Couperman Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Is it safe to use slug pellets in the garden where the chooks roam? We are having a major slug attack on the plants. Kev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 No! Either fence off the area so chooks can't get to it (but make sure they don't eat any of the poisoned ones - I collect the dead ones and put them in the bin). Or collect them fresh and feed to the chooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Couperman Posted June 16, 2007 Author Share Posted June 16, 2007 thanks Snowy, I didn't think so. We haven't actually let them out yet, or put any pellets down for that matter. Can you recommend anything more Organic? I think we might be having a slug hunt tonight! Will save them for a treat tomorrow (for the hens). Kev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 I've not really had chance to look into it yet, but I'm sure someone on here will have! I only used the pellets as an emergency measure on my raised veg beds, and they are all fenced off from the chooks anyway. I don't like using them and go round picking up the dead and dying next morning so hopefully nothing eats them! I think the beer traps are supposed to be good - and I think you can feed the bodies to the girls (or should that be boddies??) But OH says it's a waste of beer - think the slugs would disagree. I've also been crushing the eggshells and trying to create physical barriers, but I just find dead snails all over the egg shells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 I got some Fito Slug Stoppa granules at the Chatsworth Garden Centre a few weeks ago. ( I haven't used it yet). Says Safe to Children, Pets, wildlife. Suitable for Organic Gardening "Stops Snails and Slugs in their tracks." Website .....here..... Tel: 0845 4900176 if you want to ask more detailed questions as the website doesn't tell you much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Budgies Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Proper organic gardening would use two principles. The first would be to discourage the slugs from eating the plants you're trying to protect by putting very sharp grit as a mulch, which the slugs dislike. The second thing to do is plant something nearby that slugs love and that you don't mind getting eaten. Tobacco plant (nicotiana) is an excellent one I've found! Good luck! Sue Budgie x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 Some of my veg is near a large red hot poker plant. The snails love that - but they still come out of it to eat my peas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moochoo Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I have found that a saucer of beer really works well. I guess the slugs have a happy demise then. I saw some copper wire sheets being dispayed at the springwatch festival the other weekend that you use as a parimeter fence around your plants. I don't know how well they work or how expensive they would be but it seems like a good long term organic method of slug and snail control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhapsody Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I use slug-stoppa granules and beer traps (into which I pour manky Tesco's own lager, 22p a can) in my greenhouse to great effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tina C Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 We don't seem to have any slugs in our garden and only a few snails. But we do have frogs around (we don't have a pond but I do have water out for them). So encouraging frogs is a good one. And I saw a hedgehog out for a stroll recently - they eat slugs as well don't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 Frogs and hedgehogs both eat slugs. You are so lucky to have them I have copper slug tape around my raised beds and I used .....Nemaslug.....this year too. Have been reading about "sacrificial planting" too, where you plant something that the slugs will enjoy near to something you don't want them to eat, and they will demolish the decoy plant and leave the other alone......In theory. Anyone tried it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 something I read about on Freecycle was that apparently people are cutting the flex off old electrical appliances, to remove the copper wire to put round plants ... sounds like hard work to me, as you'd have to strip all the insulation off to get a fairly tiny bit of wire, but it's good recycling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMO Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I crush egg shells and sprinkle that around the base of the plants I want to protect - it works a treat as the slimies can't crawl over the sharp edges. It is safe for the chooks for peck at, but, you will find once the chickens are free ranging in the garden they will keep the slugs and snail population down. The shells will eventually breakdown in the soil and so is a very organic use of old shells. AMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted June 18, 2007 Share Posted June 18, 2007 I've used Nemaslug in the past and found it to work well, eggshells don't seem to work for me, but I found (purely by accident) that Hemcore/aubiose seems to keep them off. My Tradescantia is a slug magnet, so I sprinkled some round the base of it and they seem to have kept off so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
