Slugmageddon

[Potemkin Villager]

I wonder if others are experiencing a big increase in slug induced damage to crops over the last few years.

Members of local community garden, https://www.facebook.com/Ardswalledgarden/ , are getting increasingly frustrated
that the the old non chemical tricks to control slugs and their access to gourmet dining seem to be getting very much less effective and do not understand why.

Previously very anti slug pellet folk are being driven to distraction and a motion is in hand to change the rules and guidelines to permit
limited use of "safe" pellets.

[UndercoverElephant]

I have experienced a big decrease, but that's because I have moved from Cat Central to Bird Central. I see fewer slugs and snails in our entire 5.5 acres now than I used to see in a 20x5m garden in Hastings. We have one cat. There must be several hundred cats in the same area around our old house, and the only regular bird visitors were seagulls.

Sorry for the off-topic rant.

[mr brightside]

Nanny state slug pellets probably, i've had the same problem with nanny state rat poison.

[Mark]

Nanny state slug pellets probably, i've had the same problem with nanny state rat poison.

By that comment, I assume you're referring to the ban on metaldehyde slug pellets, which has finally been introduced...
https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/news/b ... into-force

[clv101]

We have ~zero slug damage this year. Actually starting to feel a little guilty about the biodiversity decimation our ducks are achieving!

[Potemkin Villager]

We have one cat. There must be several hundred cats in the same area around our old house, and the only regular bird visitors were seagulls.

Well there are no cats in this garden and a large frog population thanks to the pond installed a few years ago. However the birds and the frogs are not any where near having sufficient impact on the slug population. Maybe introducing ducks might do the job. Whole matter to be debated (again) on Wednesday evening with probably as many opinions as people! It is all beginning to feel a bit like that Clifford Harper illustration where every body is thinking "I hope we get something done at this meeting.".......

[UndercoverElephant]

Maybe introducing ducks might do the job.

Ducks will try to eat anything alive that they can get into their mouths. Watching them tackle a full-size horse leech is quite amusing! We have 3 hatched in April and now nearly fully grown, plus 5 more currently 3 weeks old.

Also just got 3 geese and a gosling last week too, but they don't eat slugs. The gander tried to take a chunk out of Mrs Elephant this morning. She was "trying to make friends with him." He interpreted that as weakness.

[emordnilap]

Ducks will eat almost anything, so growing food for humans (and keeping the slugs off) and keeping ducks is almost mutually exclusive.

A partial solution is to allow them only into areas you're not growing in, hoping to at least thin down the slugs generally.

If you can divide your garden into sections, consider quarantining ducks in one section for at least a year, then move them to another area and start growing stuff in the old area. It'll be nicely manured as a bonus.

Also, if you've a polytunnel, make your captive duck area as big as you can around the polytunnel, keeping the doors closed at all times. The slug population in the PT will eventually be slimmed down. Let the ducks in during a polytunnel fallow season.

Consider having a couple of big ponds for them but don't expect anything to grow in it, the ducks will scoff the lot. Big plant pots, with pond plants, covered in netting, are a possibility. Ponds encourage frogs, another slug enemy. But ducks love to eat frogs. I haven't seen ducks eat frogspawn, so there's something to plan for.

[emordnilap]

Most ducks, if they have companions, plenty of food and somewhere to swim, won't fly away. You can clip their wings but we've only done this for a couple of muscovies.

Builders' fences quickly make an enclosure. Lay down something like chicken wire (but tougher netting is better) and let the fence down on top of it. Foxes won't get in as they won't be able to dig. Pine martens and similar size creatures will, so if you have them, netting tied to the fences to about half way up will keep them out.

You can pick up builders' fences quite cheaply or even free and they're easy to repair. One person can carry one.

[UndercoverElephant]

Most ducks, if they have companions, plenty of food and somewhere to swim, won't fly away. You can clip their wings but we've only done this for a couple of muscovies.

Most domesticated species of duck can't fly anyway -- they are too heavy and their wings are too small. Our embden geese can fly, but they only actually fly out of fear. When they just want to get out of their enclosure to the pond, they forget they can fly and wait by the gate for somebody to open it.

[emordnilap]

Most ducks, if they have companions, plenty of food and somewhere to swim, won't fly away. You can clip their wings but we've only done this for a couple of muscovies.

Most domesticated species of duck can't fly anyway -- they are too heavy and their wings are too small.

You could be right in most cases. We had several species, of different weights and sizes, none but our muscovies ever even tried to fly. We were lucky.

[Potemkin Villager]

After a rather tetchy committee meeting it was agreed, by a small majority, to allow the "limited use" of "safe" slug pellets on a trial basis and to review the situation at the end of the growing season. The coordinator of the County Community Garden Network rather shocked us all by announcing that they, a long term organic enthusiast, now considered safe pellets necessary as "none of the traditional methods actually seem to work"! They also got some interesting responses to a post on their Facebook page as follows:-

All the usual tricks that have worked well in the past are proving frustratingly insufficient and the use of "safe" pellets being considered. Question is "how "safe" is "safe" and who exactly decides they are "approved for organic use" and using what criteria?

Early morning collection, works best on mild damp mornings!

Sooooo many! Tried everything. Just going to plant more and hope! (I do go out with scissors at 10.30 pm and dispatch them for the chickens but it’s a losing battle!)

Also after dark at night hunt for them with a torch their wet skin reflects the light.
Plants particularly tasty for slugs in my garden are thyme and the little bedding plant I bought called beedance which the label said loved by bees and butterflies but omitted to say it was also loved by slugs so I think maybe when I take the slugs off these plants I have also taken out a lot in the immediate surrounding area.They act as decoys

I'm afraid to say this it's probably tempting fate but way less slugs this year but early days yet.
I have spruce needle paths around the veg beds and also just inside the raised beds, I haven't done any physical removal of them this year as I can't stand the midges but beer or yeast and sugar traps out.
Oh please slugs leave my food alone. Flower wise I don't grow anything that slugs like.

Terrible this year!! I fill half a bucket each night… I have tried everything…. Even the organic pellets don’t work!!!!

I built a small wildlife pond which encourages lots of frogs in my garden ,no problem with slugs or snails since the pond went in,so no need for nasty chemicals contamination in the food that I grow

I have a glut of them this year more so than ever.We used slug pellette..both organic and regular stuff.Tried,beer..eggshells..sand..copper..wee mats for around the plant stem..ZERO works for me..Personally Me thinks they enjoy the pelletts.. lost so many plants ..tyou.

Someone mentioned sand...apparently they can't cross it so some sand around their favourite veggies might work???

[RenewableCandy]

I never found out what 'diatomacious earth' was but some people swear by it. Perhaps that's an American term for something that has a different name in Brit English.

[Default0ptions]

I never found out what 'diatomacious earth' was but some people swear by it. Perhaps that's an American term for something that has a different name in Brit English.

I’m not sure but it’s always sounded to me like “give me your money you credulous fool.”

The slug wars are won and lost every year.

Nothing beats putting the time in on the ground: “The best fertiliser is the gardener’s shadow”

Meaning you being there and caring for your plants

[emordnilap]

I never found out what 'diatomacious earth' was but some people swear by it. Perhaps that's an American term for something that has a different name in Brit English.

It's not much use against slugs but, in dry conditions, said to be useful against bed bugs and animal fleas. The food grade variety is reckoned to be the most effective because of its tiny grain size.

I personally don't entirely trust it, mainly from the point of view of the risk of inhalation, but happy to use it for keeping seeds free from potential seed eaters.