What do you use to control them? We don't want to use anything remotely poisonous to dogs,cats or any other 4-legged creatures furry or otherwise-just the slugs and snails.Up till now salt has been the main weapon of choice. We thought "nematodes' but they're horrendously expensive Thank you in anticipation.
Copper bands, borders of diatomaceous earth, hand picking and salting the slugs are the only organic ways I know of. Which type of snail do you have in your garden? The large brown one is a bad guy but the decollate snails (they are the long slender conical shaped shell) are good guys, in fact they will eat the small brown snails before they get a chance to grow and devour. Some garden centers sell the decollate snails or you can find them online. You will still have to hand pick the large brown ones until the decollate snails are established and start taking care of the baby brown ones. As a decorative touch I want to get some copper tubing this spring and make coiled bands to put around my Hosta as they come up. I don't have many Hostas left after the last two hot/dry summers though.
Thanks Toni. DE is good stuff by the looks of it. The place I buy my wild bird food from also sells it so it wouldn't be difficult to get hold of. Sadly,we have the big brown snails not the good guys . I spent most of last year hunting them,armed with a stick to prod around in foliage and under stuff and my trusty container of salt,which is fine for our smallish plot that is easily accessible - the DE might be a better bet for the extra plot we share with our friends which isn't so easy to get to. So far I haven't found anywhere to buy the decollate snails over here.
Perhaps you could attract some hedgehogs into your garden by offering small saucers with a bit of dogfood on them. Not too much, cos you want to leave them hungry enough to forage further and find the sluhs and snails. You could locate the saucers in the areas where the slug prob is worst, instead of on your back patio.
When I had this problem, the best control I found was with a torch light and pick them up manually. They are usually our around 8:00pm. I normall do two rounds 8 & 10pm and after a week these pest would be undercontrol. You can do this if you area is small. Another method that I learned here is the use of beer. I did not try this because beer is super expensive here and I don't drink.
Thank you Sjoerd,we already have some hedgehogs in the area and they do call in from time to time So far though they haven't made much of a dent in the snails/slugs. We also have feral foxes-quite a few judging by the noise they make-I think they would probably get to the dogfood before the hedgehogs.
Thank you KK,manual has been the most successful-especially now I know the sort of places where they gather and where the nurseries are. We are very tempted by using the beer as a start because it isn't very expensive here-hopefully the hedgehogs and foxes won't get the taste for it. Canadian Chelsea wrote <Slugs and snails hate wood ashes.> Thank you,I think this will be another one to try-as we have at least 2 neighbours with wood-burning stoves and who would possibly like help to get rid of their ash.
Use wood ash sparingly, too much will result in a more alkaline soil. You might want to make sure the affected plants won't mind the soil change.
Hmmmm, no one has mentioned a beer party. A saucer of beer, they drink the beer, fall in and drown. Next time you have a Guinness save some for the slugs. Jerry
I use ground up clam or oyster shells. They are very sharp and work quite well. I sprinkle some around hostas in the early spring or other plants that snail and slugs like. I also just read about a product called diatomaceous earth (food grade only). I need to research it more, but it sounds promising for critter controll.
Donna, diatomaceous earth has long been proved to be great for critter control, I need to get more before fire ant season gets under way. Like you said it has to be food grade though not the swimming pool grade.
Slugs hide during the day, give them a flat rock or a flat piece of wood to hide under then harvest slugs before evening. Destroy as you see fit. Jerry
