Dealing with slugs

[Marigold]

Ireland must have the highest of slug populations; worse even than the north of Scotland which is saying a lot.

A week or so ago, as there were flies ( also endemic here) around, I put some fermented jam ( a large jar of home made apple had been left out of the fridge and gone alcoholic...) and water in an old jam jar and put it on the outside window ledge. By morning there were several slugs floating in it having scaled the wall..

So now old jam jars and empty food tins are similarly loaded and distributed at intervals and are filling fast. They were eating my daffodlis and now do so no longer. Any old jam or fruit juice will do, and it does not have to be alcoholic.

[Monika]

We, too, suffer badly from slugs and particularly snails which live in the old lime stone walls which surround both our garden and allotment. I have tried the jam jar method, Marigold, with jam, beer and wine. It obviously gets rid of some but also drowns beetles, including the violet ground beetles, which is not nice. I now usually use the liquid slug killer now - one night's application (preferably a lovely warm and damp night) seems to get rid of dozens. In the garden I also collect live ones by torch, a method which I can't use on the allotment - would probably break my neck trying to negotiate our steep approach in the dark!

[Marigold]

We, too, suffer badly from slugs and particularly snails which live in the old lime stone walls which surround both our garden and allotment. I have tried the jam jar method, Marigold, with jam, beer and wine. It obviously gets rid of some but also drowns beetles, including the violet ground beetles, which is not nice. I now usually use the liquid slug killer now - one night's application (preferably a lovely warm and damp night) seems to get rid of dozens. In the garden I also collect live ones by torch, a method which I can't use on the allotment - would probably break my neck trying to negotiate our steep approach in the dark!

I am afraid that anything else that gets trapped is simply collateral casualties. When I went to pick daffodils to sell at market there were over half badly damaged by slugs. It was so upsetting; even the buds burrowed into. The damage is mostly done by tiny ones, only around half an inch long. My only consolation is that we still have the bulbs. Hundreds have perished in the traps but still... Have not noticed any beetles but lots of flies in the jars.

There are some things they don't eat; curly kale and tree lupins for example. Picky wee ****** lol..

But now this is serious war. We lost so many of the daffodils; sold all I had left too.

[Monika]

Do try the liquid Slugit, Marigold. It works particularly well against snails which cannot be got rid off by using nematodes. I have successfully tried Nemaslug in the past against the small slugs which seem to give you the grief, but now it is most likely too early in the year to try that.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've seen it recommended that you place the jars with the booze etc in with the neck 1 inch above the surface of the soil so beetles are less likely to fall in but the slugs can.

Another idea is to put piles of bran around. You can then either go out at night and gather up the slugs which love the bran, or leave them to feast on it. The bran is supposed to swell and clog up their digestive systems and they crawl off to die.

An application of Nemaslug when the weather warms up also works well. I put an application on the potato bed once every two years and this reduces their numbers dramatically.

I've caught well over 1,000 slugs in three nights with the torch, rubber gloves and bucket of water with a good squirt of detergent in it. They die quite quickly if you put detergent in rather than trying to crawl up the sides to escape. If I'm feeling kind I just gather them up in a bucket and set them free at the end of the road in a bit of woodland where they can take their chances with the hedgehogs and song thrushes.

If you have a succession of slug hunts for three or four nights you will find the numbers reduce dramatically and then you don't need to do it again for a few weeks (until the next batch hatches out).

As you might have guessed - we also have a major slug problem.

[Kleftiwallah]

Monika, if you sink a jar in the ground and put in some beer, leave the jar an inch proud above the surrounding ground so the ground beetles cannot climb up / over and in. Cheers, Tony.

[Monika]

Good thinking about the head of the container above the ground - will do that this year.

[Marigold]

Do try the liquid Slugit, Marigold. It works particularly well against snails which cannot be got rid off by using nematodes. I have successfully tried Nemaslug in the past against the small slugs which seem to give you the grief, but now it is most likely too early in the year to try that.

Have never seen that here and all these things are costly.. Will stick with the jars as we often have a bit of jam fermenting...Last year was not as bad as the soil was newly brought in here from the field. Just is so hard seeing the daffodils in that state when we needed the money so much for the babies.

NB salt water kills them fast. I am not able for long searches but always have a jar of salt water ready when I am potting as they get everywhere.

[Geoff]

I think we should start a rumour that if you boil them in cider you can get a serious high on the liquor then they would all mysteriously disappear. It's not long to April 1st.