Slugs & Snails are waiting in the foyey for those young succulent green tips. What is your counter

When we had chickens they would relish the snails BUT they didnt touch the slugs so a good deep hole dug by my neices grandaughter got rid of them for a while .

also a good stamp with me usbands size 11 boot did the trick , whoever was wearing them

 

Our ducks ate the slugs and saved many a plant....one of our little chickens sat on the ducks eggs for about 3 weeks and was such a good surrogate for the ducks and the memories of what occurred are written in stone..

Bob and Sue, boy have they got a love story, truly they have.

 

Having lots of Slug and Snail hiding places within rock piles,.. they would breed and those i killed off would have their eggs hatch giving me more Slugs and Snails,..so i resorted to using a harmless mixture of Neem Oil and Liquid Soap ( washing up liquid) it killed off most in a matter of days,..while not harming Butterflies/Bees/Ladybirds/Lacewings/,..plus friendly to Pets and Humans,..only harming those that ate part of the foliage,..doing this on a regular occasion when there was no rain has worked wonders,..1 Litre of water,..1 Tablespoon of Neem Oil and 1 Tablespoon of Liquid Soap using a fine spray covered my entire garden so i only have the odd visiting Slug or Snail

 

I don't grow anything that the slugs and snails like or if i do I grow them on until they're too tuff for S&S.
Have to think of the birds and hedgehogs that eat them so wouldn't use anything.

 

Not heard of Neem oil glengarry , where could I get it from please ?

 

Just seen this, it reminds me of the butchery I could inflict on gastropods in the moist spring evenings, only to find the clean up crew had been in at night. it was only when one of my dogs came in from the garden after her evening cr... er, ablutions, and threw up in the kitchen , I realised who was doing cleaning...

I bought a litre from ebay. Amazon do it as well

 

I waged war on my slug population explosion last year. I tried nematodes.... which seemed to keep them at bay for a while but it's an expensive method and not altogether conclusive. Next it was beer traps (plural.... I set loads..... it was like having an open bar on every corner). Wow.... I caught some beauties! On the bright side, they died happy! I've always avoided slug pellets because I like my dickie birds and I have a retired guide dog.

 

Sadly. We mankind have well and truly cocked the system up. We consider that we are doing good. Actually in the realms of gardening, we have become very cosmetic. We have in fact become adversaries of nature. Back in the 1980's I would stop and listen. At Rushgrove House, where I gardened. I could hear. Tap, tap repeatedly. Eventually I would see a song thrush, bashing the living daylights out of a snail, so as to shatter the shell. Come to think of it. That was probably the last time I saw a thrush. So. Where have all the birdies gone.

Sadly at times. We decieve ourselves that we are the only intelligent life forms on the planet. One up, for science. It has been proved that animals have a far greater instinct than man. So, fogive me. Compare. You or I can chomp away at something and think. B/hell, that's awfull. By this time our gut has quite an amount of the offending substance. Yes. You and I both, have been there. Even a couple of days later, and we still feel YUCK.

Observe nature. OK, Spot the dog, has a siff at a plant or some creepy crawly. Perhaps the victim is eaten. In no time at all. Most animals will attack a few mouthfulls of grass. Grass to them is natures emmetic. Next they puke up. Once the gut is cleansed, that's it.

 

No matter what you do they'll always come in from outside the garden, so it's pointless.

 

Hi Purple Streaks,

I get mine from Amazon,..the cold pressed Organic Neem Oil,..250 ml will last a long time seeing one only uses 1 Tablespoon each time,..i got 500 ml in 2019 and still have 250 ml remaining.

The video below is not me

 

I've just ordered some neem oil from ebay so I'll look forward to giving the slugs a treat this spring

 

The last couple of years I had a lot of success with nematodes, but it was a small garden so I could afford to apply it several times over the year; now we've got a much bigger space that's not going to be viable. At the moment it's still pretty much a blank slate so the only thing I really need to worry about for now are my hostas. I'm going to try garlic washes to start with and see how we go...

 

Nematodes work but as you say not viable in a bigger garden,..i have never tried the Garlic Wash but i wish you well with it.

Looking at my garden today and seeing Lupins and Delphinium sprouts above the surface its time i started spraying,..there wont be many mature Slugs or Snails in residence,..except those that wandered in from outside.

Some years ago before i started using the Neem Oil Mix,.. i was overwintering Geraniums indoors and i presumed there were no Slugs remaining in the garden or in the pots,..oh was i wrong,..from Autumn through Winter young Slugs would appear on the wall in my hall,..they had come from within the Geranium pots,..born within the depths of the soil,..so one can only imagine what is in the depths of the garden soil.

 

We tried regular garlic spray through last season but I'm not convinced it made much difference tbh.
So if the neem oil gives better results i might even start growing Hostas again which would be nice

 

Just ordered some Neem Oil.
Hope it works on my Hostas.