How to get rid of slugs and snails?

One rather nasty way is to go out with a torch and catch them in the dark - then dispose of them. You could also lay a trap - they like beer, yes, really, so bury a plastic pot e.g. a Yoghurt pot, with beer in it and they will be attracted to it, and drown (UGH). You can't get rid of the creatures completely, but keep checking under and behind pots and containers where they like to hide. If you want to protect special plants, then you could try surrounding them with sharp sand/gravel, or buy copper bands for your pots. If you don't mind using them, slug pellets are useful to scatter round vulnerable plants especially when the shoots are emerging. I hope this helps. Good luck.

all good ideas spritz, but it does depend on how bad the slug problem is. i get thousands of the buggers and i have tried all of the above and they do help but they don't fully solve the problem for me. the only thing i have found effective is the slug pellets - i know horrible things, and now that i plan on getting my 2 year old daughter out with me planting a few seeds, not to mention the birds and hedgehog that now live in the garden, no longer an option. so i am not giving up on the slug war, lol and i have just invested in some Nemaslug - its a biological control, which is suposed to be safe for pets, wildlife and children, easy to use. and according to RHS tests the most effective thing on the market - whats the catch i hear you asking - well there is one, - it's not cheap! i bought mine from a company on line (www.harrodhorticultural.com) i have bought the course of 3 treatments - which are sent to you at intervals thoughout the growing season - best times to apply. the cost was just under £30 - it's the first time that i have tried it so i can't say if it is all that it is cracked up to be. but if it is it is well worth the £30 in my opionon because last year i spent a lot more on replacing plants and slug pellets! so if it is a bad problem check out the web site, they also suply various other biological control for other well know pests. if the slug one works i may become a regular customer! lol.

I had MAJOR problems with slugs a couple of years ago, and when they started invading my daughter's guineapig's hutch to eat the lettuce that was the last straw! So last year I decided to wage war on them. I started doing early morning patrols while the dew was still on the grass and again mid evening just before dusk. For some reason the slugs seem to love the lawn at this time and because I started early in the season, they were just really little babies not horrible gross things. I put a handful of slug pellets in a poly bag and scooped up the slugs and chucked them in on top. Then I knotted the bag so there was no escape and dumped it in the bin. That way I didn't have to leave a lot of pellets around. I couldn't believe how many slugs i 'harvested'. The first few days I was regularly picking up 100 or more (I took a grim delight in counting!) but it tailed off fairly quickly and then I was relatively slug-free for the rest of the summer. It was quite a lot of effort (and goodness only knows what the neighbours thought) but well worth it. happy hunting!

One word, Chickens!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew make sure you wear GLOVES before you pick them up theyv this horrible STICKY STUFF like tree SAP that dont want2come off with just SOAP&WATER lol BELEIVE ME I KNOW Iv been pickn them out from under my pansies LOL :D

my dad has just given me a bag of soot,yes he got it from the chimney sweep, and puts it on his alotment, apparently deters slugs. So will let you know. And will be good for the soil.

My problem is more from snails than slugs.The garden is surounded by a flint wall that they like to nestle in over night. First thing in the morning I paint them with s'nail varnish, those with red I take down the side of the woods and dump 100 yards away, often 100 per time. Those painted with green s'nail varnish are banished 75yards away and those with blue are taken 50 yards away. Within one week the blue return but never the red or green. This either means you should paint them red or green but never blue or alternatively dump them at least 75 yards from home.
This may not please your neighbours if you have anyone living within 100 yards of you or maybe they will think they have discovered a new varity of stripped snail.
I promise you this works, last year after a month of doing this in early spring I had less and less snails to deal with.
If you havent got a wall look in the late evening or early morning under pots and in nooks and crannies.