Kitchen Garden Forum

Snails are eating my seedlings, even marigolds and petunias in the greenhouse, any non chemical solutions. Although....I did think of putting slug pellets in some shallow jar lids next to the greenhouse seed trays.....any ideas.......do others suffer in this way?

Compo

I do Compo but use slug pellets scattered thinly about the floor. As the greenhouse is enclosed any poisoned slugs or snails can be picked up without fear of anything else eating them first.

The alternative where possible is a slug barrier of copper or zinc. My versatile cages work well. There is on the market a heavily galvanised corrugated lawn edging which I have put round my new bed outdoor, so far no slug has got to the lettuce. Price£11 for 15 metres
Allan

I should think the snails are living in the greenhouse. Have you tried just looking for them? I sometimes get little ones coming in and taking up residence under pots or wood laid for paths. It's amazing how much damage a tiny snail can cause.

You could set a beer trap? Those slugs can't resist a nice dish of Newcastle Brown Ale in my experience!

Will consider all of the above, they live under the trays and come out when I am not there, so have picked off another few culprits tonight and squished em. I could use copper or zinc as well.

They love marigolds, especially African ones, any ideas why?

Compo

They just do it to irritate you! I find if there's one plant or flower you really like and have taken great care over, the slugs will attack with gusto!

I hear beer traps are pretty good as is using environmentally friendly slug pellets (they don't harm pets or birds). Personally I use a sharp mulch of some sort and that keeps the slugs away.

In one magasine I remember reading this bloke said he used a shotgun on slugs - I admire his restraint!

I had this problem, so at the weekend i emptied the whole greenhouse, and found 43, the majority were hiding at ground level, there is a lip under the greenhouse base that the frame screws onto, they were under there, all sizes. Now I am confidently resowing, they particularly made a meal of the calendulas and sunflowers.

Mandy

I have had success with bran not 100% but I don't like using chemicals also our garden is full of shrews and they are protected

In reply to compo:

What about getting your seedlings to avoid the snails/slugs?.

If you put down chicken wire, slightly raised from the ground/bench and put pots and modules on top, there is no way snails/slugs can reach!

You would also be 'Air pruning' too, which is generally seen as giving a better root ball.

If you have staging, you could put the legs of staging in pots containing slug pellets.

If you have a raised bed, what about putting copper tape along the length of the sides etc.

I personally don't have any hassle with snails and slugs in polytunnels/glasshouses, once i relise their movement limitations.

I have also read, a smear of vasline around the rim of pots will stop slugs. have not tried yet.

I've found vaseline effective but when you need to move the pots you get in a right mess! My current polytunnel isn't too infested but when I had a badly infested greenhouse I had metal staging (well old catering tables actually) and this stopped them coming up from ground level as the metal holds a charge just like copper. If your staging is wooden a ring of copper tape around each leg would keep them at bay too. Then I would spend half an hour every week picking up all the trays and pots and checking for the little slimers underneath. This really worked as by the 4th or 5th week you were hardly finding any.