I use Murphys Slugclear. It is a liquid so no danger to birds or pets and it soaks in to the ground killing the little darlings before they kill your plants. Our gardening club had a talk from a professional grower and he recommended it because he said all slug pellets do is ensure you collect all your neighbours slugs as well as your own.

In my experience, watered on slug treatments don't seem to affect snails. What does affect them is slug pellets, they work really well.

I have had good results with the Slugclear for both. I try to limit the use of chemicals in the garden because we do have thrushes and I worry that they could be affected. I'm not sure if they would bother with dead snails. There are anvils around the garden.

Anvils? Why have you got anvils in your garden? Unless its a name for something else, it's a block for hitting things on...

I think Scotsgran means that the Thrushes bash the shell on a stone or object,Bamboo..sometimes known as an Anvil,so yes,it is a block for hitting things on,but not as we think of it..I have heard it called that before..

The garlic remedy would be the best answer, mixed with butter and a little parsley.... delicious.

If you are really conscientious, go out every evening just as the light is fading and put a pinch of salt on each of the little b*ggers - they die horribly (revenge is sweet)

I have found the liquid snail/slug killer to be a good preventer, with later slug pellets applied on the surface depending on what is being grown. The birds keep off the pellets. There is an organic nematode snail/slug killer available on amazon, that is also watered in. For the camellia ... Are any of the leaves covered in a sooty substance? Under the leaves above the soot will be brownish pods - scale insect? You can scrape off by hand or spray under the leaves and stems with Provado Ultimate Bug Killer. If there is no scale insect then thrips might be the problem? Same solution. Garden finches are also known to eat out the buds of camellia and roses, when food rations are low.

Butter and parsley!!!!!! I,m asuming thats for you not the snails Myron????........Does the salt work for snails as well as slugs then Andrew?

The leaves appear chewed at the edges,a couple 3/4 gone!Never happened before Avq, no brown spots. infact the leaves look quite heathy,it is in a pot,but don't surpose that makes any difference.I do feed the birds that come daily to my small garden but mostly sparrows that arrive 2dozen at a time(who says they are in decline) I would be surprised if they would eat the leaves though.

I heard a question about this on Gardeners Question Time a couple of weeks back. The experts on there suggested the flower buds had been eaten by squirrels. Rabbits eat the leaves off the camellia bushes in a friend's garden. You can tell how far up the biggest rabbit can reach as all the leaves are cleared up to about 2 feet from the ground.

I tried Slug Clear pellets a few weeks ago and the results are great. Very little damage since application. I appreciate that they may harm wildlife but I spend too much on plants and landscaping to share with millions of slugs!.

I have tried the garlic method but it needs to be long term and systemic and I just do not have the time!

I have heard of a similar method using salt - basically you keep the soil level of sodium chloride to a level that kills slugs without killing your plants...not tried it though.

I too had to resort to slug pellets a couple of weeks ago...beer traps were of no interest to them.
I will also admit to going round the garden with a pot of salt and picking up every slug I see and putting it in and shaking it about!!!! - you are right andrewr - revenge is sweet :)

Poppylinda - you need to get the salt on the thing itself, not the shell, but it works just as well <evil laugh>

There is a lot of high spirits on here today. Yes Bamboo the thrushes use a stone on which to bash the snail shells so they can get at the flesh. Poppy I think Myron was savouring a French delicacy. I believe you can eat our big garden snails but I think you have to clean out their innards by keeping them in captivity for a while. Saw it on a tv programme. I don't fancy them myself.
The holes along the edge of your camellias could be caused by Vine weevils. My Dr Hessayon recommends spraying the shrub and soil around the plant with Longlast. I've had a look at the permitted chemicals available to amateur gardeners. You probably need Provado not Longlast.
NB. DO NOT USE LIQUID SLUG AND SNAIL KILLER ON EDIBLE PLANTS.

We have 'cleaner-uppers' here - snails are taken to a particular area in the garden and a heavy footed boot applied - next day, just broken shell to be seen. The wall lizards are looking particularly chubby this year ....? .....

UGGG (:o| Scotsgran I've just had my breakfast!!! I've left them in the past hopeing the birds would deal with them but they do all the damage at night, last year I found their hideing place, in my Phormium, and collected them up in a bucket and took them down the canal,where I walk, never seen so many..... all sizes,could'nt bring myself to do your method Nariz,have tried the beer trap and pellets in the past though,but I think the answer is to keep repeating it.Thanks for all your help have made notes X

Yeah Scotsgran, I put them in a box with pieces of carrots to eat, when their poo turns orange it means all the toxins have been purged out of them and they are safe to eat... Totally organic food, and it's free and sustainable.

What a cruel lot some of you are - putting salt on the poor things. I used to collect them up and then realised I hadn't the heart to kill them all. Decided the kindest method was, indeed, stamping on them, or removing them elsewhere.

I did an experiment a couple of years ago when I was plagued with snails. Each evening, at dusk, I collected all the snails that were in the garden, put a dab of different coloured nail varnish on them and disposed of them in the woodland adjacent to the garden. Those dumped 25 yards away came back within 48 hrs, those dumped over 50 yds away, well a few returned, but those dumped 100 yards away never came back. I heard a few odd comments from neighbours who found 'snail varnished' snails in their gardens! After a week or so I was virtually snail free.

To kill them with salt is a slow and presumably agonising death as I expect pellets are. Far better to dispose of them humanely or quickly with the boot method.

How interesting - thanks for that info Janpled. Not much point in slinging them over the fence to next door then...

The salt method is not slow - they are dead within 30 seconds at the outside, usually less than ten

Slinging pests over fences:one would never do that....just caterpillars, grubs and the like. Slugs get squished immediately. I have only ever had 2 snails...they also get thrown over the fence.

When I lived in Essex I used to put mine in the bin bag to be collected by dustmen - they never returned! After a couple of years of vigilance I noticed I rarely saw a snail in the garden!

Hello, Poppylinda ... there is a beetle that will eat the leaves of camellia, viburnum tinus, and many others, leaving the edges totally 'moth-eaten'. The little brown beetle is difficult to spot and hides well inside the shrub. They also have a small caterpillar at this time of year, you may spot camaflouged against a stem. If in doubt, and you want to save the shrub, then deeply spray with provado under the leaves and in the bush. Otherwise, cut it right down, to a sprout, burn the leaves and start again, though camellias don't like cutting down and it may well die anyway!! I would use the spray ... liberally.

Thanks I will have a closer inspection in the morning Avq....I saw a lovely camelia hedge in a front garden today while out on a bike ride, I didn't think they liked being cut but the lady said she cuts it every year,and it was full of flowers,never seen a hedge before......She also told me to give my flowerless cameilia Potash in july to encourage flowers.

Well thank you all I have just picked up on this and have to confess you have given me the best laugh I have had in months.... my sides ached !

Now I'M laffing at the thought of YOU laffing X

:0))) x
By the way my friend cuts her camellia hard every year and every year it blooms its head off !