Selfsufficientish.com

62. Using crushed walnut shells scattered around the base of plants that are under attack.

Like many the question of what to do with the shells of walnuts and other hard shelled nutes has come up again and again.

IK just used the idea that slugs hate sharp edges, and have scattered some around the base of plants that have been under attack.

Seems to work!!

Duncan

My mother told me that she threw a load of snails into the field at the bottom of her garden. A few days later there were lots of snails again. She wanted to see if it was the same ones coming back again so she painted their shells with nail varnish. Sure enough they returned. Now she still has a garden full of snails but at least they are pretty colours

keep flat scaffold planks beside the bed and lift them up every couple of days. Then use a catapult to fire the found slugs at teenagers.

sawfish wrote:keep flat scaffold planks beside the bed and lift them up every couple of days. Then use a catapult to fire the found slugs at teenagers.

Can I edit that to say "neighbours who have bonfires on Saturday mornings"?

Thanks for the revenge idea, Sawfish.

Zoe

A disturbing true story

A friend of mine was recently at a 'welcome the new baby party' She was there as a guest of her new boyfriend and didn't know anyone else there. She was feeling quite uncomfortable being the outsider and so when she went out to the garden for a cigarette she took her time, sat on the bench for 25mins just chilling out (in January in Glasgow - brrrrrr really chillin').
She then returned to the house where she sat on an armchair drinking her red wine eating crisps, trying to be pleasant and friendly to all. She felt a strange feeling on her inner wrist and looking to scratch it saw a large slug (about 2 inches) Trying desperately not to freak out or draw any attention to herself (also not to let the anxcious new mother see) she stood up and calmly walked back outside to dispose of the slug in the garden.

She would have got away with it had the new boyriend not been standing at the back door and demanded to know what was in her hand, so she had to show it, and everyone freaked out Her boyfriend then pointed out the silver slime trail leading from her foot up her trousers and down her arm

There is no official slug removal ettiquette, but I give her top marks for trying. - My next best idea was to put it in the bowl of crisps and have a bit of a laugh when someone found it

Hi Annpan
Oh your poor friend.

I would advise your friend to ditch the fags and the boyfriend. Neither have helped her here.

I doubt anyone would have paid any attention to the slime trail had he not pointed it out in front of everyone.

As for the etiquette issue, well if it is their garden so it is their slug. Just hand it back.

Zoe

I read that throwing them into your compost bin is the best thing to do. They help break down the compost, and the heat in the bin kills the eggs. I think I may pop out a hedgehog box too though, as we don't seem to have many round here now.

What about putting dried holly leaves or gorse branches around the seedlings? They are flipping sharp!!

wyrdwoman wrote:I read that throwing them into your compost bin is the best thing to do. !

my compost bin is always swarming (is that the right word? slithering maybe?) with slugs, they seem to thrive on the warm, dark, humid, yukkiness.

One thing about slugs though, apparently without them we'd all be up to our knees in cat, fox, bird and other assorted types of poo by now.
they are our most successful munchers of excrement

We have these enormous bright orange slugs here. Largest to date was the length of my hand

Not quite a slug - but we have a rather beautiful african land snail called Gary. When the kids and I went on holiday once, I took it to my friend to be looked after, the day before we left. That evening I called her to check that all was well, so she went to look in the tank. Still on the phone, she let out a blood curdling scream and exclaimed that there was a huge slug in the tank. I told her to look into the tank from the side as it was probably just Gary hanging upside down from the clear lid!!!

63. Last year I invented "Slugby" - this involves going out after dark, setting off the security light and pretending you're Jonny Wilkinson. You get two points for each one you convert - into a slimy mess.

64. Provide "hammer stones" in amongst your shrubs so that blackbirds and thrushes can break snail shells to get at all the meaty goodness inside.

It's a good thing I'm not trying to grow my veg in the USA where I used to live! Here at least the slugs are Normal size! In the Pacific Northwest we have a creature called the Banana Slug...I can weigh up to 1/4 a lb and reach 20 inches in length. It's bright yellow with brown spots hence the name. It's BIG, It's UGLY, and can eat anything it wants...I even heard one ate a cat that got in it's way! Okay it was a little cat but it still ate it!!

The thought of that giant slug turns my stomach.

The beauty of our cold little country is little insects, no lethally poisonous creatures and nothing that can eat you alive.

I really dont have time for people who want to reintroduce bears, boars and wolves to wander freely in the british countryside. Fair enough they were here hundreds of years ago but not now, I love animals but I'd be cr&**ing it every time I went hillwalking.

abaroth wrote:63. Last year I invented "Slugby" - this involves going out after dark, setting off the security light and pretending you're Jonny Wilkinson. You get two points for each one you convert - into a slimy mess.

If at first you don't succeed then TRY again :lol

I have my lovely 5 and 6 year olds coming this friday and we will have a NEW GAME to play. We are going to hunt for snails and slugs! They can squish them all they like and I don't have to touch the slimy things. Whoopee. Now if I can get them to come every day we will have it made!
haven't seen too many yet but have rumbled a few of em trying to sneek into my vegetable patch!