Help needed with slugs and snails

I've tried wool slug repellent Grandmama, sorry can't remember the brand name. If found it did work but needed the equivalent of about £3 pounds worth of product around each plant! Petra has recommended using nematodes, but these have to be applied earlier in the year. Bane of my life at the moment

I noticed this week that our garden centre has bags of crushed sea-shells among the bags of different gravels.
One of the suggestions for it is as a slug and snail repellent, as obviously it's really prickly!
Can't help with the price though, I was buying gravel.

I have the same problem! All my bean plants have been eaten except one. I've bought some proper beer traps this year, and I'll be putting copper tape round pots etc. I used nematodes a couple of years running but they only deal with the slugs not the snails. I did get some copper mesh stuff that you can spread into a circle to put around plants. I've also bought Strulch to use as a mulch which is meant to discourage the blighters!

Slug pellets used sparingly don't harm wildlife significantly. We use around young plants and have loads of birds and some hedgehogs.
I was involved in an experiment once to see if ground glass would work as a slug repellent - they shouldn't like crawling over it! A time-lapse camera was set up overnight and showed the slugs happily going over the ground glass and eating the plants!

Alternatively would sprinkling a good dose of salt along the cracks in the concrete be acceptable for an organic garden? 😬

I once heard crushed egg shells around the plants were a good deterrent.

Nematodes.
I’ve been using it for about 8/9 years. Too late for this year because you have to use it at the beginning of March.

I hate using them unless I get desperate, but Ferric Phosphate slug pellets are much less harmful to wildlife than the previous metaldehyde ones. I use them sparingly on areas of the garden that my tortoise can't access (such as raised beds and pots) and haven't noticed a decline in the number of birds or frogs in our garden over the last few years. I think the pellets work in a different way from the old ones - I don't find any dead exploded slugs or snails on the beds, which I used to do with metaldehyde. That means, I assume, that the birds/frogs/toads don't see them wherever they've died and therefore don't eat them.

Sainsbury's ones are the ones I am using at the moment - they do seem to work better than others that I have tried.

Plant each bean in a yoghurt pot with bottom removed. Wrap copper tape around the pot and plant it out like that.
Or home made beer traps. Yeast, sugar, warm water in a jar.

I have noticed that the transplanted seedlings get attacked where the seeds sown directly outside are left alone.
I think the shock of transplanting makes the seedlings give off some smell fear that attacts the slugs and snails..

Alternatively you can creep out with a torch after dark and pick the slugs off. Use rubber gloves.

I’ve tried various wildlife-friendly products for the annuals in my pots (not in beds) but my petunias in particularly have still been virtually stripped overnight. A few mornings ago I jettisoned at least 8 of the slavering beasties in just one planter.

Sad to say I rely on the blue pellets now.

Nematodes or the slug pellets AskAlice mentions.

My beautiful iris have been attacked by slugs and snails this year more than any other .

I pick off as many as I can and am trying crushed eggshells .

I've tried copperbands before without success .

I have found that a mulch of ‘Strulch’ or ‘Blooming Amazing’ acts as a slug/snail, repellent, as well as a weed suppressant and a nutrient!

Pistachio shells round plants do some good (sadly you have to eat all those pistachios ). We found an amazing decrease in snails and possibly slugs too, when thrushes first appeared in the garden.

I've just bought some repellent pellets from a brand called "Sluggo"

No idea if they'll work, but they are apparently safe in all respects, unless you're a slug.

Plus, it's such a brilliant name.

I started using Strulch last year, it’s a weed barrier, but slugs and snails hate it, I am gradually getting it for all my borders.

AskAlice

I hate using them unless I get desperate, but Ferric Phosphate slug pellets are much less harmful to wildlife than the previous metaldehyde ones. I use them sparingly on areas of the garden that my tortoise can't access (such as raised beds and pots) and haven't noticed a decline in the number of birds or frogs in our garden over the last few years. I think the pellets work in a different way from the old ones - I don't find any dead exploded slugs or snails on the beds, which I used to do with metaldehyde. That means, I assume, that the birds/frogs/toads don't see them wherever they've died and therefore don't eat them.

Sainsbury's ones are the ones I am using at the moment - they do seem to work better than others that I have tried.

Was that in answer to my post Re nematodes above. If so there is no them as such. It comes in what looks like a powder which you dilute then using a watering can you spray the soil.
There is nothing for humans or wildlife to see.
Completely organic

Beer traps show you the extent of the infestation. Very unpleasant but you then know what you're up against.
Slugs follow their own, and other slug's, sticky trails so they know where the goodies are. The slugs I had were resistant to eggshells, gels, felt, sharp sand, nutshells, copper bands and various other things I tried. I did not try pellets as l have a terrorist (sic) that eats slugs (this was problematic as they are a danger to dogs).
Beer traps and midnight forages brought to light the fact that I'd never defeat them but l could deter them, to an extent, from the vegetables. It was not happy gardening. I became a tad obsessed (it was lockdown so l was quite bored).
Anyway, I moved.

I tried everything natural in the past but not pellets I still use egg shells. I also put up a 12 inch wire mesh around the plot with small spikes on the top and bottom. To keep out any small visitors to the raised veg plot if slugs climb up they can’t get in because of the mesh. It might not stop all of them and it won’t stop the cabbage whites when they arrive that’s when I use netting.

I had to devise a survey and tabulate the results as an exercise when I was studying Statistics. I chose to focus on snails and slugs as they were major pests in my garden. So I set out some small containers (eg Ice cream tubs, drink cans, old cups) put them in accessible spots around the vegetable plot. and half filled them with dregs of alcoholic beverages. The snails and slugs were queuing up to get into them!. Emptied the full pots every evening, reset them and entered the results into a spreadsheet. Within a few weeks there were no snails or slugs left in the garden RESULT.
Among my findings from the survey I discovered that they were more likely to squeeze into a tub that already had other slugs/snails in it, that they prefered heavy beer or stout to Lager, were not keen on wine but loved cider. Also found that It attracted more all singing and dancing Birds to the garden

Ism so upset to find at least four or fiveof my beans are down to stalks
Copper tape is useless I ve watched them walk over it don’t waste your money I cut off the top and bottom off plastic drink bottles and make each bean a personal greenhouse but even that’s not foolproof I use egg shells too but i ve still found lots of damage to my irises with one shredded
I really get so disappointed when I see a beautiful plant chewed to te ground

All this wet weather means an increase in slugs. I put out trays of alcohol...(it doesn't have to be beer), which certainly kills some of them. When you are digging, look out for clutches of their eggs and dispose of them.

Thank you for all your replies. I do have a pond but the frogs don't offer help. Last night at 10pm I popped loads of snails and slugs into my collecting pot (they are now in the green bin). I have chicken wire round some of my plots to keep the foxes and cats off and the large snails get stuck in the wire so easily caught. This year they have eaten perennials, most of the honesty seedlings have gone and they're now eating comfrey which is quite tough. They were eating onion shoots and garlic leaves last night. Thanks for reassurance about slug pellets. I grow my R Beans in toilet rolls and plant the whole toilet roll out. The first batch haven't grown at all, not one of them, so I'm going to plant out the next lot directly. Has anyone tried making a garlic stew? I saw it on YouTube.

Grandmama I grow runner beans like you and the slugs found them while they were still in the greenhouse! Yesterday I sowed more in pots and am keeping them in the utility room for as long as possible.
We've had many plant casualties this year including several clematis. I get fed up with Monty and co telling us to live with slugs - it's no joke when they kill expensive plants. I use yeast traps and wildlife friendly slug pellets (which appear to also be slug friendly!).
I have noticed they are ignoring red cabbages so I'm going to try red lettuce too