Good News For Pet Owners

[tiggerblue10]

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-04-01/is-beer-the-answer-to-tackling-slimy-visitors-as-slug-pellets-banned-in-uk

There must be more natural ways of getting rid of these slimy mini beasties.

[Buenchico]

It's good news for slug lovers too! I think slugs are wonderful creatures ;-)

[tiggerblue10]

Well, there is that too ;o)

[Atheist]

I think I heard that breade dough makes a very good slug bait (perhaps they like the smell of yeast from dough and beer). I guess a ball of dough flattened out to make a mini pizza shape could be left out and then simply dropped into a blender once it is full.

[brian j john]

Slug lives matter

[rowanwitch]

Empty your slug pubs at the same time every morning. The local crows and magpies soon learn when to come . A drunk magpie is a funny thing to see.

[pat2604]

You can make fertilizer with snails, but don't know whether you can with slugs. Personally I would leave them alone. They have a part to play. in the world

[pastafreak]

^^^^as long as we don't have to see the ugly little critters. Snails are more appealing.

[woofgang]

I haven't used metaldehyde for YEARS. Literally around 20 years. I encourage birds in the garden and keep hedgehog pathways open but don't encourage them to live here as the local ones are covered in ticks. I also use ferric phosphate very sparingly (which I notice is not mentioned) and which is allowable to use when farming organically. I wouldn't want to use beer on account of idiot dog.

[Atheist]

pat; you can make fertiliser with snails by eating them and then composting your own personal waste. I presume you could do the same with slugs (or MacDonalds). Apart from that, how do you make fertiliser with snails?

[andres]

The slugs in our garden come out late at night to feed. There are black ones,striped ones sometimes there might be a red one. All kinds. It is fascinating to see them eating tiny scraps of food waste . After their midnight feast ,off they go from whence they came. We don't have a"posh"garden so l don't mind them..

[woofgang]

I don't mind them in balance with everything else. There are only two things I kill without mercy and those are lilly beetles, but I have stopped growing lillies, and vine weevil beetles as they can decimate a garden if left unchecked. I have had problems wth bad slug years where I have had so many that they actually killed a small shrub (pineapple broom) and I did use ferric sulphate that year. In my garden, even though it looks pretty much wild, it can't be left completely alone. If I did that it would ends up as a wilderness of docks, nettles and brambles and there would be less birds and insects and not more.

[Atheist]

woof; I suspect that there might be more birds, insects and other wild-life if you did let your garden run wild. It wouldn't be much fun for you, though.

[Tilly2]

Two years ago, our neighbours decided to let their garden become a wildlife garden, which is ok, but it does look very unsightly. A little bit of maintenance wouldn't go amiss.

We have lots of slugs that climb the outside walls of the house. Their trails are very evident. We don't kill them though. We have resident hedgehogs and they need to eat. :-)

[237SJ]

Salt works - but it's carnage on the patio in the morning.