Selfsufficientish.com

Do you think we can do 101 ways of getting rid of slugs? - I do like my lists.

1. Pick up and slam them between two bricks
2. (a pretty micarbe one) - collect loads and stick them in a blender then paint around the area that they are in with juice, its like vlad the impalier they don't like sensing death of their own kind.
3. Beer traps
4. Keep any areas free of places for them to hide.

5. Collect them in jars and feed them to the ducks.
6. Collect them in jars, but leave jars out in sun and let them die a horrible death!

7. Chuck 'em over the fence into the neighbour's garden (No I never!)

8. Salt 'em
9. Roll 'em up in puff pastry, bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes and tell the (guests, kids, vicar etc.) that they are party sausage rolls.

Nev

isn't there some law that doesn't allow you to salt slugs any more???

uurgh... cruelty to slugs lol... I think the duck food one is best!!

10. Stand on one in bare feet (like I did!) - I think the slug was somewhat worse off than I was.

Shirlz2005 wrote:isn't there some law that doesn't allow you to salt slugs any more???

What, no salt on your party slug rolls???

11. Get out the big clippers and snip them in half

I've not heard of this, but I wonder if it is the same rule that prevents people recommending the use of washing-up liquid against aphid. If it is, it's a load of old bollix.

AIUI, some European ruling has it that a product can only be sold for use for the purpose it is intended for - as washing-up liquid has not been tested to European standards for aphid control, it cannot be sold as such. I even heard one of the chaps on Gardener's Question Time explaining in a roundabout sort of way that he was no longer allowed to recommend the use of it (while quite clearly doing so, of course).

Humbug, I say - it's my washing-up liquid, it's my garden, they're my tomato plants, and I daresay they are technically my aphids, too. I don't believe anyone else is involved in the equation.

I suspect the same could go for salt as slug control, too.


12. Protect plants with copper strip around them.

Coffee is 'green' slug killer
By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 27/06/2002)

Sprinkling coffee grounds around lettuces, marigolds and delphiniums could help to deter snails and slugs.

Scientists have discovered that the levels of caffeine found in coffee is enough to repel or even kill a gastropod pest.

Because the chemical is relatively environmentally friendly, it could become a safe "green" pesticide for gardeners and farmers, the researchers said. The findings come from a team based at the United States Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Centre in Hawaii.

The researchers, led by Robert Hollingsworth, were field testing caffeine against an introduced frog pest in the Pacific islands when they discovered that large slugs were killed by sprays containing one to two per cent caffeine.

Surprised by the potent effect of the chemical, the team allowed slugs to bury themselves in earth in pots before they wetted the soil with a caffeine solution. After two days, all the slugs had fled the soil and 92 per cent were dead, they report in Nature.

In further tests, the scientists dipped cabbage leaves in a caffeine solution and offered them to the slugs. When given a choice, the animals avoided eating the contaminated leaves.

Caffeine was equally noxious for snails. After an hour of exposure, the heart rate of snails rose, while after 96 hours all were dead.

Shame that coffee is so expensive. I might try this one out shilz. SHould I waste fair trade orgainc coffee on slugs

So that is 13 so far

14 Out in a pond to attract frogs, toads and newts to eat them.

My method of choice:

15) A sharp knife...

By the way, I didn't find that used coffee grounds performed in any special way as a slug barrier... I've gone back to putting them straight in the compost.

Wulf

I think you are all cruel and heartless, and need to examine you anger responses.

Crushed up eggshells

Andy Hamilton wrote:Shame that coffee is so expensive. I might try this one out shilz. SHould I waste fair trade orgainc coffee on slugs

Andy - you could just try the coffee grounds that are left in the pot (assuming you have made it in the percolater)

Wulf wrote:By the way, I didn't find that used coffee grounds performed in any special way as a slug barrier... I've gone back to putting them straight in the compost.

hmmm - well maybe not worth it if doesn't work tho... but hey.. perhaps there is a different breed of slug in Brizzle

16. sea angling bait.

Osmosis is a wonderful phenomenom.

Muddypause wrote:I think you are all cruel and heartless, and need to examine you anger responses.

Crushed up eggshells

What the F£%@ you on about you *%£$, there is nothing wrong with my anger. How dare you even suggest otherwise you £$&*.

17. nail them into the ground. (hmm is that a bit angry)
18. Borrow a chicken and let it eat them all.