Slugs! How do you get rid of them?!

[Elf On A Shelf]

Every evening I get what can only be described as an army of slugs outside my front door! Big ones, little ones,black ones, brown motley ones, you name it, they turn up! It doesnt help that I make the horse food outside the front door from the porch every evening so they will be attracted to that.

What can I use to kill the ruddy things without having to stamp on them all and have guts and goo going everywhere? It would also need to be cat safe?!!?

 

[windand rain]

A can of beer in a dish is supposed to kill them but you need to change it regularly I one moved into a house where they had left the beer and dead slugs and snails in the garden the smell was horrendous
I have had to resort to the slug pellets you can buy pet safe ones but I admit to worrying about the wildlife we had hundreds of dead snails and slugs on the path today They are one pest I will use the chemical alternative on. There is a aprasitic way by spraying parasitic worms onto the garden but I dont know how effective it is

 

[JLD]

Am up and awake stressing about my unwell pony and while I didn't have any advice about slugs, it has cheered me up that someone is posting about slugs at 2 am ! I can only assume you work nights or also do insomnia quite well !

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Salt. Best non pesticide used to kill a slug. Sprinkle a line round where you don't want them to be and they won't cross it. If they do it will kill them.

Or get an army of hedgehogs. We have a resident family who keep our garden clear. They even do the rounds during the day and have become very tame.

 

[GinnyBells]

Echo the salt. The pesky things go into my rabbits hutch when we leave him out and I have to fish them out with a peg. Once I realise they're there I cover the outside of his hutch with salt and it seems to work

 

[LittleMonster]

Im so glad it's not just us with the slug problem! they must come out the bushes for a party very night!

When it rains there a LOADSS more!

 

[thewonderhorse]

I always get loads on my flags outside my front door and also in the kitchen on the floor. I don't know how the little blighters get in!! Snails I don't mind, slugs are ewww.

 

[shadeofshyness]

I have tried everything to get rid of slugs and I can never fully get rid. I've tried those copper strips - don't bother, total waste of money, they just go over them with no effect. Salt is good but rain washes it away so you have to keep applying it - I have quite a lot of plants in pots so it takes ages to go round putting salt rings round them! I think the open meadows behind our house aren't right for hedgehogs because we never get any even though we have holes in our fences for them. Currently I'm using a pet friendly type of slug pellets combined with going out after it has rained and squishing them individually! But this morning I went out and all my yellow dahlias have been eaten - eight plants with flowers, all reduced to stumps and slugs everywhere

 

[PingPongPony]

Echo salt again. Also, a friend of mine uses gravel around her plants to stop the slugs. Apparently they don't like going over gravel as it sticks to them and then they can't move. I mean fine gravel, like 10mm pea gravel I cannot vouch for this myself but she does this and her flowers are stunning, never finds a slug anywhere near the plants either

 

[chestnut cob]

I get loads of them in my garden. I've tried the beer thing, salt, nothing works but slug pellets. I don't like using pellets because of the amount of birds and wildlife in my garden, so I go around most days and scoop up the slugs, putting them in the bin so nothing can eat them.

Horrid things.

 

[stencilface]

I have slugs that spend the night dancing around making patterns on my carpets

I might just leave salt in every doorway and around the edge of the sofa, but then they're still in my house. Ugh, hate them, actually I don't hate them, don't mind them really, just hate slimy trails all over the carpet when I have a baby who spends time down there (mainly on a lovely quilt to keep her away from dog hair - but thats another topic!) and I hate finding them in the dishes in the sink - boak

 

[BlairandAzria]

Gardeners question time the other day recommended a line of ash. Apparently, like salt, the slugs wont cross a line of ash and its not bad for the ground, or other animals. Might be worth a try?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Every evening I get what can only be described as an army of slugs outside my front door! Big ones, little ones,black ones, brown motley ones, you name it, they turn up! It doesnt help that I make the horse food outside the front door from the porch every evening so they will be attracted to that.

What can I use to kill the ruddy things without having to stamp on them all and have guts and goo going everywhere? It would also need to be cat safe?!!?

I have known many methods not all used by me(friends)


slug bait
put salt on them they dissolve
mind you keep pets away from slug bait
put them down the loo
through them into the road (kabooooom)
Bleach
waste disposal unit

unfortunately some slugs do and have crossed a salt trail (I witnessed it). I hate to find slugs trails round the house / over the feed covers in feed room / over the cat bowls which makes them slimy. When we get up middle of night to catch them in process of carpet crossing, hubby puts them in waste disposal and turns the motor on and they go for a lovely spin, then a water ride.

 

[_GG_]

Gardeners question time the other day recommended a line of ash. Apparently, like salt, the slugs wont cross a line of ash and its not bad for the ground, or other animals. Might be worth a try?

Now that sounds like something I could use. I really want to protect all the baby veg I have growing, but the garden is teaming with newts that come out and eat up all the little ones at night, so I can't use anything that will harm them.

Thanks for that xx

 

[suestowford]

I have in the past used a liquid called Slug Clear. You dilute it into your watering can and dose any vulnerable plants.
I have also been known to go round the garden in the evening collecting slugs and putting them into the stream. They can't swim. But after one time when I counted over 200 caught in 30 minutes I realised it was a waste of my time so now I just grow things that slugs don't like.

 

[9tails]

I have in the past used a liquid called Slug Clear. You dilute it into your watering can and dose any vulnerable plants.

This stuff is slug/snail annihilation but you won't go to heaven. You thought there were only a couple of snails in your pot of petunias? Think again as you check the pot in the morning and find a million small ones on the surface of the soil after a dosing of Slug Clear.

 

[chestnut cob]

now I just grow things that slugs don't like.

Apparently in my garden the only thing the slugs and snails don't like are the weeds that I am struggling to get rid of. Lupins, spinach, sunflowers, poppies, sweet peas, daffodils, all of my herbs, honeysuckle... yep, they love all of those. But can I get them to eat the bindweed, brambles, and other weeds? Of course not. I have given up with "nice" controls and just put pellets down now.

 

[_GG_]

Gardeners question time the other day recommended a line of ash. Apparently, like salt, the slugs wont cross a line of ash and its not bad for the ground, or other animals. Might be worth a try?

Now that sounds like something I could use. I really want to protect all the baby veg I have growing, but the garden is teaming with newts that come out and eat up all the little ones at night, so I can't use anything that will harm them.

Thanks for that xx

 

[Sizzlea89]

We keep finding slugs in our feed containers. I put salt round the entire tack room and haven't seen a slug since.

 

[The wife]

During the Spring and Autumn of our 1st year here we had them making residence up in our lounge and kitchen. Only thing we found effective was salt - easier in a house I appreciate. We use egg shells around the plants, combined with ash and cat litter and a submerged beer bottle in the ground changed twice a week. We also encourage birds into the garden to try and pick them off. I hate them. The joys of living in a very damp area I feel your pain.

 

[stencilface]

Did salt work in the house then? Tempted to put it down everywhere now, can do across all doorways and round the edge of the kitchen (where I'm sure they get through the airbricks into under the sink.)

 

[Persephone]

A line of salt around the kitchen works, no more trails on the tiles, but then they went up the units instead.

 

[Fii]

Chickens!

 

[Flora]

Oystershell grit you buy for hens

 

[The wife]

Did salt work in the house then? Tempted to put it down everywhere now, can do across all doorways and round the edge of the kitchen (where I'm sure they get through the airbricks into under the sink.)

Salt in the house worked very well. We put it all the way around the skirting boards, around air bricks and the stupid sunken brass air thing that the old man put in a few years back. Thankfully we have now sorted the problem (rising damp and holes under floor boards etc) worked a treat. Unfortunately they now come into the upstairs office and dont know where entry holes are yet!

 

[leflynn]

I have slugs that spend the night dancing around making patterns on my carpets

I might just leave salt in every doorway and around the edge of the sofa, but then they're still in my house. Ugh, hate them, actually I don't hate them, don't mind them really, just hate slimy trails all over the carpet when I have a baby who spends time down there (mainly on a lovely quilt to keep her away from dog hair - but thats another topic!) and I hate finding them in the dishes in the sink - boak

I used to do this in an old flat, vile creatures

Sea salt is most effective

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Coffee grounds are another popular way of deterring slugs.

 

[happyclappy]

oooo...might try the coffee grounds.

you can get tapes and wires that are supposed to prevent slugs and snails.
failing that, pick them up and smash them into the neighbours garden with a tennis racket!! (no, never one it)

 

[ROMANY 1959]

Get some 2 inch wide plastic pipe, fill with slug pellets and weigh it down with few bricks, they will go inside and eat pellets, but cats and dogs and hedgehogs can't get into the narrow pipe... We use a length of pipe about 12 inch long. It works..

 

[cremedemonthe]

You need Nematodes, will get rid of them and KEEP them away for weeks/months I had thousands of the damn things in all shapes and sizes in my garden.
Applied the Nematodes and not one snail or slug for months!
No chemicals, it's the natural way and safe for all other living creatures just slugs and snails, just apply it and forget it, Oz