DJ360 6,772 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 I have given up on 'Slug Pellets'. They worked when they contained Metaldehyde, they don't anymore..and I do accept that they weren't exactly good for other wildlife. I really must put a few 'slug pubs' out. They do work, except that I haven't had any beer in the house for yonks. My main weapon is a nightly 'slug patrol'. I'm afraid any slugs found on my Delphiniums, Lupins etc.. pay a heavy price. Snails get chucked into the green Garden Waste bin. They are welcome to munch on anything in there. However, last night.. something of a breakthrough. I found a HUGE slug on one of my Lupins which has been really struggling c.f. another one only a couple of feet away. It dawned on me that they are actually coming under the fence from next door's garden!! I shall take steps to stop that. Also, whilst patrolling, I discovered that the seriously dozy woman who lives immediately behind us has once again been hacking at HER shrubs and allowing great loads of prunings to fall into my borders, damaging plants. When I say hacking.. I mean it. She seems to get all offended if anything in her 'garden', doesn't bow to her will... I just chucked them all back over the fence onto her lawn, along with a couple of prize snails. One time, when I as still just about still on speaking terms with them, she dumped a sizeable bonfire's worth of the stuff onto my side of the fence. I went round and asked her husband what he wanted me to do with it all. "Can you not put it in your bin?" "No.. there's way too much and anyway, why should I?" "OK, chuck it over and I'll put it in my bin" "You won't get it all in your bin, but I'll chuck it over" It literally formed a massive pile on his grass and his face was a picture when he saw it. I thought that had cured them, but obviously not.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
philmayfield 6,307 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 Sadly none of the ‘new’ environmentally friendly products work as well as the old ‘unfriendly’ products. I remember the days when you could get your can filled with ‘proper’ creosote down at the gasworks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beekay 5,277 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 I understand you can still obtain fly paper, that you open out from a sticky roll and hang up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IAN FINN 835 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 I creosoted my grandads garden shed when i was a kid Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,772 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 The trouble with Fly Paper is that the slugs and snails have real difficulty jumping high enough to stick to it. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,492 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 As someone to whom gardening is a total anathema I did come up with a solution to slugs turning a large potted Hoster into a faux swiss cheese plant. After trying and failing with copper tape, under the lip of the pot I simply ran a strip of double-sided sticky tape and rubbed salt onto the outer surface... viola, no more ninja slugs. no more Hoster devastation. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,416 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 They don't like gravel or other rough surfaces. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,772 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 I have to say that the copper rings which I made by openng out old copper pipe do keep slugs off plants...unless there are those tiny black slugs already in the soil. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Annesley Red 80 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 I noticed the ants were eating the black fly on my beans so they doing me a favour for a change. BTW I planted marigolds next to my beans but still got Black Fly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beekay 5,277 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 1 hour ago, Jill Sparrow said: They don't like gravel or other rough surfaces. In total agreement. Another favourite is crushed eggshells. Dried, crushed and scattered in a nice blanket. It would be like us walking barefoot on cinders. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,492 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 Seems there are a range of urban legends and old wives tales in the horticultural world. The Royal horticultural Society report from the Guardian: "Environmentally friendly gardeners who attempt to deter slugs and snails from devouring their vegetables with eggshells or copper tape are wasting their time, according to a study by the Royal Horticultural Society. Gastropods inflicted the same damage to lettuces protected with five natural methods – eggshells, copper tape, horticultural grit, pine bark mulch and wool pellets – as they did to lettuces left untreated." Q.E.D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,416 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 I'd rather eat a lettuce with a few munch holes in it than the homogenised, pasteurized perfect version in Tesco and other, similar, retail giants, which has been sprayed with something that killed the munchers and might do the same to me. Home grown, any day. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brew 5,492 Posted June 18 Report Share Posted June 18 Each to their own, but I'm not fussed about eating supermarket food, if there is any risk of it killing anyone, I rather think we'd know about it... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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