Under siege by slugs.

[Stonepark]

Saxa Fine Sea salt as the ammo!

 

 

[Grandalf]

Thanks for all the suggestions.   Copius amounts of salt spread on the patio and along the base of the walls tonight.   Now we shall see.

[enfieldspares]

Regarding salt just be careful that the salt doesn't cause more harm than it cures. FWIW I'd have tried trowelling sharp sand at the angle where the wall meets the ground.

[Grandalf]

9 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

Regarding salt just be careful that the salt doesn't cause more harm than it cures. FWIW I'd have tried trowelling sharp sand at the angle where the wall meets the ground.

Sorry mate, you are dealing with a very old Pigeonwatcher here.   WFIW

Thanks for the other advice.

[old'un]

6 hours ago, Grandalf said:

Sorry mate, you are dealing with a very old Pigeonwatcher here.   WFIW

Thanks for the other advice.

FWIW = for what it's worth.

 

Did the salt work?

[amateur]

The problem with salt is that the rain washes it away and, in quantity, kills the plants.

Nematodes, however, thrive in damp soil, but do need regular replacement.

[old'un]

6 minutes ago, amateur said:

The problem with salt is that the rain washes it away and, in quantity, kills the plants.

Nematodes, however, thrive in damp soil, but do need regular replacement.

I doesn't rain every night and the water left in light showers is saline which will still kill the slugs, plus a bag of salt is a lot cheaper.

[amateur]

2 minutes ago, old'un said:

I doesn't rain every night and the water left in light showers is saline which will still kill the slugs, plus a bag of salt is a lot cheaper.

Without doubt, but I can only relate our experience with the blighters.

Good luck

[steve_b_wales]

As mentioned, copper tape or wire. I've used coils of copper wire (stripped from old electrical lead) and formed a loop around my plants. It's worked everytime.

[hushpower]

Slugs are active in wet conditions. Put a  scattering of waterproof slug pellets round the house soon get them under controll. Happened to us about a month back soon got on top of them

[paul1966]

we had the same too, every morning slug trails around the kitchen, it does seem to have died down now, although now we have mice moving in having caught 2 over the weekend, a bit early as they don't normally appear until the cold sets in.

[ehb102]

On 27/10/2023 at 09:44, harrycatcat1 said:

I wonder why they climb? I've often found slugs half way up my garage wall when I let the dog out last off. The garage is like a pebble dash finish but it doesn't bother them.

Perhaps more beer traps under cover so rain doesn't dilute it 🤔🤔🤔

Good luck 👍 

Roof lichen apparently. We had a plague of the giant brown slugs. Neighbour said a Stanley knife was the best way to deal with them. I just stayed indoors after dark. 

[Grandalf]

On 28/10/2023 at 15:31, old'un said:

FWIW = for what it's worth.

 

Did the salt work?

It seems to have done.   Promlem, as said above, is that it rains.   However, I have salted the area of the patio and along the french drains every evening that rain was not imminent.   Big improvement.   Last night there were just two climbing the wall of the house.  We are now going into another heavy rain period so, provided the house is still standing after the wind battering that is also coming our way, the result, one way or the other, will be known this weekend.

I would like to thank all pigeon watchers for the comments.

Will let you know the final result.

[Grandalf]

Final appraisal:

The beer traps certainly worked but not in sufficient numbers.

The slug pellet trays were certainly used but I have no idea how many were killed by this method.

Salt seems to have done the trick.   Only one slug on the wall of the house last night.   Can only be used on dry nights.

Now I have to wait till it all starts over again...

Thanks again,

Ben

[old'un]

4 minutes ago, Grandalf said:

Final appraisal:

The beer traps certainly worked but not in sufficient numbers.

The slug pellet trays were certainly used but I have no idea how many were killed by this method.

Salt seems to have done the trick.   Only one slug on the wall of the house last night.   Can only be used on dry nights.

Now I have to wait till it all starts over again...

Thanks again,

Ben

yep, salt works every time and even if you get a light shower the water will still be saline, obviously only use salt on hard standing areas and not on the garden soil where you have plants.

[snow white]

I have raised vegetable plots I have run copper wire round them and it stops the little ******* take the plastic of first I find it works better if you touch each end on a battery first then join 

[Bigbob]

This year maybe because it was so wet was a hard year for growing stuff loads of slugs and every night when i went out to control them there was earwigs nibbling on everything Then the wireworms despite putting in nematodes at the start of the year

[Grandalf]

21 hours ago, old'un said:

yep, salt works every time and even if you get a light shower the water will still be saline, obviously only use salt on hard standing areas and not on the garden soil where you have plants.

I am not a gardner.   If I get the urge to look at a beautiful garden then I will pay my money and go and look at the King's in Sandringham or one of the many big estates dotted around East Anglia.   Or go poaching and get a looksee for free...

I live on my own so a bit of lawn is all I need - mainly for the dog.   It always looks tidy, I'm ex army, but no frills.   Houses, and gardens, are for living in - not looking at - in my book.

[old'un]

40 minutes ago, Grandalf said:

I am not a gardner.   If I get the urge to look at a beautiful garden then I will pay my money and go and look at the King's in Sandringham or one of the many big estates dotted around East Anglia.   Or go poaching and get a looksee for free...

I live on my own so a bit of lawn is all I need - mainly for the dog.   It always looks tidy, I'm ex army, but no frills.   Houses, and gardens, are for living in - not looking at - in my book.