Slugs & Snails

Robert123 · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2006 8:28 pm Post subject:

I am hoping that this years slightly colder winter will have an effect on on the slug and snail population, last year I got in early with the slug pellets around about March and it did have a good effect any one else got any tips on dealing with slugs and snails I did once hear about a liquid treatment that stopped them breeding anyone else hear about that product, it has got to be better than pellets

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Guest1 · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 6:58 pm Post subject:

Upturned grapefruit halves, or jars of ale will catch loads. Hedgehog friendly, too.

Robert123 · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject:

We have not got any hedgehogs around here, lots of bloody seagulls, I have heard about those two methods, thanks, what i want to do is reduce the breeding population
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Dr. Seuss

wudja.cudja · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:44 am Post subject:

Hi Robert.. ..

For slugs i used a Nematode biological cure several years ago and ive not had a problem since.

Slugs continue to lay eggs virtually all year and you only see them when they migrate in the spring and summer. the rest of the year they're underground eating the roots.

Nematodes are tiny worms that feed on the slugs and kill them and one application lasts 6 weeks. it gets them underground as well and is safe to use with all wildlife, pets, children etc.

Cost me £9.99 for the whole garden two applications worth several years ago from my local gardening centre but, thats gone now making room for new housing.

Snails.. .. most effective way is by wearing soft topped trainers and go out hunting fort them day and night.. ..

when you find them.. .. drop kick them over into a distant garden

best if the neighbour has an outdoor pool as you get to hear the splosh .. .. .

Myself i use these.. .. >>

http://www.fort-delce.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/piglets/

paul.. ..
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wudja.cudja · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:52 am Post subject:

Just remembered this.. ..

When i first moved in here i thought i had the ghost of a sexy woman wearing stilletoes haunting my garden.. .. (just wishfull thinking on the sexy bit)

I'd wake early in the morning and i could hear someone walking around my bungalow wearing heels.. .. tap tap clip clip clip tap tap like heels go on a footpath..

took me ages to suss it was the speckled thrushes cracking open the snails around the garden.. ..

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Even smillies need a holiday

Robert123 · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:12 pm Post subject:

Cheers for that, I used to thow them next door until I read that they have a homing instinct, so i tested it by painting a bit of tipex on a snail, and sure enough it came back

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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Dr. Seuss

hbrac · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:20 pm Post subject:

Robert

What ale do I put down for the slugs and snails? There's too much choice in Tescos

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Impotence..Nature's way of saying "No hard feelings,"

Guest1 · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:53 pm Post subject:

cheap ale.

hbrac · Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:09 pm Post subject:

As I don't drink

which is a cheap ale?
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Impotence..Nature's way of saying "No hard feelings,"

chocaholicsanon · Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:03 am Post subject:

buy tescos cheapest ale in a can. that will do the trick, but dont forget to empty it. and you might get the hedgehogs a bit drunk.
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madsue · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 8:31 am Post subject:

I knew I should have looked on here first

I am absolutely plagued by slugs at the moment. Hundreds of them first thing in the morning, then they have gone within an hour of the sun really coming out. Where the heck do they all go???

I have just planted all my pots and beds up in one of my courtyards, and already the slugs are eating my plants

This morning there are lots of slimy trails, but I can't see the slugs! Have they buried themselves in the earth ready to pop up again later??? Obviously the ale thing isn't practical in such small places, and I am not keen on slug pellets. What about if I put salt crystals around the plants? Would that work?

Any other advice purleease, as I would love to keep the plants this year

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wudja.cudja · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:03 pm Post subject:

Hi

Here's the stuff i used........

http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/nematode_info.htm

Cost & shipping info UK Europe and rest of world.

http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/nematode.htm

paul....
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Even smillies need a holiday

madsue · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:53 pm Post subject:

Thanks paul...........trouble is by the time it gets here all my plants will have been eaten

I have been busy with my torch tonight patrolling the pots and beds.........in fact it's time for another little lookey!!!!!!
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madsue · Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:02 pm Post subject:

Oh yuck, yuck yuck!!!!! I have answered my own question now. There are loads and loads, some coming out of holes in the wall, some coming up from inside the earth and some already on my plants. They look absolutely disgusting, so I went and got the salt and poured it straight on to them. That worked instantly, but it's still yuck.

Anyone know just how deep they bury themselves?
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madsue · Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:04 am Post subject:

Oh dear I am now getting completely carried away on the Slug Watch

I am doing half hourly reccies, and so far must have poured salt on at least 30. I am even starting with the evil cackle as I pour the salt on them

No doubt I shall have nightmares about them when (if) I get to sleep tonight

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madsue · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:18 pm Post subject:

Oh well, I see I killed this thread days ago

but just an update! Each night I do my Slug Patrol and they are getting fewer. However, last night I was out till the early hours. When I got home all my flowers were broken, or squashed

Not the slugs this time.......my ruddy dog had decided to lay in the flower bed

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Guest1 · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:

Sue, im really surprised you get a lot of slugs there. i thought they were more for wet and damp climates.

madsue · Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:22 pm Post subject:

It is very wet and damp up here in the mountains in the early morning guest. The island relies on the heavy dew being captured by the picon, to grow anything. The picon (black stuff covering the fields) captures the dew, and filters it through to the earth below during the day.
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Guest1 · Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 12:13 pm Post subject:

I knew about the black stuff catching the dew (didnt know its name)..i still didnt realise it was described as 'damp' there tho.

madsue · Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2006 12:21 pm Post subject:

Very, guest!!! This morning for example, the dew was dripping from my roof pipes and running across the courtyard towards my aljibe. And the car was completely wet. Oh dear, too difficult to explain really, you will just have to visit me when you come to Lanzarote!!!

You'll need to be here early in the morning though

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