Kitchen Garden Forum

Has anybody tried roofing felt as a slug/snail deterrent? My young broccoli plant that are perched on top of the guinea pig hutch have remained totally untouched, or perhaps slugs/snails just don't like guinea pigs! I did do an experiment last week with the aptly named Sniffer the snail, who was over it faster than a greyhound chasing a rabbit, but then the felting I used was not quite as coarse as that on the hutch. Not sure how chemically appropriate it is anyway in contact with the soil. Anyway, love to hear of any new, ingenious methods of slug prevention in readiness for the spring onslaught.... (tony, editorial - aka Peter Radish)

Ah! So Peter you have the first watch then?

It is obviously the coarseness of the felt & maybe Sniffer is the 'Bolt' of the snail world? Watch out for his 'guest' appearance in the movie!

Westi

When they used to felt roofs years ago when I worked on building sites they finished them of with a sprinkling of sand maybe the roof of the guinea pig pad has had the same treatment

Roofing felt is still, I think, tar based, so think of the now illegal creosote in term of the kind of chemical that could be present in it. That could be the reason slugs and snails dislike it, or it could be the sand or grit coating as others have said.