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  • Here's a brilliant slug & snail trap invented by my friend Sophie;
    Put out fresh potato peelings, flesh side up, just as the sun is going down.
    After dark (but don't leave them overnight), go out with the torch and collect the peelings, which will now be covered in slugs.
    The peelings are a lot easier to pick up and dispose of (I keep them in a covered container then feed them to the chooks in the morning) than removing individual slugs from plants.
    If you do this steadily for a week, you'll decimate most of the slug population.
    If you see any huge spotty slugs - leopard slugs I think they're called - leave them alone as they feast on the slugs that feast on your seedlings.
  • Metres or miles?

    Diane Greenwood said:
    I read recently that they will travel over 200m !!!!!!!!
  • I read recently that they will travel over 200m !!!!!!!!
  • We moved a pile of bricks and organised them on the weekend and i reackon we collected two baby formula containers full of slugs and snails from out of the heap my chickens were loving it we stored them over night and had to feed them to them the next day as there were so many, does anyone know how far a snail or slug travels and what is its territory?
  • YES!!! After a week of going out with the torch every night and throwing slugs and snails on the carport roof for the birds to eat in the morning I have made a serious dent in their population and now there's neary a slug or a snail anywhere! Only 4 tonight total! (it was at least 4 per plant a week ago!)

    Tiffany Cree said:
    I learned from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to put out half-oranges and then go out with a torch after dark - this definitely attracts them but I still find there are heaps on the plants as well. I throw them on the carport (tin) roof so that the birds can eat them in the morning.

    Daniel Andrews said:
    i have chooks that i feed them to so am very organic i just need to sort out some old beer to use as i dont drink is there anything else i could use instead of beer? i put out some banana but i didnt find any the next morning. i dont seem to find as many as i used to but i still have been attacked by them they have raviged my baby globe artichokes hopefully they will come away and do well fingers crossed.
  • I learned from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall to put out half-oranges and then go out with a torch after dark - this definitely attracts them but I still find there are heaps on the plants as well. I throw them on the carport (tin) roof so that the birds can eat them in the morning.

    Daniel Andrews said:
    i have chooks that i feed them to so am very organic i just need to sort out some old beer to use as i dont drink is there anything else i could use instead of beer? i put out some banana but i didnt find any the next morning. i dont seem to find as many as i used to but i still have been attacked by them they have raviged my baby globe artichokes hopefully they will come away and do well fingers crossed.
  • Provide somewhere for them to shelter. I found about 30 under a concrete paver that I just lifted this afternoon. One sweep of the hand and they were in a bucket.

    Also, use vegetables like Chinese cabbage which they love and just pull off a few infested leaves and feed the lot to the chickens.

    We have been developing our garden for 2 years and as we have added more and more space and plants growing, we have noticed that the number and size of slugs and snail in the garden have been getting smaller and smaller. I had assumed they were being kept under control by the growing number of thrushes, blackbirds etc.

    And when I cut down the winter green manure crop there was good evidence that was right. The mustard, vetch and legumes were infested by big fat multitudes of snails and slugs in paces the birds could not safely go. We are planning to get some chickens in a week or two, and I'm plotting for other places to keep the snails safe until we want them.
  • I've read that you can use milk as an alternative to beer in the traps but I haven't tried it myself.

    Robynne Jephson said:
    Daniel Andrews said:
    i have chooks that i feed them to so am very organic i just need to sort out some old beer to use as i dont drink is there anything else i could use instead of beer? i put out some banana but i didnt find any the next morning. i dont seem to find as many as i used to but i still have been attacked by them they have raviged my baby globe artichokes hopefully they will come away and do well fingers crossed.
  • one year i paid my boys 5 cents for every snail they unearthed in the garden, they found about 100 each!
  • i think its the yeast in the beer, so maybe you could try a yeasty conncoction?? worth a try!
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