Protecting potted plants from slugs and snails

I wonder if anyone can suggest the best way to keep slugs/snails away from potted plants. I've just noticed that they've been at my newly potted winter pansies and am really upset!Any advice would be appreciated , thanks

 

Try Slugstoppa granules sprinkled around your pots or Slugstoppa gel smeared around the bases. You can also get copper bands. See here: http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/category/Pest%20Control_Slug%20traps%20and%20barriers/

Slugstoppa really works without poison. It simply stops the slugs by creating a barrier that dries up their slime so they can't get to your plants

 

Thanks Hornbeam, have ordered some Sluggastop and also some Organic Slug Defence Gel and copper tape from the same website, that lot should surely stop them in their tracks! :D

 

Barney the copper tape is good put two rings of it round the pot a with a slight gap between them

 

Thanks Walnut, I'll do that as soon as it arrives

 

I've heard that garlic repels (kills?) slugs so maybe plant a couple of cloves in your pots. Would serve a double purpose

 

I would be inclined to balance the pots on a few bits of gravel. It makes a kind of obstacle course for the slugs - only those with a higher IQ will get through. :D :D

 

Luckyboo,I'll try anything once,thanks
PeterS, I think mine are geniuses unfortunately-they're not put off by the decking being about 6 feet above the ground and the pots sitting on other , upturned , pots, about a foot high.Will give the gravel a go though, surely that along with the garlic, the Slugstoppa and the double strips of copper tape will do the trick?! :D

 

Just a quick post to say that the slugstoppa granules along with the slugstoppa gel seem to have done the trick-not a slug in sight and my pansies are starting to flower nicely (though at the moment they're being blown about by what feels like a force 10 gale just now, the balmy autumn weather we were having up here is well and truly over!)Thanks again for all the advice

 

Used as a barrier mix equal parts of waterproof grease and salt and paint on under the pot rim. = no slugs. As an experiment take 1 snail (slug with a lid!) put in on any surface and paint a circle of said mixture around it. You will have one trapped slug and no dead birds (slug pellets kill birds!.

 

I'm currently preparing dried coffee grounds, ground up eggshells, and dried minced minced garlic for a spring concoction to repel the little dears. :D

 

Slug pellets do work but are not very 'green'and not so effective when the soil is dry. I grow Hostas in containers and snails are a constant battle. A Hosta buff has advised that pellets should be started on St.Valentine's Day to catch the emerging young snails in the spring. I have also tried various home-made sprays in turn made from coffee grounds, garlic, and chilli, but all of these need re-applying after rain.The next treatment I propose to try will be a layer of holly leaves around the top of the container.

 

As HB says Slugstoppa is effective and does not look too bad if put around the emerging Hostas- I use Alpine grit round them as well and as long as nothing overhangs them, making a bridge for the offenders, I find it works very well. It also works for other plants, though if they are in the ground I find that copper bands, slugstoppa, grit and eggshells are necessary to preserve my portion of the plant!
The coffee grounds/ eggshell/ garlic mixture is applied like Slugstoppa , ie dry, and should survive showers. It has the advantage of being free and can be accumulated over winter.
Marjoram, chives, lavender, garlic, and geraniums will also help deter them. WIth hostas, the blue leaved ones seem to be less attractive to the slugs.

 

Those slugstopper granules sound great. I have tried everything to get rid of the blighters from beer traps to egg shells even slug pellets until i heard they kill wild life then i stopped using them.
I had a lovely plant but can't remember the name of it now, it had deep crimson flowers and dark red stems,but before the flowers could come out the slugs got at it and stripped the stems bare, i was so upset and it was money down the drain too, so i will have to get some of the granules suggested, thanks for that hornbeam.

 

I would put in a plug for the copper tape. It is quite expensive. However I put it around a big pot of hostas last year (prime fare for slugs) and they weren't touched