Our garden centre sells a slug preventative rather than a slug killer as the slug killers make them blow up and burst open. I can't stand the thought of that. We bought some sort of narrow goldish coloured foil and stuck it round the pots.

Try Copper tape like casso mentioned it has worked for me it gives of very mild electric current of and the slugs and snails do a u-turn. The plants that are in the ground get an old plastic bottle cut about a 2/3 inch strip and place around the plant stem on the ground and tape around with the copper tape. Have a look on EBay the tape is much less expensive than the garden centres.

Jim,

I'm not sure this stuff is still on the market after someone used it in a suicide attempt....but there are many less toxic, and equally effective approaches to mollusc control.

There are two types of slug pellets out there - ones based on Metaldehyde and Methiocarb which are potentially lethal to pets, wildlife, children etc. - and Ferramol's Advanced Slug Killer Organic slug pellets which are based on Ferrous Phosphate - which is a form of iron.

These last ones are considered to be "organic" because they are based on a naturally and widely occurring substance (iron) which is not supposed to be harmful to anything aside from slugs and snails. Having said that iron can cause acute liver damage and death in mammals in even moderate doses, so there must still be risk attached to these too.

If you don't want to use pellets there are all sorts of other options depending on how large an area you need to protect. Barriers can be extremely effective and are much more permanent than pellets. Coffee grounds are successful for some people and less so for others. Spiky things like crushed eggshells, and sharp gravel are good. Ecocharlie recycled ceramic shards go one better too since they absorb the mucous and stop the slugs getting across at all, as well as being spiky and sticking to the slugs & snails effectively gumming them up entirely.

You can also use copper bands, as Casso suggests, or even re-use old copper piping, and placing traps - beer traps, as above, or just pieces of wood, stone, card or carpet that act as shelters - outside the barriers will allow you to collect them in the day time.

Another good option, and one that can be watered into the garden soil, is "Nemaslug" nematodes - parasites of slugs and snails that live in the soil & that you water into the ground, although these can get expensive over a large area.

Thank you all for your comments on slug control.

I do know about copper tape, also the hazards and ineffectiveness of pellets, which is why I was asking about this particular Murphy product. Tape is fine for pots, but I have a large vegetable area with half a dozen 4x15ft deep beds, so that wouldn't be practicable. It's a little late in the season now for the nematode treatment, hence my dilemma.

I am about to grow some late french beans, so I shall start these off in a pot, then transplant the far bigger plants once they have grown a bit, by which time they will hopefully be big enough to be less appetising to the little brutes; I shall also have a few beer traps to keep them happy. We'll see who wins this one!

Thanks,

The last time I bought it, it was in Focus DIY but I dunno if they are still in business. This was some years ago now and I still use it but only when I have a real problem with slugs.

I don't recognise this particular name but we used a concentrated liquid slug spray called "Slug Clear" this year. You dilute it down & spray or pour it round your plants (but not on them). What a difference it made to our plants this year - must have improved plant survival rate by 95%. Spray every 6 weeks and any slugs that crawl over the ground are killed. But it's better them as all the plants being chewed to bits before they start. Like you nothing else worked for us previously & it was my dad told us about this stuff you sprayed - highly recommended Jimeva.