Anyone else having their entire efforts devoured by slugs and snails this year? I think the wet weather has brought on a slugpocalypse. I've planted runner beans, tomatoes, peppers, courgettes etc and not a single plant remains. All decapitated at the stem eaten down to the roots. Annoying as the recent warm weather had my peppers off to a flying start before they were so rudely devoured. Any ideas to get rid of them preferably without using poison?
Nope not a serious veggie gardener but weve all sorts of trouble with slugs and snails - stuff in pots is OK as copper tape keeps them away but stuff in the ground is hard to keep from disappearing, except some annoying weed we have which obviously they dont like.
Yes it really is sole destroying so much so I don’t mess around with old wife tales for dealing with them, a liberal sprinkling of slug/snail pellets does the job for me, sorry it’s not what you want to hear but that’s me I’m afraid. Good luck
Have you ever heard of Slug pellets, Tomatoes and peppers should really be grown in the Greenhouse. If the plants have been eaten down to the roots with a strong stem, then I'll bet a penny to pound its mice or even rats and woodpigeons
Beer traps. Half fill some containers with cheap nasty beer, not lager, and sink them into the soil. The yeast attracts them into the liquid wherein they drown. I've caught loads using this method. Google "slug traps" and they advertise very similar items with the same purpose.
Don't talk daft, if that were true the birds in this country would be wiped out there must be tons of the stuff sold it just does what it says on the tin kill's slugs.
Aye OK . Smoking isn't harmful either! Birds and hedgehogs are attracted to slug pellets for similar reasons to those of domesticated pets. Because these animals tend to be smaller, even the slightest amount of exposure to the poisonous pellets cause proves fatal.
Try sprinkling lime ( calcium oxide & calcium hydroxide) available from garden centres and building supply merchants. As well as deterring and killing slugs it " sweetens the soil" making it more alkaline which is good for brassicas in particular.
Well, they've been banned for 2 years as they kill birds, hedgehogs, pets and pretty much any other animal that goes near them https://www.gov.uk/government/news/outdoor-use-of-metaldehyde-to-be-banned-to-protect-wildlife
Yes those were banned but now there is a diferrent form of slug pellet on sale that is supposedly less toxic to wildlife.