Slugs & snails

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Slugs & snails

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mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 9:52 am Post subject: Slugs & snails
OK it's open season on these little blighters. Whose got a favourite recipe for disposing of them? Something Granny passed on, perhaps? They're after the tomato & pepper seedlings in my polytunnel, and THEY'RE NOT WELCOME AT ALL!

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 9:55 am Post subject:
Eat the snails-they don't taste too bad at all!!! Fry in butter

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 9:59 am Post subject:
Bernie: while I enjoy escargots, these are mainly slugs, and what snails there are are much too small. I want to stop them before thery're big enough to eat!

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:03 am Post subject:
Have you got those ducks yet? They will certainly help.

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:04 am Post subject:
Never tried slugs, what do you think-how can they be too different to snails-let ne know after you have tried them and i will give it a go if it works ok!

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:08 am Post subject:
Haven't got the ducks yet, Judith, but I will be letting them into the polytunnel occasionally when they arrive. Bernie: I think there's a thread somewhere about the edibility of slugs: the general consensus was no, for various reasons. the only culinary use I know of for them is boiled and the liquor used as a rennet for starting cheese. Which I'm not going to try.

Bernie66

Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:11 am Post subject:
Thanks for the warning, couldn't see myself trying them anyway. Have been led to believe in the past that they love beer-bury a container in the ground half full of beer, they drop in and drown-should be quite painless if they drink some first

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:25 am Post subject:

If it's the polytunnel thats the main problem, you could put vaseline, or velcro copper round the legs (i presume they're up on staging?) or stnad the legs in a tray of salt water. I'm waiting for my nemaslug to arrive. In fact, I'm going out right now to put some plastic bottle and copper tape defences round my new hostas. Thanks for reminding me! When the seedlings go out, they'll get a similar treatment.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:40 am Post subject:
You've reminded me there's the end of the old chaps last brew in the wash house. I'm of to the polytunnel to put it into a dish or something. At least they'll die happy!

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 10:58 am Post subject:

We favour chickens for the smaller, tastier snails and slugs.

If you have plenty of birds like thrushes, blackbirds, robins, maybe starlings

I have managed to get them to help with the clearing up by popping the offending slimies somewhere visible, either a bird table, bench, upturned pot, or on one memorable occasion, an old washing machine (very visible you see

).

For the bigger slugs that birds don't seem to want, putting a stick or knife through them seems to us to be about the quickest way for all concerned. Not pleasant, and don't mix them up with kebabs

. Then slide them off in to a corner somewhere and they'll eventually be cleared up/rotted down.

If you have tadoles you can pop a couple of the skewered slugs in to the pond, they love them. Don't do that if you've used nemaslug though, because it will probably not do your pond snails any good.

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Wed Apr 06, 05 11:26 am Post subject:
The beer is in position. I'm expecting to hear brief, rowdy slug-type party noises this evening, swiftly followed by wicked chortles from me & him!

Caz

Joined: 05 Apr 2005
Posts: 22
Location: Mendips Somerset

Posted: Sun Apr 10, 05 2:55 pm Post subject: Egg shells

Bernie66 wrote:

Have been led to believe in the past that they love beer-bury a container in the ground half full of beer, they drop in and drown-should be quite painless if they drink some first

I once had a large veggie plot at the bottom of a field, so we used to get tons of the slimy things, we used to save our egg shells and put that down around the stems of the veg we wanted to protect. The slugs and snails don't like crawling over the sharpe edges, so it kept them at bay. You will have to replace the egg shells, over time, as they tend to sink under the soil and of course eat lots of eggs!

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