" last night in the rain I caught 18 on the patio "

They run fast those slugs!

:^)

No experience of nemaslug but you can use it as long as the temperature is above 5c

Thankd Anchot man I have just been out again and there are several under the bird table and crossing the grass, they sure like wet conditions. I tried salt but the slime oozes out and sticks to the paving UGH.

I've recently got a slug problem

I go out just after dark and collect them

27 last night in 5 minutes - all giant black ones

This is a very useful item about slugs with lots of information /ideas

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/slug.htm

Have certainly seen more Hedgehogs this year. I was 20 before I saw my first live one, so seeing them always catches my attention. Seen a lot of dead ones on the road recently as well.

Catching and killing slugs is the quickest way of denting their population - so you are doing the best thing.

Certainly seen lots of large black ones - caught an 8 inch black one crawling across the lawn yesterday morning. It had eggs at the behind, so saved myself from future generations.

Hi, I have 3 cats and just use the regular slug pellets from the garden centre, I use them quite liberally all over the garden and my cats have never tried to eat any, I must say seeing the dead slugs does give me some pleasure especially as they ate quite a lot of my bedding flowers this year and had to throw some away.

As it has recently been suggested that Hedgehogs will be extinct in 15 years and I have frogs in my pond I will not use them.
If slug pellets are used they are then in the food chain slugs eat them and frogs, hedgehogs eat the slugs and then they too die.
While it is claimed that Nemaslug Slug Killer Nematodes is liquid and goes into the soil killing most slugs below the ground unseen and any eaten by wildlife etc will not be affected. I was hoping to get advice from someone who had used it?

Sorry the link is not working properly so have triad again:

As it has recently been suggested that Hedgehogs will be extinct in 15 years and I have frogs in my pond I will not use them.
If slug pellets are used they are then in the food chain slugs eat them and frogs, hedgehogs eat the slugs and then they too die.
While it is claimed that Nemaslug Slug Killer Nematodes liquid and the bacteria killing most slugs below the ground unseen and any eaten by wildlife etc will not be affected. I was hoping to get advice from someone who had used it?
Thanks Anchorman useful thread.

Sorry the above is not working properly
As it has recently been suggested that Hedgehogs will be extinct in 15 years and I have frogs in my pond I will not use them.
If slug pellets are used they are then in the food chain slugs eat them and frogs, hedgehogs eat the slugs and then they too die.
While it is claimed that Nemaslug Slug Killer Nematodes liquid and the bacteria killing most slugs below the ground unseen and any eaten by wildlife etc will not be affected. I was hoping to get advice from someone who had used it?
Thanks Anchorman useful thread.

I used Nemaslug in my last garden, and it does work. Seems to take a week or so and you will have less and less of them. You need to read the packet, seem to remember you need to apply it twice and keep the garden damp. The slug/snail population will go down dramatically for 3 months or so, but they come in from other gardens and fields - so would need to reapply every 2-3 months.

There was an article in the Telegraph or Guardian recently about making your own (collect loads of slugs in a large jar, keep it damp for a few weeks and the nematodes population will increase naturally) You then spray that over the garden.

Kildermorie I think I will try it.

We have a colony of feral cats in our area and we put dried cat food and water down for them in our cellar (there's a cat door) Recently we have noticed a lot of hedgehog droppings around the dishes, and when I re-opened a bag of compost the other day, we found where all the hedgehogs had decided to make their winter quarters. They seem to be very much on the move at the moment, looking for hibernation places. Maybe if you could leave some open compost sacks (with a bit of old compost, obviously) in a sheltered place it might encourage them to make your garden a more permanent visiting place. We even found one in our hallway yesterday evening. By the way, cats and hedgehogs seem to get along famously, and we see them feeding from the same dishes quite often. No, don't use slug pellets, please. Sorry, I have absolutely no knowledge of nematode control, but if you could persuade kind neighbours, like ours, to keep ducks, they are great at keeping all kinds of molluscs out of your flower beds!

I made a hedgehog shelter last year. As far as I know it wasn't used last winter but I've stuffed it with dry leaves and hope it will become home to a hedgehog this autumn.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31559373@N00/4932233567/

Thanks Gattina