These animals feed mainly at night so
if you are particularly bothered, you can go out and manually pick them
off those plants most under attack.
Rings of material that is
uncomfortable to cross such as sharp grit or broken egg shells or even
human hair will
sometimes discourage them, I did see an experiment on this on a
gardening programme once and they happily crossed everything in their path. Maybe
yours are different...
Plants in pots can be
protected by greasing the rim with Vaseline and salt.
An
old remedy to deter snails and slugs is to collect as many as possible, morning
and evening. Tip them into a bucket of boiling water and let it stand for a few
days until the smell becomes fearsome, then strain off the liquid and use it to
sprinkle round vulnerable plants, such as the young growth of delphiniums,
lettuce and so on - but not on them. The remains of the slugs and snails can
also be scattered.
Sprinkle slugs with salt to kill
them (if you can stand the resulting agony).
Stab them with a sharpened stick.
A circle of coffee grounds around a plant will act as a
deterrent, it's the caffeine they don't like. Read the article in
New
Scientist
Trap them
using containers in the ground that have some beer (the slug-pub) in the bottom, though you
still have to get rid of them which is a problem if you don't hate your
neighbour. Empty grapefruit halves work as well.
Get some ducks, they seek and destroy - and lay eggs too.
Another
way to deal with your captured slugs and snails (I haven't tried it myself - the
wife won't let me) is to put them in a plastic Tupperware type container and then
put them
in the freezer. This is probably the most humane way as they just slow down and
become torpid in the cold being cold blooded (yes they do have blood of sorts).
So they are effectively anaesthetised before being frozen dead.
Plastic
bottles. Take
a 1.5Ltr or 2Ltr clear plastic bottle and cut off the base with scissors.
Remove the stopper and place over a single plant. A simple but effective way of
protecting tender plants from slugs or the weather.
Electric fences are very effective. Two strips of metal tape, aluminium or
copper with a small gap of a few mm between them connected to a powerful
battery (old car battery or a couple of those big ones with the curly
springs on top). Arrange it so that the slug or snail has to cross the
barrier to get to your plants, as soon as they bridge the gap - Bingo! -
doesn't kill them, but it sure stops them. You may sometimes see copper
rings available commercially too to place around individual plants.
Go out to the garden in the late afternoon and lay
boards or pieces of
cardboard on the bare soil around your plants. In the morning turn the boards
over and scrape the hiding slugs into a large yogurt or cottage cheese
container. Cover and place in your freezer for three hours. When they're
frozen stiff (and dead), dump them on your compost heap.
Another option is to go for biological control. Biological
control of a pest relies on introducing a predator species so "fighting
nature with nature", if chosen carefully, the predator will stop damage to
your plants without damaging the environment. Such biological controls are safe
for the user, children and pets. They will not harm other beneficial garden
insects and are biodegradable.
They do rely on the predator always having some food though, or they will die
out, so like other organic practices it is a question of maintaining a small
population of pests to allow the predators to be ready for them, in this case
though the balance is skewed away from the problem.
For slugs and snails, the biological control is a Nematode worm (Phasmarhabditis
hermaphrodita) sold as
"Nemaslug".
The nematodes aggressively search out and attack slugs.
They enter the slugs body through a hole behind their heads (the pulmonary
aperture that they breathe through to be precise). Once inside they release a
bacteria which stops the slug eating. The nematodes then start to reproduce
inside and within 7-10 days the slug is dead. The nematodes continue to
reproduce as the body breaks down. This new population enters the soil and
searches out new slugs to attack. This is a natural, non-toxic product that is
safe for both users and wildlife. The nematodes stay active for 6 weeks so a
single dose protects plants when they are emerging in the spring and are most
vulnerable.
Nematodes can only be used in late spring and summer
when the soil has warmed up (to above 5°C). On heavy, waterlogged clay soil,
the nematodes can find it difficult to move, so Nemaslug can be less effective
in these conditions.
Buy
Nemaslug
Icelandic poppy, Columbine, Forget-me-nots and Welsh Poppy are all
unpalatable to slugs.
Natural Pest Control : Slug Killer
Centuries ago
people believed in spontaneous generation. Meat spontaneously turned into flies
if left, cheese into mould for instance. Well I reckon that modern science has overlooked this
theory as far as slugs and snails are concerned. Soil in the presence of plants spontaneously
generates slugs and snails.