slugs and snails

have you tried a beer trap? fill a polystyrene cup or an old bowl with beer, sink it into the border and the little devils die with a smile on their faces!!

I'm having a blitz on slugs this year after they wreaked havoc in my garden last year. I have bought two slug pubs (to protect the vegetable beds) and several copper bands that you form into rings and place around vulnerable plants in the soil. I already use copper tape on flower pots and that seems to work.
Any snails, I throw up on the flat roof of the garage - I have several thrushes in the garden since I started doing that. And last year, I was doing regular evening patrols with a can of salt - VERY satisfying :-)

Hi Donnah, Ive tried everything known to man, Beer, eggshells etc, but im sorry to say Slug Pellets are the only repellent that works for me, as a consolation i leave the slugs alone in my compost bins, they cant do harm in there, Plus they can take all the time they need to Romance the females:))))..

Hi sewingkilla Yes I have done beer traps but my garden is so big I would need a lot of them

Hi Donnah,I had a lot of success with coffee grounds around susceptible plants-the snails just dried up! If you need a lot I have heard that some cafes are glad to offload theirs. I'm afraid I didn't have any luck with the shells-tough snails around here ! I did put a copper band round the tub with hostas in- which you can see on my photo's,that was after a season of tatty leaves!!

I have found that slug pellets are best, but if its really wet then i get a bucket of salty water and go round picking them from the garden...I also put a good amount of sharp sand around perennials such as delphiniums. that seems to help they dont like it.............

Reckon I'll try Aster's coffee idea.
I used it around one plant last year and it seemed to work.:o)

I'm the same Donnah....but I use slug pellets after losing so many plants. I have a look every morning and pick the snails and slugs up so that the birds don't get them...they are such a pest.

Depending on the size of plant, I've put a plastic pop bottle with top and bottom cut off,over the plant wedging it in the soil.Then dropped in pellets around the plant.
The snails (and slugs) got in and went for the pellets instead of a clematis, birds can't get in either.I'll do the same again in spring once the clematis starts to shoot. Leaves etc need to be out of reach of snails.

won't use slug pellets, so nightly patrols are my preferred weapon against slugs. already finding loads of snails around the garden as i tidy up the boarders, these get squashed i'm afraid , used to have a resident hedgehog , but been missing for a couple of years now, shame cos it kept the slug/ snail population down....................steve

Donnah when we had a couple of chicks they ate all the pests .. do you let your chickens run round free range ? .. If you don,t let all of them out perhaps it would be o.k to let just a couple go free to eat the slugs etc .
They always return to their coop at night .........

I suffer from snails - they even climb up canes to get to the Clematis shoots! I use plastic bottles around my Clematis, now. I also use slug pellets and go out and pick the dead snails up ASAP. Live ones go for a swim in the stream!