some of the smaller keeled slugs move through the soil so netting wont make a difference. I have lost mine too.

Thanks, Seaburngirl. It has been so dry where I live, that it seems the carrots are in the most moist part of the garden and the slugs must recognise this. So they are feeling the bruint of slug damage in the veg patch.

This year slugs and/or snails have attacked plants they don't usually bother with even though it's been very dry. I have a very ragged foxglove but further along I also have a beautiful specimen, untouched. They don't seem to be choosy though I am annoyed that they are now attacking my Cosmos plants.

Arbuthnot. I have been noticing in recent years that they appear to be increasing in size and we now have many more snails as opposed to the smaller slugs. This seems to be making them go for more types of plants and to do more damage quickly. Furthermore, the fact that there are more snails and we cannot get an effective pesticide to deal with them means they are thriving and growing.

Without effective predation, we have a real problem looming.

Consider becoming a “ night stalker”. When it gets good and dark go into the garden a few nights a week with a headlamp and a empty can and harvest the snails and slugs off of your garden plants. Persistence in this method will greatly deplete the population of these garden munchers.

Thanks, Loosestrife. I did this with vine weevils some years back. It was not a great success, but maybe it would be with snails and slugs. :)

In the autumn the snails will hibernate, often groups of them together, and seal themselves to any hard surface. That is the time to hunt for them and prise them off their stones. Collect all you can find and take them a long way from your house and dump them. (They can find their way home again from nearby places!) This won't help you this year but it should make a big difference to next year.I am ashamed to admit that I collected about 200 of them in a carrier bag and dumped it in the wheely bin. I felt ashamed of myself but it did make a big differenc4e the following summer.And it avoided the horrible blue granules!

Thanks Staragram. I would have no hesitation in dumping several hundred slugs. They don't seem too concerned about my garden, after all! :)

I did know that they had a 'homing instinct' and would return to a garden unless taken far away.

An alternate method of disposal of snails would be to sauté them in a nice garlic butter sauce. Yum!