Slugs

I have just moved in to a new property and am sorting out the garden,

have a major problem with slugs, I dont want to use any slug pellet etc as have pets, and just want a natural way to get rid of them all a eaten a lot of my plants.

Any help would be most appritiated

-- scoobyandy

Reply to
scoobyandy
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slug pellets: they work and it's just a lot of tiresome nonsense from tree huggers that advises against them. Have a one off blitz if you don't want to use them long term. I was sweeping up hundreds when I moved into my last house and did this.

Reply to
Oxymel of Squill

There are two types of slug killers: toxic and non-toxic. Paghat has a great page on the subject at her site. I would recommend that you get the type that has iron phosphate as the active ingredient. It is non-toxic and works better than the kind with metaldehyde. That seems like a win-win situation to me and has nothing to do with being a "tree hugger." I'm too cheap to buy chemicals that don't work but have a high toxicity. Once you start killing off a wide range of animals in your environment, you just create more problems and have to spend more time and money on fixing them.

In addition to the iron phosphate slug killers, you can use a combination of other methods. Go out at night with a flashlight and pick them off. Put our small containers of beer to attract them. They will crawl into the container and drown. You can put out a board on top of some bricks to give them shelter. Go out during the day, remove the board and collect the slugs. Keep mulch away from plants that slugs like. Some people use broken egg shells or sharp sand around plants to discourage the slugs. Put in a water feature and attract toads and frogs that eat slugs. Attract birds that eat slugs.

Reply to
Vox Humana

You don't say what you regard as "slug pellets." If you mean a product like Sluggo, its only active ingredient is iron phosphate, which causes mulloscs to slime themselves to death, but it is harmless to all mammals, insects, & birds. For plants, it functions as a fertilizer, is safe even around food crops, works even if it gets rained on, plus iron phosphate is the only slug bait that has any really noticeable effect on slugs.

If you mean ANY other slug bait (such as contain Metaldehyde, Methiocarb or Carbaryl) these have been fatal to dogs & other pets, are injurious to beneficial insects, birds, & wildlife, & are rightly illegal to use near commercial crops because harmful to human life too. Plus they're close to useless; they work a tiny bit until getting wet (from irrigating, dew, or rainfall). So you can use harmless iron phosphate & get an actual result, or you can use any other kind of slug bait which is not safe & has poor results. Long version:

formatting link
far from this being the "tiresome nonsense of tree huggers" this is simply the way things are -- most slug bait products are neither safe nor effective, iron phosphate is the sole exception. And one does wonder about the mentality of any purported gardener who thinks a regard for Nature or safety in the garden is nothing but tiresome tree-hugging. Sounds like a brainwashed dupe for the chemical industry who just automatically believes if it's a chemical, it's "safe as table salt" as has often been said propogandistically of products that would kill you dead if used as table salt.)

-paghat the ratgirl

Reply to
paghat

Ducks, they love to eat slugs.

Reply to
Travis

Slug traps that use beer as bait won't harm pets, although you may trap some teenagers......

Reply to
Dennis Edward

nonsense from tree

you don't want to

moved into my last

in message

out the garden, i

slug pellets

of them all as

You don't say what you regard as "slug pellets." If you mean a product like Sluggo, its only active ingredient is iron phosphate, which causes mulloscs to slime themselves to death, but it is harmless to all mammals, insects, & birds. For plants, it functions as a fertilizer, is safe even around food crops, works even if it gets rained on, plus iron phosphate is the only slug bait that has any really noticeable effect on slugs.

If you mean ANY other slug bait (such as contain Metaldehyde, Methiocarb or Carbaryl) these have been fatal to dogs & other pets, are injurious to beneficial insects, birds, & wildlife, & are rightly illegal to use near commercial crops because harmful to human life too. Plus they're close to useless; they work a tiny bit until getting wet (from irrigating, dew, or rainfall). So you can use harmless iron phosphate & get an actual result, or you can use any other kind of slug bait which is not safe & has poor results. Long version:

formatting link
far from this being the "tiresome nonsense of tree huggers" this is simply the way things are -- most slug bait products are neither safe nor effective, iron phosphate is the sole exception. And one does wonder about the mentality of any purported gardener who thinks a regard for Nature or safety in the garden is nothing but tiresome tree-hugging. Sounds like a brainwashed dupe for the chemical industry who just automatically believes if it's a chemical, it's "safe as table salt" as has often been said propogandistically of products that would kill you dead if used as table salt.)

-paghat the ratgirl

Reply to
Boots

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