Kitchen Garden Forum

What are your views on slug control, do you use slug pellets or do use other methods like beer traps etc?
I would put up a poll, but can't see how to do it.
For the record I stopped using pellets for two reasons, first they actually attract slugs/snails into the garden and secondly, like almost all poisons, they are indiscriminate. Birds and hedgehogs deaths have been linked to the poison used in the pellets, Song Thrushes in particular seem to be worst affected.

I've bought the ferric phosphate ones that are supposed to be safe but it has been so dry this month that I'm not sure whether the lack of slug damage is because of these or if the slugs aren't very active. We've at least three regular hedgehogs visiting the garden every night and a pair of Song thrushes and these look very healthy.

The best way to make a significant impact on the slug and snail population when it reaches plague proportions in wet weather is to do the night time slug patrol with a bucket of water with lots of detergent in it to drown them. They die quickly in the detergent. If you use plain water they tend to climb out and try to escape. If you do this three or four nights running there is a significant reduction in numbers.

Beer traps work but ground beetles fall in and drown, and you will only attract slugs from a small area so would need rather a lot of them.

I just leave small planks of wood or tiles, around the edge of the allotment. i check them every so often and it's amazing how many you can get under them.....i just squash them, then.

My wife loves snipping them in half using scissors ,beer traps work well but need to be covered to stop the beer getting watered down we have had great success using beer traps but we have only used them in Spain I like slug pellets most things I grow are covered with netting so birds have not a chance of eating them

I've tried those Neomode things this year on the potato bed as had loads of damage last year - will feed back at the end of the season! Use animal friendly pellets as well - Dog comes with me to the allotment, but not just for her though, need all visitors to be safe - except the rats of course!

I saw those Nematodes advertised in the Pomona catalogue £17.95 is a high price, even if you do get 12 million of them(I wonder who counts them into a packet lol).

I tried them 2 years ago they were about as useful as a back pocket in a vest

I use the ferric phosphate pellets but mainly in covered areas. I would love to find a way of tackling the small snails I am plagued with that are about half the size of a little finger nail. I squash double figures most days in the greenhouses and tunnel but they don't seem to reduce.

OH advised me this evening that once I've got my kitchen plot planned out, he's going to put a small wildlife pond near it. The theory is that the wildlife that lives in/around the pond will contain enough slug munchers that I won't need to use slug pellets. I hope that this will be the case as I really don't like using them, but I also don't like something else quite literally scoffing the fruits/vegetables of my labour!

I wonder if these will catch some slugs? Pair of Mallards strolling on the lawn when I looked out this morning.

Sorry it's blurred but I've not sussed the workings of my tablet's camera.

Re small slugs/snails - I find crushing pellets to a powder makes them more palatable to them.

We have a wildlife pond full of frogs and newts and also see the occasional toad in the garden but we are still plagued with slugs and particularly with huge snails due to the limestone dry stone walls all around us. So, unfortunately, slug pellets it is, though I buy the "wildlife-friendly" ones and use them under cover.

On the allotment, again surrounded by the above-mentioned walls, I certainly use slug pellets.

Nematodes, tried in the past, did not seem to work at all on the slugs and are no good for snail control in any case.

Am using beer traps at the moment but wonder if there is an alternative to beer or slug pellets.

I have a wild life area complete with pond I still have to use slug pellets