slug pellets - how often

[anemone]

I gave in yesterday and sprinkled everything with slug pellets. So much had already been eaten.

so today i was surprised to find that in one tray ALL of the slug pellets had gone and a fair few plants had been munched.

The packet says use only four times in one area but at this rate I'd need to do it every day !

Is this normal ? The two trays most affected were marigolds (only 3 plants left out of 24 !) and beans (1 plant gone and 4 more severly munched).

[anemone]

[PurpleHeather]

So, exactly where is 'everything?'

If the baby plants are close to a lot of foliage for the slugs to hide under during the day. They will enjoy their nightly buffet of seedlings.

If the slug pellets are disappearing, and there is no slime trail, the slugs may not have taken them.

Have the birds eaten the slug pellets and left the plants unprotected?

It is hard to be sure with out a broader picture of your situation.

If the pots are stood on a gravel path and ground egg shells are put on the compost around the baby plants both give a nasty sharp surface the slugs will not want to slither through.

You could try the coffee trick, putting coffee grounds around or even watering the plants with a cup of black unsweetened instant. Slugs hate the smell of coffee.

[OllieC]

You need a lot less than you think - someone posted a great article on here a while ago. It's very tempting to cover everything, but a density of more than about 10 per square foot is excessive & they can just be ignored.

If they've all gone, they've probably just been dissolved by the rain.

[anemone]

Everything in this case meant all over my small veg patch where the slugs had eaten the peas and lettuce and were making inroads into the broad beans, and then also on my seedling trays (5) which are placed on top of a couple of tables. I stupidly thought the snails etc would be less likely to climb that far !

I can't see any trails because it's so wet out there but I don't think they've all disolved -only one tray (marigolds) has no pellets left at all. All of them have less than 10 now so will see what happens tonight.

I don't have coffee grounds but do have instant. I will try that too - thank you !

[Gazfoz]

I would get down there for a couple of evenings and find out properly what is going on. You cannot keep sustaining losses like that for long.

[Suzanne]

Non-organic slug pellets which have metaldehyde or methiocarb have a slug attractant in them - if they are sown too densely this becomes repellent to slugs. But other animals will still eat them and they will cause them harm - particularly the methiocarb ones, less so but still harmful the metaldehyde ones.

I would advise using the organically approved ones - with ferramol as the active ingredient - then if other creatures (not slugs or snails) do take them they won''t be damaged.

Just as a point though check your pots and tables for slugs and snails hiding in the crevices or under trays. Generally when I have seen a raid on my seedlings the culprit is still lurking on the underside of the seed tray - waiting till nightfall. And try using things like copper and shocka-mat which slimers don't like.

[anemone]

I used the Growing success Advanced Slug Killer - it says it's organic and doesn't hurt other wildlife. I've been out to see if there are many about - found five snails on top of the table.

It's still very wet out there though so I'm sure there are hundreds waiting in the wings :(

[PJW_Letchworth]

I really can see a market opening here for pet hedgehogs, badgers and frogs!   ::)

Where are these little blighter's when you need them the post?  ;D

I have found the pet and wildlife friendly pellets to be very successful.  They also last in the rain for a couple of days as well.

[Twirlie]

I've just been in the back yard salting the little b*gg*rs!!!!  Plot have slug pellets down but having three cats I just daren't use pellets.  I'll maybe get some of the safe ones as they are munching through my sunflowers.