I know it is a perennial problem but this year has to be the worst so far, I've got them coming under the utility door & even through the open bedroom window. The walled back garden is over run, go out most nights & pick up what I can but I'm loosing the battle, they're up the walls, windows & crunching under foot if I don't take a torch. The beer traps are full by early evening!
At this rate the garden will be bare in a couple of weeks & I can hear them eating!

>& I can hear them eating!

Ugggghh!   That's gross!

Oh dear! I love all animals but it is very hard not to be repulsed by slugs and snails!

My friend's last chicken has died now and she is only now appreciating how much the bird did in her garden keeping it free from slugs and snails :(

Maybe the answer is to get a few chooks?

We are fighting a battle with them too, they seem to be thriving in this wet and soggy weather :(  

I have given up on Nematodes as I was finding that very expensive, and am now using the Organic Slug Pellets.  However after researching, I only feed the pellets by hand to the slugs.  OH calls me 'The Candy Lady'    

Unfortunately the darn things are beginning to refuse the pellets.  They are probably too full after munching what's left of my garden

According to an expert on the BBC morning news they have a good memory and have a chomp on the pellets , feel a bit poorly but don't die ( they are becoming resistant ) and recover but never go back to where the pellets are as they remember where they are !

I don't think however they share this information with their mates !

I have got a packet of toads in my fridge that has been sitting there for weeks. Haven't bothered as the rain has more or less ruined any veggies I have tried to grow so didn't see the point ! Hope none have escaped

Lol at the Candy woman :-P

I have got a packet of toads in my fridge that has been sitting there for weeks

I am obviously missing something here......a fridge full of toads !!!
Aileen

>a fridge full of toads !!!

Mad as a box of frogs!

>I have got a packet of toads in my fridge that has been sitting there for weeks

Well I have heard of magots in fridge, but NEVER toads :o :o :o
I even checked predictive texts, but nope, its deffinatly Toads :s :s
Now I know Lucy was something else, but never saw this side to her in all the years :D :D :D

Aparently if you lay dark plastic weighed down with bricks around the garden and then every morning clear underneath them, you will be able to 'harvest' alot of slugs :) Worth a try :)
Lea :) :)

Dill knows what I am on about ;-)

Just to add I will wait for all the apologies to come flooding in , casting aspersions on my already dodgy character , tut :-P

Come on tells us we all want toads in the fridge !

Look at Dills post and think of a play on words :-)

We are over run, I won't use any chemicals so I go out every night and gather the snails and slugs. Some I gift to next doors chickens the others I put in a plastic bag and dispose of, having dispatched them first. I would not normally do this but the garden is starting to look bare and I am worried about lungworm.

Due to the recent weather I have disposed of approximately 250.

Toads. Got it :). Yes sawheaties think same about lungworm. Def can't control the SS

Its been on the news that because of the poor weather it has meant that slugs and snails have bred like billy o. Most evenings you can find me in my PJ's with the salt prancing around the garden :-)

* Light bulb moment!!!!

Chooks are the way to go !
I only get slugs and snails in the front garden, none at all in the back where the hens free range, unfortunately hens are not above eating your plants themselves, geraniums are a favourite.....little sods.

We have also been over run with them.  My biggest problem at the moment is the one that is living in our sunroon!

We come down everymorning to a snail trail on the rug, floor and sometimes the walls!  Can't find it at all, hunted high and low.  Last night decided to put a container of alcohol out for it, didn't have beer so peach schnapps had to do! Well it obviosly climbed in had a good drink and went for a lie down!  The container was tipped over and I now have a patch of peach schapps on the rug!!

I'm being thick! But we've also had quite a few snails around, we got home the other night to find about 20 apparently trying to break in through the front door!!!!

It's times like this that I miss my little hedgehog friend, he/she used to often be seen on my decking late at night munching on a slug, my girl used to always alert me that it was there.

Haven't seen it this year at all............

I've learnt if popping out in the garden at night to always wear my slippers nothing worse than stepping on a slug in bare feet and wearing a sock forget it, I could never wash it off. Yuk!

So come on, what do people use to get rid of them?
I have 5 week old puppies and the slugs seem to love going in the puppy run and this worries me a lot as we are in the lungworm area...
Would salt around the edges stop them entering? Obviously need somerthing that is not going to harm the pups...

Aparently if you lay dark plastic weighed down with bricks around the garden and then every morning clear underneath them, you will be able to 'harvest' alot of slugs  Worth a try

> According to an expert on the BBC morning news they have a good memory

Yes I've heard this but in respect to them finding their way back to the same garden! I can't kill them (well apart from the beer traps - but what a way to go), so collect them each evening and take them to a field down the road. I lie in bed imagining a long procession slowly coming back up the road!

> However after researching, I only feed the pellets by hand to the slugs.

LOL how long do you spend doing this?

Last time I grew marrows and the slugs had the plants as soon as I put them out I was told to put used filter coffee grounds round the plants as they don't like them worked a treat

This was on the television a day or two ago

Spanish slugs

Will try that Ingrid as only drink filter coffee !

I used to use salt myself, but if the weather is damp, or as it's been lately totally soggy, there's no point as the slugs aren't killed, just inconvenienced :(   they also slime everywhere with salt.  My garden would be like a scene from Ghostbusters   I also worry because we're in a lungworm area and it can be passed on through the slime :(

Regarding the puppy run, have you tried Copper Tape?  You can buy adhesive copper tape from Garden Centres - it carries an electrical charge that keeps slugs out.  Rather like an electric fence :-D

A friend told me that she always snips them with a scissors, so one day after cutting some plants back in the garden, when I saw a 6inch black one on the wall heading for my plants I thought of her, closed my eyes and... snipped   NEVER AGAIN :( :( :(   The sight of half a slug dripping innards down my wall will stay with me forever, some things you can never unsee :( :( :(  I almost threw up and still do when I remember it, at odd moments when I'm not expecting it :( :(

Wish I could have free range hens, but the garden is too tiny.

Lacy, I do it for as long as it takes LOL   Then in the morning I go out and make sure there aren't any left for the dogs to pick up :-D  It can be very frustrating when they turn their noses up - literally - as they are so well fed lately.

A 'headtorch' is useful for this as you can keep your hands free (also useful for mining in dog's ears - otherwise known as ear plucking/cleaning time :-D )

It might come as a surprise, but not all slugs are bad...I know I know, you think i've flipped, but honestly, the huge leopard print ones are good guys, they only eat fallen and decaying plant matter and do an important job at recycling in the garden.

My Mum mentioned earlier that she had thrown 2 copulating snails over the back fence into the councils"wild flower meadow" last night, I told her they will be back again by tonight.

All this rain makes ideal conditions for them, I have tried beer traps,grapefruit/orange skins, sharp sand around the more vulnerable plants but nothing works and slug pellets are dangerous for the dogs, it is a well chewed garden or the dogs and I am not getting rid of the latter.

I clean up the slugs when I clean up the dog poo, all in a bag together, at least they have something to munch on while they plan their escape, haven't seen any escape from the poo bin yet though!

A poo bin will be like an " all you can eat buffet " for them, no wonder they don't come out lol.

Keeps them busy until they get collected by the bin men ;-)

I also worry because we're in a lungworm area and it can be passed on through the slime

Best post! I would make sure you worm her for heart & lung worm, high risk carriers.

The council provide a bin for food waste, left overs are tied in a bag & put out daily. This morning went out & the bin full of slugs, weight for weight of foods scrapes, horrible!

I think everyone needs a hedgehog in the garden :)

We have one that lives in the shed/old garage and I put food & water down for it every night. There have also been others visiting that are not the resident one (much larger).

Dog has appointed himself Chief of Hedgehog Patrol and starts asking to go out every 20 mins after 9.30pm to do his duty. We are no longer able to say the word "Hedgehog" in his hearing or he zooms off barking to look for it/them. So we started referring to it as the "H" and it only took him a week or so to pick up on that as well. Currently we refer to it as the "Urchin" ...but I think we might have to start speaking in French soon.

The dogs are treated very regularly with Panacur  ;)   I keep a large bottle of the stuff handy.

wish we could have a Hedgepig, but the dogs would probably kill it sooner or later :(

Although the chickens do a great job of picking off the slugs and snails they also behave like a host of marauding Vikings amongst the flower beds destroying everything in their path ! - my grape vine has been denuded of the budding fruit, they pluck the heads off all my Petunias and diligently scratch up all the new seedlings - the only plants they leave alone are the  Geraniums, Roses  and Lavender ( is it the smell ? ) I consequently have gone for a Mediterranean theme in the garden this year  - only wish we had the weather to match !!!

Yvonne

Although the chickens do a great job of picking off the slugs and snails

Great idea, love to see a load of chickens running around Hyde Park.

Aargh, we found a snail crawling along the back of the sofa yesterday!!! Gross!!! Don't know whether to hope it found its own way in, so I can worry about an invasion, or whether to hope a dog brought it in, then I can worry about lungworm!

> wish we could have a Hedgepig, but the dogs would probably kill it sooner or later :-(

Years ago I adopted a middle-aged JR bitch when her owner died.  I had only recently bought a Toy Poodle pup, and hoped that they would get on.

When I heard growling coming from the lounge, I recognised immediately that it was normal play fun, and didn't go in to them.  I was pleased that the older girl was mothering my pup and teaching her how to play. 

The fun noises continued for ages, so I went in to see what was going on.  They were playing tug 'o' war with a hedgehog.     My rug was crawling with fleas!  :-(

Random thoughts.............. Dogs get lungworm from slugs and snails..............dogs are mammals.............as are hedgehogs..........which eat slugs and snails.
Do hedgehogs get lungworm or is their physiology different enough from dogs that they are safe?

I do Zuma with advocate every 2nd month............thanks for the reminder, did him yesterday.
Chris
PS have ONE runner bean left from about 20 planted

> Do hedgehogs get lungworm or is their physiology different enough from dogs that they are safe

Hedgehog rescue told me that they too suffer from lungworm. Did ask them last year if we could rehome, told that for the size of the garden they would only allow one with 3 legs, still waiting but I'm not sure what is worse fleas or slugs & snails?

I looked into trying to rehome a hedgehog, I have a terrible slug problem anyway.  Trouble is I don't think my girls would be able to resist the temtation of their new prickly playmate!

Most of my stuff is grown in pots as if the slugs don't eat everything the rabbits will. I heard on the radio that WD40 sprayed on pots is a deterrent.

This thread has made me smile then made me laugh out loud.................Thank you all.

I am a gardener and I too have been conscripted into the fight against the hoards of slugs/snails but I have to say I have seen the biggest slugs ever this "Summer" I really half expect to be put in a bucket myself by kingslug or at least pull back the curtains one morning and be faced with a window of slugs. At least mine are not making their way into the house I assume that could be next when the garden has been laid bare.

On the positive side I have noticed my hosta's have been left alone I assume they are saving them for "pudding" after eating the rest of the garden.

Yes WD40 probably would work so does Vaseline, but having to scrub it off all the pots is revolting & never again.

Regarding the use of WD40, do the slugs fall off the pots and break their necks?  ROFL

They might do 'cos they're spineless aren't they?!!

They're just a 'foot' and a stomach - so after they've been to A&E, they'll be on crutches.