Single hen

[madchickenlady]

I'm a keen gardener, and my girls are being very well behaved in the garden I usually put down slug pellets to keep my young lupins in one piece, but now that the girls are free ranging every day I don't want to take the risk. What do you use against the evil slug/snail empire? (I have pekins, and while they will scoff a small snail, they won't eat slugs )

[Patricia W]

I use ash from our fire - they won't crawl across it. Upturned grapefruit halves attract them and then you can pick them off and " dispose" of them. But in the main, I have now learnt which plants are vulnerable and either avoid them or bring them on till they are growing faster then the slugs can eat them.

 

Tricia

[toastedblue]

copper wire is your friend

make rings of bare wire and place them on the ground around your plants

earthing wire, the flat strip type, is good as it's less likely to be bridged by soil

slugs and snails hate copper

 

HTH

[Egluntyne]

Diatom sprinkled around tender seedlings worked well for me. You have to replace it after a shower of rain though.

[ted]

nematodes work well. also going out at night with headtorch and picking them off.