Does putting small diameter gravel (1/8th. to 3/16ths.) on top of compost in a plant pot deter snails and slugs from attacking my plants.

Thanks.

dunno mate but fragmented slate does, they don't like the pointy edges :thumbsup:

Also, make a small 'pond' out of an urn (fill in the drainage hole).
Get some tadpoles in it. Or, if a friend neighbour relative has frogs, catch one or 2 & introduce them to your garden.
They lurrve slugs - as do dicky birds. Encourage the birds too :thumbsup:

Beer traps work.
Sink a jam jar into the soil & 3/4 fill it with cheap ale.
The slugs go in & drown.


Dont drink the soup after though:gag: it tends to go down in one long string :o

Originally posted by Don_Kiddick
[B]
Beer traps work.
Sink a jam jar into the soil & 3/4 fill it with cheap ale.
The slugs go in & drown B]

I dont care if it's Cheap or not.
I would'nt waste ANY Ale on a slug, Get some salt wapped on em :thumbsup: :hihi:

slug pellets anyone :D

Originally posted by steevie/d
slug pellets anyone :D

Takes too long loading them in a gun. :heyhey:

I watch a gardening program the other day, he suggested that you put human hair around the plants apparently the slugs don’t like it, so a trip to your local hairdresser and your sorted.

Just read a tip from a woman's magazine - if you set a plastic container (half bottle etc) in a part of the garden and regularly put milk/yeast into this - it will attract them and they'll not be able to climb out.

I'm sure as a kid I remember an old neighbour doing something like this and he had a few upturned half pop bottles buried close to the edges of his garden and every so often he would invite us to help him empty the slugs out on a local waste ground. So it must be an old tip - haha geddit?

Originally posted by tiffy
Just read a tip from a woman's magazine - if you set a plastic container (half bottle etc) in a part of the garden and regularly put milk/yeast into this

And lock all your doors and windows to keep the stink out :gag:

We do the beer jar thing :thumbsup:
Murder keeping Brude out of the slug-infested beer though :gag:

We did the beer thing. Thousands of slugs gatecrashed the party. They left everybody elses garden and came to ours for the p**s up.

Originally posted by drolnhoj
We did the beer thing. Thousands of slugs gatecrashed the party. They left everybody elses garden and came to ours for the p**s up.

I forgot to mention they all ended up legless!

Originally posted by drolnhoj
We did the beer thing. Thousands of slugs gatecrashed the party. They left everybody elses garden and came to ours for the p**s up.

We had squillions the year we did it, then didn't need to the year after. Looks like the baby ones are growing now though :mad:

Not much deters the slimey creatures I'm affraid. The trick of burying a little pot in the garden, filling it with beer so the slugs get drunk and fall into the pot and drowned doesn't work. I found the slugs got drunk, staggered towards my plants and ate more because the beer made them hungry! I used to bake egg shells in the oven until they were nice and crunchy, break them up and put them around the plants. My mom goes out after dark awith a flash light to find slugs and then stomps on them whilst calling them names - she is a little eccentric though!

Not all slugs are bad for your garden, only a few are plant eating. Lots of species of slugs eat debris and some even help pollinate stuff (probably weeds!) so I don't believe in slug pellets, they are difinitely not eco friendly.

I don't live in England any more but in the western U.S, it's very dry and we don't seem to be bothered by slugs and snails, there are Momon crickets instead - they devour whole acres of crops when they get going, I think I miss the slugs!

Give the eggshells a try!

Originally posted by tulip
I don't live in England any more but in the western U.S, it's very dry and we don't seem to be bothered by slugs and snails, there are Momon crickets instead - they devour whole acres of crops when they get going, I think I miss the slugs!

Give the eggshells a try!

Does your mom stamp on the crickets and call them names as well?

No my mom lives in England so she's still stomping slugs and going ' die you little b*****ds!'

Originally posted by tulip
No my mom lives in England so she's still stomping slugs and going ' die you little b*****ds!'

Thank god for that. I was visualising a law suit.

"Mom accused of abusing crickets"

I really like this web site. The topics are so random. I never thought I'd be talking to people from my home town about slugs while I was across the atlantic. The slugs we get here are bullets shot out of guns to kill innocent wild animals and sometimes ppl, it's different!

Yeah, especially with crickets being Mormon, I wouldn't want her to be sued by the L.D.S church, I bet they have some very good attorneys there!

Oops, I just noticed an ad down there for the Latter Day Saints, I don't have anything against ppl's religious connotations and don't mean to offend anyone. The Mormons I've met in Idaho are very nice and have a great sense of humor. I'm creeping and crawling like the slugs so they don't slap a law suit on me either!

I have to say i take quite delight in going out with a carrier bag with salt in the bottom, and torch to collect them, tie the bag and shake them up. :evil: i know, but you get a lot less slugs as time goes on.

If you have pots you need sharp gravel and a ring of vaseline around the pot close to the top (just remeber its there if you try and move them). They also prefer shaded areas best so put pots in the sun and you get less.

Just got some soil... where can I get some good turf??