Been doing a bit of the 'dig for victory' thing this year, growing a few cauli, broccoli and carrots with Spamcan Junior. Virtually everything has been munched by (I assume) slugs. I'm not a happy camper, particularly as cauli tend to be nearly two quid in the local ish supermarkets, so there was even a business case for veg. growing.
The internet is full of anti slug measures, none of which seem to work. SWMBO has tried trays of beer round plants, my latest cunning scheme is a circle of coarse sandpaper round each plant, but success is limited.
Can anyone suggest any combat proven anti slug measures please?
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Never heard of trays of beer. Stella in an old jam jar in a hole in the ground does the trick. They climb in, get inebriated, slug soup in the morning.
Last edited by: gmac on Thu 14 Jul 11 at 16:35
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Salt does for slugs, so how about a circle of road salt around each plant?
It would stay put for quite a while, assuming we don't get a lot of rain.
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The plants rapidly keel over and die.
As proved by the young Zero age 10.
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>> Salt does for slugs, so how about a circle of road salt around each plant?
>>
>> It would stay put for quite a while, assuming we don't get a lot of
>> rain.
>>
Unfortunately the worst time for slug attacks seems to be when the soil is damp after rain - not very often darn sarf this year!
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Sounds promising, SWMBO bought these tray things that are circular, rather like a frisbee with the middle cut out, you fill them with beer. Probably to shallow to be effective. I'll try a proper trap.
I've also tried copper tape round each plant but that did diddly.
My other idea is to use two bands of copper tape with a small gap between them, then apply a significant voltage across the gap. SWMBO won't be pleased if I take out the cats with that though.
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>> Sounds promising, SWMBO bought these tray things that are circular, rather like a frisbee with
>> the middle cut out, you fill them with beer. Probably to shallow to be effective.
>> I'll try a proper trap.
>>
I've found it has to be the wife beater, no other beer works as well as Stella.
The slugs can't resist it.
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Coffee is poisonous to slugs. Put jars of that out for them to fall into instead of beer. Also they don't like onions or garlic so planting those between also keeps them off. Leave the dead ones in the jars as it seems to put them off even more if there are deceased ones floating.
There's not much to beat going round with a pair of scissors and snipping the offenders in two.
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You could always go and live in the Canaries, I never saw one slimey slug in 3.5 years of living there,
Apart from the timeshare touts of course!
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Mine feed on cat food. Go out at midnight and the cat's bowl is FULL of slugs gorging on cat food. I WISH they'd eat my lettuces...
I cannot think of a cat-friendly solution.
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Been offline for a mo. due to an escaped rabbit situation.
Sounds like an experiment is in order, a few buried jam jars with Stella, coffee and cat food (not all 3 in the same jar...)
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SWMBO's got hostas you wouldn't believe and not a leaf touched by slugs, she puts coffee grounds round them.
I suppose the slug pellets do their bit too.
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I protect my pots with a ring of Coppaslip grease and a legth of copper wire wrapped around
I use the earth wire from a roll of T&E that I've got.
I was watching a Youtube about fainting goats the other night ( don't ask ) when this came up.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYPdTNya3Q0
I imagine a 12V battery would be the power source although 240V AC would be more interesting !
Ted
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>> I was watching a Youtube about fainting goats the other night ( don't ask )
Nothing to do with the film the Men Who Stare at Goats?
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I had a frame around the base of some beans with 2 separate copper wires approx 5mm apart connected to a 9V PP3.
Doesn't kill them (test snail placed across the wires did bubble a little) but they will not cross it.
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Did you test on a Max Mosley type slug ? Did it have a smile on its face ?
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>> I was watching a Youtube about fainting goats the other night ( don't ask )
>> when this came up.
>>
Sorry, you can't post a statement like that without some explanation !
Who goes looking for vids online of fainting goats ?
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Thanks Zero. I'm not looking, I don't want to know about fainting goats. God only knows whiat is happening to make them faint. The mind boggles...
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I wasn't specifically looking for fainting goats, GNAC.
I was looking for sneezing alpacas but I couldn't find any.
No doubt Z will come up with something.......he found the same video I did...the one with the redhead !!
Ted
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>>
>> I wasn't specifically looking for fainting goats, GNAC.
>> I was looking for sneezing alpacas but I couldn't find any.
Loads of them
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV30CB4Bmhw&feature=related
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I wonder how the alpaca owning families are doing near Poynton (some near where many footballers live). It once was a wealth/status thing to have a few alpaca or llamas in the garden.
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I did see the Dalai Llama once in my garden....he was hiding under the euonymous.
I put some Dalai Llama pellets down, though, and I haven't seen him since.
Ted
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The elephant powder we have for the fridge is also working well. Not seen one of late.
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...The elephant powder we have for the fridge is also working well. Not seen one of late...
Not even footprints in the butter?
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>>
>> I wasn't specifically looking for fainting goats, GNAC.
>>
OK, TFD
Last edited by: gmac on Thu 14 Jul 11 at 23:33
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>> Fainting goats
Hilarious Zeddo. But they look a bit special, those goats. Perhaps they are 'overbred' and psychologically faulty in some way. You can't escape from a leopard by fainting.
Once drove past a couple of big Saharan goats on their backs like that with their feet in the air. They were starting to look a bit bloated too, which few goats do in those parts. A former army officer in the vehicle made me laugh by murmuring: 'Those goats look a bit tired, don't they?'
Perhaps they weren't dead after all. Perhaps they were genuinely overweight and had just fainted in the heat.
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>>
>>
>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYPdTNya3Q0
>>
>> I imagine a 12V battery would be the power source although 240V AC would be
>> more interesting !
>>
>> Ted
>>
Cheers, I've got the old battery from SWMBO's Zafira in the shed, no use for a car but should still source a few mA for a slug-o-kutor. I see the slug video has had around 400,000 views!
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>> There's not much to beat going round with a pair of scissors and snipping the
>> offenders in two.
My mother-in-law does that. Scary woman. ;-)
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We had a slug problem until we got a decent sized pond. We soon had lots of frogs, and they have done the world of good for the garden.
Before the frogs arrived we couldn't grow hostas at all - they seemed to be a delicacy to the slugs, and all that we were left with was a few stalks. Now, we get hostas the size of cabbages!
Last edited by: Londoner on Fri 15 Jul 11 at 01:08
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Fork your patch over at least three times during the winter, especially just before a hard frost is forecast, this exposes the hibernating slimeys and thier eggs and what the birds dont get, the frost will!
"They" say that a hard frost is worth a gallon of weedkiller or insecticide! Also, dont underestimate the cleaning abilities of the humble chuck!
If you have ten,(this is for simplicity reasons) and in winter they are out for 10 hrs a day, but only spend 10 mins each hour scratin an rootin, (tis a lot more actually) that is equivelent to you spending 1000 mins a day going through it with a magnifying glass an tweezers! so by the time thev`ve done this everyday between November and April, there is`nt going to be much left!
This what i do on my emporium, and i hardly see a weed till mid june, and i need no slug protection at all!
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Funnily enough the offspring have decided they want to keep chickens in the area of the garden we're using as the vegetable patch, best they don't read this thread.
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You could have both! a trio of bantys an a small coop/run that is moveable dont take up much room!
this type of thing:
tinyurl.com/6z7zqux
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I must admit the area is ideal for chicken as it's already almost fox/cat proof, basically it's a strip of dirt 7 foot wide and about 20 foot long, with the gable end wall of the house on one long side, and a 5 foot high two brick thick garden wall along the other long side and one end - so I'd only have to create one end and a roof out of chicken wire and job done.
These are the things SWMBO bought a few weeks back, useless when filled with beer, I've just filled one with coffee grounds as an experiment.
slugmoats.com/shop.html
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What's the jump height on the fox side of the wall? 5 foot might not be high enough. Run an extra foot of wire fence along the top. Easy enough with some wooden posts fixed to the wall.
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Slug pellets work but get the rain proof ones otherwise they don't last 5 minutes. Also some sharp grit or gravel around the plants - they don't like sliding over it. Ive used this for hostas in pots and it works a treat.
The gardening programmes went through a fad of encouraging everyone to use raised beds for their veg - all well and good, but the slugs love to retire along the planks of wood just under the surface during the day, and come out in force at night.
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Suffering with snails on my lemon trees. Have not found a good solution yet but relishing the role of Judge Judy and Executioner; the wet thwack they make after being lobbed into the railway cutting next door is very satisfying.
Edit: TWO spelling mistakes. Ye gods, what's happening to me?
Last edited by: Alfa Floor on Fri 15 Jul 11 at 19:34
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>> What's the jump height on the fox side of the wall? 5 foot might not
>> be high enough. Run an extra foot of wire fence along the top. Easy enough
>> with some wooden posts fixed to the wall.
>>
I'm thinking I'd completely enclose the 'roof' on the run with chicken wire, in case of that eventuality.
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>> slugmoats.com/shop.html>>
good grief!!! £9 for 4!!!! you could probably buy 10 fully grown of whatever it is your trying to protect for that! but at least it looks like you won a prize on the hoop-la stall ;-)
when the plants grow a bit the leaves will breach the perimeter and the slugs will simply carry on, until then they will make do by jumping over them rings!
I`ve heard coffee grounds help deter slugs cos they stick to them and irritate them, so does finely cut hair clippings. But i would dispense with those gardeners money traps and scoop out a slightly wider ditch all around area of your plantlets, and fill it with hairy/granular irritants,coffee/hair/crushed cinders etc, you`d probably find it more effective/cheaper/ longer lasting and more maintenance free.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 16 Jul 11 at 17:51
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>> >> slugmoats.com/shop.html>>
>>
>> good grief!!! £9 for 4!!!! you could probably buy 10 fully grown of whatever it
>> is your trying to protect for that! but at least it looks like you won
>> a prize on the hoop-la stall ;-)
>>
Yeah, I know, that's SWMBO maths for you:-/, although at least the increasing price of veg in the supermarkets means there is some sort of business case, OK I'm not just doing it to save money but it helps.
I've now knocked up a slug-o-cutor (in the style of the one in the video Ted posted) with the old Zafira battery, 670 ohm resistor in series to stop Spamcan Junior trying to melt pennies on the electric fence :-) I've put that round the broccoli so we'll see what happens.
I've set out the hoop-la stall again, with coffee grounds in two and slat in the others, just the Stella traps to set up now.
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>> I've now knocked up a slug-o-cutor (in the style of the one in the video
>> Ted posted) with the old Zafira battery, 670 ohm resistor in series to stop Spamcan
>> Junior trying to melt pennies on the electric fence :-) I've put that round the
>> broccoli so we'll see what happens.
>>
>> I've set out the hoop-la stall again, with coffee grounds in two and slat in
>> the others, just the Stella traps to set up now.
Cripes, this is WAR!!
Last edited by: corax on Sun 17 Jul 11 at 16:16
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I had some thoughts about this Spams. Instead of the copper wire you could use N gauge track...about 10mm, I think.
Then you could have the bonus of running a little Spamcan and a rake of green Maunsells now and again.
Ted
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Plus for an extra bit of fun you could tie a slug on the tracks!!
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>>
>> I had some thoughts about this Spams. Instead of the copper wire you could use
>> N gauge track...about 10mm, I think.
>>
>> Then you could have the bonus of running a little Spamcan and a rake of
>> green Maunsells now and again.
>>
>> Ted
>>
>> Plus for an extra bit of fun you could tie a slug on the tracks!!
>>
Top ideas chaps! Could use one of those old school 'Relco' track cleaners, which put quite a bit of voltage on the track IIRC. 'Cow'catcher on the front of the loco and salt dispensing mineral wagons - Stella dispensing tank wagons - the possibilities are endless!
There's always 'T' scale track which is 3mm gauge:- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_scale
Might be a bit small to deal with big slugs though.
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>> Then you could have the bonus of running a little Spamcan and a rake of
>> green Maunsells now and again.
>>
>> Ted
>>
Dont pressurise him Ted, he doesn't want to be "bulleid" into anything.
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T scale is just ridiculous, Spambles.
I believe you can build a full length scale model of the WCML in a box file !
Although how you can see to get the stock on the rails is beyond me....still give the slugs a tingle, though !
Did you get the CD ? What did you think.
I appreciate you probably have emailed me but that email address has gone frupnys up again !
Ted
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My wife hates slugs because she gardens. And there are plenty here, snails too. But she's a peaceable, non-murderous person and doesn't stomp them when they glide cheekily about on the paths and lawns here in the evening. I don't either.
I think the little girls sometimes put salt on them to shrivel them up (as we did with soap and leeches when I were a nipper).
Do hedgehogs eat them? Can one buy young hedgehogs and release them into the wild? I remember a hedgehog that used to live more or less where I am sitting now, then outside the house, noisily eating something or other in the evening thirty years ago. But I haven't seen one recently.
The more I think about it the more I feel a new hedgehog population might be the answer. There are enough slugs here to fatten quite a few hedgehogs. And it's the ecological solution, no?
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Hedgehogs probably are the answer as are toads which devour large numbers of the slimy creatures. Unfortunately hedgehog numbers have crashed - probably lack of suitable habitat and their lack of road sense. If you want to encourage them in you garden make sure you have an untidy area where they can hibernate undisturbed. Also remember that they have to get in and our of your garden as they have a wide range- they need a hole or gap in the fence.
If you what to feed them cat food is best. They are actually really partial to dog poo but you probably don't watt to leave a bowl of that outside your back door.
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>>
>> Did you get the CD ? What did you think.
>> I appreciate you probably have emailed me but that email address has gone frupnys up
>> again !
>>
>> Ted
>>
Hi Ted, yes I got the CD thanks, I did email you but got some sort of error message. Pleasant enough to listen to, very atmospheric, cheers for taking the time to send it.
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>> There's not much to beat going round with a pair of scissors and snipping the
>> offenders in two.
My mother-in-law does that. Scary woman. ;-)
Did you find that out when courting? Teach you to keep it in your pants!
Last edited by: pmh on Mon 18 Jul 11 at 09:06
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Fox'll scale a 5' wall. Had one climb a 6' tennis court fence and kill my hens once. Suggest roofing it over and then you won't be feeding the pigeons as well as everything else. Get a cat to frighten off the rats too - they'll be queueing up for your free grain.
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>> Suggest roofing it over and then you won't be feeding the pigeons
>> as well as everything else.
Good point
>>Get a cat to frighten off the rats too -
>> they'll be queueing up for your free grain.
>>
mmmmm yes, seems we've just acquired a 3rd cat, I'll put 'em on a rota. One of them killed a full size rat last autumn, I nearly sucked it up with the leaf sucker, now that would've been messy.
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Slugs: spawn of Satan: how to kill them? - ....
