Slugs and snails (but no puppy dog tails thank goodness!)

[ocailleagh]

I'm beginning to lose patience with the little swines now...they're ignoring my slug pubs and going straight for my seedlings!
Ideally, I'd like to just repel them rather than kill or maim them in some way but can't think of anything really. I know copper is supposed to do it, but I can't afford that copper tape stuff...would copper wire be any good?
Or any other ideas? I tried checking the '51 ways...' thing on the main site but I think the link may be dodgy, it just kept reloading the front page....

[MKG]

You're right - that link doesn't work.

Beep Beep Whirr ... calling JohnHeadstrong ....

[Shirley]

Not sure why the link isn't working - but no doubt time will tell.... meantime have a look at this thread all about slugs.... there are some violent methods in the thread, you've been warned

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... php?t=1399

[wulf]

Any slug or snail that comes into view in my garden meets a sharp knife or heavy rock and becomes plant food rather than a plant feeder! Those that are wise enough to stay in the dark corners, helping break down decaying material, are welcome to stay there - call it enhanced natural selection if you will!

I haven't had major gastropod problems so far this year, which I think is partly due to taking down the overall population in previous years.

Wulf

[hedgewitch]

Egg shells are the best but you need a LOT.

[ina]

I haven't had major gastropod problems so far this year, which I think is partly due to taking down the overall population in previous years.

Wulf

I think the main reason here is that we haven't really had rain for 6 weeks or so... From one extreme to the other. There has been rain - massive falls - not far away. And I bet we'll have a sodden summer again, like last year.

[wulf]

Last year wasn't too bad either. I think it is possible to keep the population down to relatively low levels. I don't mind them nibbling a bit; it is when I come out and find a whole row of seedlings gnawed down to the root that I get annoyed.

Wulf

[ocailleagh]

Heh..the blondeness strikes again...I forgot I'd posted this!

Not sure why the link isn't working - but no doubt time will tell.... meantime have a look at this thread all about slugs.... there are some violent methods in the thread, you've been warned

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... php?t=1399

Yup, some very violent methods, some of them made me feel quite ill so I couldn't actually get through them all...

Egg shells are the best but you need a LOT.

I did try collecting eggshells last year, but by the time I had anywhere near enough, the slugs and the awful summer had destroyed my entire crop! Also, there's nowhere really to put them in my greenhouse-tent-thing, all the surfaces are meshy stuff.

I did have an idea based on the copper theory, just wondering if anyone has any experience with using it. My plan is to use copper wire (as I can't afford the tape stuff and have copper wire already) entwined around the legs of the stands and wrapped around the sides of the trays that the seedlings are in. This may or may not be enough to stop them, so to make sure I was thinking of either connecting the ends of the wire to some small batteries, which is less than 'Ish', or sticking the ends in lemon halves (based on the whole lemon-powered clock thing). Will this work or will I be wasting my time...and my lemons?

[ina]

Ar a place where I worked (market garden) we had copper tape around the legs of the tables on which the trays stood. So provided you didn't import any slugs with the trays and pots you put on the table, it was clean. Needed only minimal tape. I suppose if you wind enough wire around the legs, it should work just as well.

[ocailleagh]

Thanks Ina! I'll try it and post the results!

[Christine]

Just been swapping tips with my sister on this one, so here is the best I can offer

Coffee ground (old ones!) are available from Starbucks and other shops and you need to dry them out, then sprinkle round the plants. I don't know about the caffeine making their hearts beat faster - surely they'd just get to the plants faster but they do have to produce more slime to move around on them and that acts as a deterrent. Less effective in very wet weather. Carpet is not verboten on our allotments (so long as you pick it up and don't leave it for another tenant) and I find a large carpet under outside pots works really well.
Cat litter works a treat for the same reason and the one I use is degradable cellulose. Expensive, so worth it for precious seedlings under cover, when one application lasts all year - my cat doesn't use a litter tray, so I buy this specially for the slugs!
My other tip - if you have a cat - is to dig a bit of a hollow, put any odds and ends of uneaten cat food in it and put a heavy flower pot over it upside down (otherwise the foxes etc eat it). This works a treat as a distraction, as the slugs love it. If you're lucky, they'll all be too full to move and ready to be picked up and disposed of in a sealed container with some cat litter in it (dries them out and less messy than some other options)

[happy place]

i have been told the ash from the fire will work well if coal ash don't get it to near the plants as it kills them or something

[Christine]

want to really worry about slugs? Look here... http://www.belch.com/the-horrible-world ... ing-slugs/

[Flo]

Snails no problem as I have a very busy thrush - am going to have to work on keeping the plot clear of hidey holes for slugs so that there are no corners for the creatures to lurk in.

It's things like wood piles (doesn't every allotment keep planks for all sorts of uses?) and the pile of pots I was donated from the other side of one of the hedges that seem to have been a haven for slugs around allotment.

Not too bad at present for slugs - must be all those dry weeks we have had though methinks now that the rain has come this far north I may well need all your tips.

[tim&fatima]

I thinking of opening up a few Slug Pubs, in the back garden. does anyone know their preferred tipple?