Slug problems... anyone?

[clive007]

I've heard about frogs and birds being possible solutions but I don't have a pond and my next door neighbour has about a half dozen bird feeders in his back garden. Was hoping the close proximity would help.

Going to round them up tonight and dump them by a stream about a hundred yards from my house. Hopefully they don't find their way back.

I'd had enough the other day and was going to buy pellets but you have to remove the dead ones so their decaying bodies don't attract other slugs. And it takes days for them to die. Eff knows where the dead bodies would be.

It doesn't take days for them to die, they don't even leave the area where the slug pellets are put .

 

[user 44889]

I've had a few big ones in the house ( built 1907 ) but only in the laundry room, don't know how they get in. I kill them as they are a serious pest. I have a big veggie patch and they do a terrible amount of damage. Lost some lovely white cabbages to them. Again i dispatch them. You need to thin them out. If you only move them 100 yds down the road they will be back. Tried it years ago. Put a white dot on shell of some Snails and moved them to a new home, local park. Within 2 weeks some were back. I get no pleasure from killing them but it's the only way to get a little control.

 

[jayk34]

My back garden is writhing in slugs at night time. Someone has recommended Nemaslug to me. It's available on your usual online markets but it's not cheap. Going to buy a box of it soon.

Has anyone in here used it?

Yes have used it and it needs to be put onto soil so wouldn't work on any hard standing. It also needs to be applied when temperatures are above 5°C. It also needs to be reapplied fairly regularly and is quite expensive.

 

[Haversham]

I've had a few big ones in the house ( built 1907 ) but only in the laundry room, don't know how they get in. I kill them as they are a serious pest. I have a big veggie patch and they do a terrible amount of damage. Lost some lovely white cabbages to them. Again i dispatch them. You need to thin them out. If you only move them 100 yds down the road they will be back. Tried it years ago. Put a white dot on shell of some Snails and moved them to a new home, local park. Within 2 weeks some were back. I get no pleasure from killing them but it's the only way to get a little control.

Agreed. I don’t like killing any living creature but slugs are enemies, and will eat your food if they get to it first. Do everything possible to reduce their population.

 

[gyurmaember]

Using a MAPP torch against them count as animal cruelty? Obviously asking for a friend.

 

[Beerwegoagain]

The pesky blighters find a way in! Copper tape on the sill of the back door, chunky pvc type not just wood in the hole. They appeared in the kitchen, just a couple roaming the floor. Tried a keep out sign, didn't work either. Perhaps an automated machine gun in the garden. Or more slug pellets as they saved the tomato plants. They can't have my beer. They will have to make their own. Does copper tape actually work?

 

[phildo79]

Not according to this fella. Skip to 4 mins.

 

[BarnBrian]

The pesky blighters find a way in! Copper tape on the sill of the back door, chunky pvc type not just wood in the hole. They appeared in the kitchen, just a couple roaming the floor. Tried a keep out sign, didn't work either. Perhaps an automated machine gun in the garden. Or more slug pellets as they saved the tomato plants. They can't have my beer. They will have to make their own. Does copper tape actually work?

I. Can't comment on copper tape but on my raised veggie bed I've attached copper pipe all round the outside. Five years on and not a solitary slug.

 

[phildo79]

No slugs last night, that I seen anyway. And I looked plenty of times. I am hoping the dude from the other night sneaked in when the back door was open for about 45 mins from 18:30. A bit early for them to come out but the lure of IPA might be strong. Was raining pretty heavy last night so didn't bother relocating some to the river. I wonder from how far away can they smell beer. Like I said, nothing for 18 months and now they are everywhere. It's like they decided my house was the place to settle down.

I have artificial grass down and a few plant pots out back. Don't even know what flowers are in them but they don't seem to eat any of them except one, a sunflower. Some of them have weeds in them. I wonder if I got rid of the pot plants, would their numbers go down.

 

[Baldylocks Brewery]

At risk of being excommunicated, have you tried beer traps?
I used to have big problems in the garden but someone told me they love beer and if you part bury cups in the ground and half fill with beer they dive in in droves.
They drown drunk and happy and then go in the compost bin.
Obviously don’t use your finest home crafted beer but they aren’t fussy!

 

[user 44889]

No slugs last night, that I seen anyway. And I looked plenty of times. I am hoping the dude from the other night sneaked in when the back door was open for about 45 mins from 18:30. A bit early for them to come out but the lure of IPA might be strong. Was raining pretty heavy last night so didn't bother relocating some to the river. I wonder from how far away can they smell beer. Like I said, nothing for 18 months and now they are everywhere. It's like they decided my house was the place to settle down.

I have artificial grass down and a few plant pots out back. Don't even know what flowers are in them but they don't seem to eat any of them except one, a sunflower. Some ofthem have weeds in them. I wonder if I got rid of the pot plants, would their numbers go down.

Once of their favourite places to hide is under flower pots. Teach them to swim when you go down to the river, or throw them on to the opposite bank... they can't swim, found a load of drowned ones in the bottom of my water butts.

 

[user 44889]

At risk of being excommunicated, have you tried beer traps?
I used to have big problems in the garden but someone told me they love beer and if you part bury cups in the ground and half fill with beer they dive in in droves.
They drown drunk and happy and then go in the compost bin.
Obviously don’t use your finest home crafted beer but they aren’t fussy!

At least they die with a slurred slime on their faces. Lol.

 

[phildo79]

@Baldylocks Brewery yeah, tried beer traps but didn't work. Was unable to bury them into the ground but figured a flora tub wouldn't cause them too much difficulty to scale. Only seen one in it but it didn't fall in.

 

[foxy]

I have skinks living in the wall cavity so probably why I don't get anything in the house including roach. I have slugs, but mainly snails up the back garden I just use the pellets on them.

 

[phildo79]

Do they ever venture out of the wall cavity and into the house?

 

[phildo79]

Went out and rounded some slugs up. Must have got at least 20, including one huge one. I did them a solid and dropped them into a recently drank bottle of Sierra Nevada pale ale. And then fired them over to the other side of the riverbank. Would be a decent enough journey for them to get back.

 

[foxy]

Do they ever venture out of the wall cavity and into the house?

No they never do, I don't think they can get in. They do like making a home in the outside wall sockets for some reason. Could be because it is cosy and dry.

 

[phildo79]

Suppose where you live, you welcome them keeping other critters out.

 

[foxy]

Suppose where you live, you welcome them keeping other critters out.

We do, even though snakes have their good points, they aren't welcome around the house. Though they can keep the rat population under control it is far wiser to have a cat.

 

[chthon]

We do, even though snakes have their good points, they aren't welcome around the house. Though they can keep the rat population under control it is far wiser to have a cat.

View attachment 75540

Which kind of snakes are these?