chickenchargrill wrote:Nematodes might be an idea. Do they work on snails too?

Yes, but not as well... The nematodes live in the soil, whereas the snails are mostly on the surface. (Or wandering around the glazing, in a greenhouse.)

I find the best way to deal with snails in the greenhouse is simply to search them out by hand. The best time is after dark, so get in there with a torch. Yes, there's always more, but if you can reduce the population there should be fewer and fewer as time goes on.

British Red wrote:

Odsox wrote:..... or a few million of these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmarhab ... maphrodita

We do use nematodes in the greenhouse where the birds can't get - they work superbly I must say.

The blurb that comes with the nematodes says that the slugs die underground, and they are probably right as I've never seen a dead one on the surface.
Also nematodes (I believe) are not poisonous to birds, especially as they occur naturally anyway, so shouldn't be a problem using them outside as well.

No, I'm sure it isn't a problem to use them outside - I meant rather that I don't need to as the two families of thrushes make short work of them :)

I'm also tight..they aren't the cheapest bio controls in the world

Dry out some egg shells in a slow oven, grind them up (coffee grinder is ideal) and lay a broader band as pos around the area you wish to protect. Gastropod equivalent of crawling over broken glass

yep the egg shells work well use them all the time and as i am a pastry chef can bring them home roasted and grind
ohh the rubish i bring home from work hehe