Kitchen Garden Forum

I guess the cold will not be killing any of these critters this winter - I guess we'll need to be thinking of a plan for 2016!

Well, it seems to me that the 2016 war has begun. The first shots have been fired, casualties on both sides...

You're not wrong Mr C.

I was having a sort out and tidy up in the greenhouse yesterday, I lost count of the number of slugs that became either chicken fodder or fish food.

I was finding them just below soil surface levels so I figure I have, quite literally, just scratched the surface

The lastest issue makes reference to an electric slug fence. Has anyone tried this out?

Where would you put an electric slug fence in a half acre garden? Is that assuming you don't have any so can keep them out, or is it to surround the ones you have and stop them moving around? I do have a large frog living in the watercress bed in the greenhouse so slugs aren't much of a problem in there, but he has missed a couple of snails.

I imagine the idea is that you put the fence around smaller areas and then use some other control to eradicate them within that area. It doesn't look like it's that complicated, especially if you have raised beds.

I think nematodes would be more effective and protect a much larger area. My evening slug hunts are effective at reducing the ones above ground if I do them regularly for a week, and the nematodes get rid of the small ones in the soil.

I tried nematodes last year very expensive and useless I complained and was sent a free packet, I gave it away the guy I gave it too said it did nothing

I apply nematodes to the potato beds and they keep them slug free when the blighters are rampant everywhere else.
They seem to keep the numbers down in the following year too for whatever is next in the rotation.

PLUMPUDDING, I wonder what it is you are doing that makes them work for you. Are you literally just doing what the instructions say, or are you also doing other things?

Mr Cecil, I do put a sprinkle of slug pellets along the row after I've put the potatoes in the trench, before covering them with soil which could reduce the small keel slugs underground, and in summer I usually do a few nocturnal slug hunts but otherwise I just wait for the weather to warm up a bit and apply them exactly as the instructions say.

Haven't spotted many up the plot as yet this year, but the garden is thick with the damn things

Stamped on dozens on my paths after the first rain for ages. The bodies of the first lot attract more!

Planted out two pots of parsley the other day. Luckily I remembered to sprinkle slug pellets around them. When I checked them the following morning they were unharmed but surrounded by a sea of slug slime. They've also invaded my plastic greenhouse, including the top shelf where all my peppers are, so glad I pelleted trays in there.

I hate picking them up with my bare hands. You can just never get rid of the slime. I used to put them on the bird table but now worry about doing this in case they've been feeding on slug pellets. You can usually tell the poisoned ones though as they lay dying nearby. The big brown ones seem to get bigger as the season progresses, especially in wet weather. Buying shares in slug pellet manufacturers is probably a safe bet !

Annoyingly they all seem to home in on the hedgehog pellets I put out on the patio most evenings. Do you think they have a sense of smell? In the mornings they have all disappeared but as soon as it gets dark I think the slugs go for them before any hedgehogs arrive.

Has anybody looked into this as a possible slug solution?
http://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/leaf ... dgehog.pdf