Help! Slugs eating my plants

[star10]

Hello all

I have a little problems with slugs.

I have a growhouse in my garden and I have a few chili and pepper plants in there which have been growing lovely. Until now that is!! The slugs have ate most of them - god only knows how they manage to  climb up all the tiers to get to them!!  ???

My poor plants are now looking very sorry for themselves, the slugs have eaten most of the leaves and have not left me with much !! >:(

Is there any chance they can grow new leaves and survive?

Also, other than slug pellets is there anything I can do to prevent this happening from few plants I have left?

Thanks

[star10]

[saddad]

If they haven't taken out the growing tip... ( the youngest leaves) they may recover... pellets and beer traps help but a visit about 1hr after dark with a torch and a big boot is the best "cure"
:)

[star10]

 ;D    Ha ha . Will keep that in mind!!

[Hyacinth]

it sounds a bit of a faff to explain, but.....my plants stand on plant saucers and these saucers are positioned in other deeper saucers, which are filled with water....

My slugs can't swim, you see 8)

[star10]

Got you !  :) What a great idea  8)

[Suzanne]

If you do need to use slug pellets though - buy the growing success organic ones (they are certified for organic use) with ferramol as the active ingredient. They are completely harmless to everything other than slugs. Also the breakdown products are kind to the soil.

[manicscousers]

if they'rein pots, smear the outside edge with vaseline, they don't like climbing over it , or coffee grounds around the plant, even hair  ;D

[Emagggie]

Holly leaves seem to work too.

[jasmine]

I know what u mean about slugs.Im new to all this and i found myself in the garden at 6.30 am on slug watch lol.never in a million years did i think id be a slug detective. ;D

[Crystalmoon]

Ive been using the copper tape on the sides of my plastic pots inside & outside the greenhouse, cold frames etc after losing lots of early plants to slugs. Its working brilliantly. It is about £3.75 for 4metres so abit of an investment but looks like it will last for years  ;D
I also use a boundry of ground up chalk around beds...slugs cant cross it cos the chalk soaks up the slime they need to move...working well too but when it rains I have to be on slug watch like Jasmine mentioned but I do mine at night using scissors as my weapon of choice  :o ;)

[ladybizzy]

They had one of my jalapenos, and it has carried on growing, it's just quite small now! I use crushed eggshells around the plants in their pots, seems to help.

[star10]

Thank you all for the great ideas.  :)

Will put them to the test and see how I get on.

Crystalmoon - is copper tape easy to get hold of? Would the likes of  B & Q and garden centres sell this?

[Crystalmoon]

Yes B&Q sell it but cheapest Ive found is Wilkinsons. Apparently the copper gives the slug an electric shock  :o

I tried egg shells around my courgettes & lost half of them completely  :o
I also tried a wool type mulch but slugs still got at the courgettes on my allotment. I have now completely surrounded them home made fleece fence dug deep into ground...the coutgettes I put into pots at the samt time are 4 times as big so will use pots in the future  ;)

[star10]

OK thanks for that, will be purchasing some of that soon - me thinks !!  :)

I know what you mean about things growing better in pots - I put some broccoli plants in a raised bed and they are coming on a treat, but I had some left over and put them in pots and they are doing much better than the ones in the beds.   ???

[Angelah]

We haven't managed to outwit the slugs yet - we're working on it. Looks like I'm going to have too many broccoli too - what size pots did you put them in? Are you intending to leave them in them permanently?

If only the boys didn't need some grass in the garden to play on I'd have loads more space!!! The allotment is coming along slowly so am still going to end up with loads in the garden too this year!

[star10]

Hi Angela

Snap, my name is Angela too!!  8)

Not sure what to do with the broccoli plants to be honest. This is my first time at growing veggies and its all abit trial and error at the moment !! Will probably have to find them another home if they start looking abit squashed. I think the posts are about 40cm.

Like you, the majority of my garden is for my daughter to play in and I have got a couple of raised beds in the corner. Fingers crossed everything seems to be growing well at the moment, apart from my peppers that is!!  :(