Slugs.

[Sandyback]

a lot of articles make mention of using beer traps, does it have to be beer or can larger be used. I'm assuming the attraction may be the yeast?

[Sandyback]

I found what I hope is the answer so thought I'd post it here for interest of others.
It would appear it is the Yeast that is the attraction, they will imbibe lager although the yeast content isn't as great. there is also mention of making up ones own "brew".
I think reading between the lines any liquid will do providing it has an attraction, sugar water was one mention yeast and water was another.

[Westi]

I gave up on beer traps. Beside being gross to empty it did appear to attract more that I thought were on the plot so I started to suspect I was clearing the neighbor's plots as well!

Now I collect slugs & snails as I find them sometimes doing the post rain & night time hunt & just dump them in the field behind far enough away that the return journey is difficult. I keep the beds & paths as clear as possible & as a last resort use pellets in those difficult areas.

They do get a nibble now & again but as an insurance always sow a bit more than required for this eventuality. It's now a bit of a status quo!

Westi

[Primrose]

Well I was blaming some of my poor seed germination on old seeds this year or over damp compost but have just realised the problem is down to very tiny slugs, barely visible getting into my plastic greenhouse and up onto the seed trays. I probably wouldn't t have realised had I.not spotted the odd spots of slime. Darned creatures get everywhere!

[Westi]

Got to admire them for their tenaciousness Primrose! Best spot is from a distance & no where near your greenhouse!

Westi

[peter]

You could market it as Faecepak

You know how reality has a habit of outdoing sarcastic fantasy?

Today's Daily Mail:

"Yours at £180, a bird droppings facial."
Apparently used by Tom Cruise and Victoria Beckham, Nightingales on a Japanese island are fed on caterpillars that eat from plum trees. The resulting output is mixed with rice bran and water, then applied as a mask to soak into the pores for an hour.

Go lie face up on a british beach near a fish and chip takeaway for an hour, the seagulls will do it for free.

[retropants]

since it started raining on Sunday, I've lost some chili and pepper plants to big fat snails who have found their way into my greenhouse. these plants were sown way back in Feb, so no starting again with them. I am VERY angry, I always throw snails as far as I can, but when it's wet they migrate to the greenhouse. the flower beds were abundant with the little ********* this morning. Oddly, I discovered that my local tesco are selling little chili and pepper plants at about the same size as the ones I have lost, so bought a couple of them to make up the numbers. honestly, they don't even eat the leaves, just decapitate the plant at ground level and move on to the next one.

[Geoff]

I seem to be in the minority, I never throw snails over the fence, I STAMP on them!

[retropants]

husband has offered to do just that. I think it maybe time to say 'yes please'!

[Sandyback]

The beer traps are going in steadily(mineral water bottles cut in half) Once I'd stopped the dog from imbibing they seemed to function, I still have a number of other areas to "bait" but so far I'm pleasantly impressed.

Cans of John Smiths seem to be preferred to 1664. Both are 2 years out of date.

There is evidence of a couple of hedgehogs hoovering about in the garden and I'm not seeing the amount of slug evidence as in previous years, it could be that the cold snap reduced their sexual activity. I know every winter further reduces mine!

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've declared war on them this week. My first slug hunt of the year when it was wet the other night caught 3/4 of a builder's bucket full of slugs, and snails the size of golf balls - over 1,000 when I stopped counting.

I would need a swimming pool sized beer trap to deal with so many! I have also put slug pellets round all their favourite plants and some of them seem to be recovering already. I've tried wool pellets round the asparagus for the first time and it seems to be working but is rather expensive for the amount you get. Has anyone else used this or something similar with good results?

I've also put a few heaps of bran among the rows of onion setts as they had been nibbled. This is supposed to bung the slugs up so they can't eat anything else.

As a last resort I'm looking under trailing alpines etc. which seem to be a favourite hiding place and removing and stamping on any still lurking.

It amazes me that I have any plants left after seeing how many are actually out at night. I took the bucket full that I caught to the other end of the road and tipped them down an overgrown banking as a snack for any interested wild life. Fortunately I didn't meet anyone.

[Ricard with an H]

Not that this would help around the plot, my cold frame full of seedlings seems slug-free. I think it's the expanded metal floor laid on sand and membrane I put in to keep the moles at-bay.

Beer traps ? Will wine work ?

I must try this beer trap lark but when I open a bottle I find it very hard to share, does yeast really work ?

[Geoff]

They are also brighter than you think. Had a module tray of Tagetes well browsed but the culprit wasn't hiding under that tray (real downside of module trays all the hiding places) but two trays away. Covers a bigger area than it did now.

[retropants]

every morning I have to go and have a look at the night's devastation in the greenhouse, and on the bench outside...... down to 4 calabrese plants now, well established (3" pots), noshed through the stem. no brussels sprouts plants left, all noshed. several peppers gone, and french marigolds seem to be a favourite of theirs, or a mouse. So, there I am wandering down the garden in my dressing gown and slippers (or wellies), throwing enormous snails over the garage roof. neighbours must think I've lost my marbles! I am beginning to wonder if over the garage roof is far enough!

[peter]

Research this year on BBC(?) indicated they travel quite a distance, so you may need a trebuchet to really chuck em away.