Is it me? It has to be!....

[debbiem]

Is it me or is this really happening? We've had a humungous problem with slugs and snails since we got here 15 months ago, HUMUNGOUS! But recently, although the season started with the usual munchings and the odd thing is still getting bites out of it, things seem to have slowed right down. There is a marked difference in the usual barrage of attack. Is it the variation in the weather or has at last Mother Nature and our wildlife garden kicked in and something is actually helping to keep the population down, at last! It's how it seems but I still daren't be positive about it, just in case it's the latest mollusc in-joke at our expense.

[Sleepy]

Like many things garden I reckon these things are cyclic. One year you get a plague of bees, or ants, or ladybirds, another year you hardly see any. One year your apple tree crops well, another it is sparce. Same with your slugs and snails I warrant.

Just consider it a good year

[debbiem]

Thanks Sleepy! After having the equivalent of the Trojan War in the garden for a year, with the slugs being the Greeks and us trying everything to fend them off , if that is the case how great is that! But the calm is very unnerving.......

[Sleepy]

debbiem said:

Thanks Sleepy! After having the equivalent of the Trojan War in the garden for a year, with the slugs being the Greeks and us trying everything to fend them off , if that is the case how great is that! But the calm is very unnerving.......

There are factors that make a difference. A pond, and it's adoption as a home by frogs, can make a big difference, and will a hedgehog taking up residence. Even a fox visiting will be an influence. Any of those happened recently?

[The witch]

Does this mean you don't have an excuse to get some chooks?

[sweetleaf]

NOoooooo!

she needs the chooks , they will snack on the remaining slugs so decreasing the population even further .....a cunning plan, IMO!

[4pygmies]

Of course. GET THE CHOOKS! There are slug eggs everywhere just waiting........

Isn't "slugs" a strange looking word? Or is it me after a couple of paracetamols and a tin of cider........?

[plocket]

I don't think it's you 4P. Sometimes I see a mundane word and it seems to change - it looks kind of odd all of a sudden. I can't explain it but it happens!!!

I don't know whether there are more or less but I'm always plagued by them, partly because I grow plants that they love I suppose. I use whatever natural remedies I can but someone on another board (which shall remain nameless) made a clever suggestion of putting slug pellets in a plastic box with a lid on - you do have to make a hole for the slugs to get in though!!! Anyway, this will of course keep the pellets dry, and stop the slugs being eaten by the wildlife. My only concern with this is that I'm convinced that slugs and snails are attracted by the pellets, thus encouraging MORE into the garden

[debbiem]

I'm getting pretty convinced that they are indeed attracted to pellets - I've only put a couple over two of my many plant pots and it does seem they are the pots they are heading to-the wildlife pond has been there for ages with tons of frogs and newts, and the chooks are COMING, but it seems the slugs and snails have diminished nonethetheless......they used to eat everything, even the plants that the RHS Encyclopaedia called 'trouble free'.
4P - the 's' word instills at least one glug of something in everyone, the awe of it!!!

[sweetleaf]

Its not just you, I havent seen any slug damage, not even on the Clem`s and Plocket reckons they love them, the only snails I`ve seen are in the pond too........

[The witch]

I'm wondering if the weather has been too dry for slugs

[sweetleaf]

I was hoping that they had been caught out by the cold snap and got killed by the frost!

[cheerypeabrain]

It's early days yet...mind you I put nemaslug down last week and nothing seems to have been nibbled since apart from the primroses ...whilst potting on I found a couple of small lethargic looking ones....maybe it's the calm before the storm...it is still early...plenty of time for the usual slug invasion...I was chasing cabbage white butterflies out ofthe veg patch this morning! hmph! if it ent one thing it's another ay?

[maggyd]

Well in my garden I think its down to my mucky little pup who has devoloped a taste for them I keep finding him crunching them yuk!!

[debbiem]

There's still no sign of the usual onslaught - scary! But, I suspect Sleepy is right here about these things being cyclic, as this year there seem to be ANTS everywhere!

[sweetleaf]

I bet they are just waiting for some wet weather and marshalling the troops in dark damp places, I hope they are waiting till the Hostas arent succulent any more, they eat them voraciously when young

I have loads in pots which are just at the right stage for them

[sweetleaf]

maggyd said:

Well in my garden I think its down to my mucky little pup who has devoloped a taste for them I keep finding him crunching them yuk!!

Is that whats upsetting his tum.......you dont use slug pellets do you?

[debbiem]

I can just see them lurking around waiting for the signal to attack - I've got some really juicy stuff in pots too, just needing that extra bit of time to get big enough to survive the onslaught.
It's probably all being calculated to the very last bite.....

[sweetleaf]

They probably are plotting every plant in the garden on maps with little flags and calorific content included. ;D

I should plant more monkshood I suppose...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconitum

[debbiem]

What an interesting article! I wonder how the actor accidentally ingested it. Wonder too how many fatalities there were before ancient folk realized how deadly it was. The slugs will have to mark the Monkshood on their map with skulls and crossbones as no go areas.

[sweetleaf]

It says the roots are often mistaken for Horseradish, perhaps he ate it with Beef?

I found it more alarming that you can have cardiac symptoms from handling the leaves. I have moved this plant around the garden many times and divided them when in leaf....and I hardly ever wear gloves in the garden.

[debbiem]

It'll be well out of the way in the back of the border if I get some - can't help being fascinated by it though. Aren't Euphorbias toxic too? I know their sap can be a skin irritant, but the slugs never touch those either.

[sweetleaf]

I bet they dont eat Giant Hogweed either but that doesnt mean Ill grow them, Ive seen some very bad chemical burns develop on a friends arms after cutting back Euphorbias on a sunny day. It put me right off them ..

[debbiem]

That sounds very painful. I love my Euphorbias but do indeed treat them with respect - having been covered by something unidentifiable from top to toe in a nasty rash every June from something in the garden where we used to live, a rash that Piriton or Benadryll had no effect on, I can well imagine what kind of problems the 'milky sap' can cause.

[plocket]

I'm EXCEPTIONALLY wary of my euphorbias and make sure I wear long sleeved shirts as well as gardening gloves when I'm pruning them. LP is under STRICT instructions not to even touch them and I have heard horrendous things about the burns, and people getting the sap into their eyes. Beastly things, but I can't help liking how they look!