Two of my ‘babies’ murdered by a snail. 😰

I like the Vaseline idea - I have just paid out for a big bottle of slug/snail repellent gel which does the same thing. I bought this because I carefully put a thick ring of woodash all round my new dahlia plants. In the morning, there was a gap in the ring and all were eaten to stalks. Are they learning to use tools, I ask myself ... if so they can start on the weeding ...

I have several hostas in pots, using crushed egg shells and home made Garlic wash (recipe from You Tube) So far so good. Slugs don't like the taste. No worries about poisoning the birds and resident hedgehog, who enjoy a slug for breakfast. Also sprayed it on roses, seems the aphids don't like garlic either. No garlic smell in garden after spraying which is a bonus!

GrauntyHelen

Sad to see the English language being murdered in terms of inappropriate use of the word decimated by several grans .

As a fully paid-up grumpy old pedant, I feel entitled to quote my huge fat Oxford dictionary’s entries.

It says that says the killing of one in ten (as a punishment) was the historical meaning,

Whereas the first meaning quoted is, ‘kill, destroy or remove a large proportion of…’

Terrible things!

I love my Seneccio Angles Wings and they have done their best to destroy them no matter how many pellets I put out! Bought a pretty, cheap Dianthus the other day, put a ring of egg shells around it and all was good for a few days - went out yesterday and there are no flowers left! They even eaten my Lobelia and have never had that issue before.

Mt roses though are MAGNIFICENT! They have loved the weather;3my peonies though definitely haven't liked it at all! One plant had 5 buds, 2 of which turned black, one had 1 bud which I have cut, and the other 3 plants had nothing!

I've discovered that the answer to snails is to have a visiting thrush. Every morning the low retaining walls have more smashed snail shells, there really can't be many left. We also have a young hedgehog, so that may be helping too, I think they eat slugs too.

Sad to see the English language being murdered in terms of inappropriate use of the word decimated by several grans .

Don’t talk to me about slugs and snails. I was unwell for a couple of week during which time literally dozens of snails had climbed up my small apple tree and eaten every bit of blossom. Result not one apple forming on the usually abundant tree. Next I nurtured some coriander seedlings which were doing well. One morning completely gone! I do dispose of them humanely….but grrrrr.

My husband came home and said there were huge numbers of slugs and snails on the street and that we should check our front garden. We collected six jam jars full in a short time. I put water and washing up in the jars so ( sadly) clean dead snails and slugs. We still lose plants to the remaining critters.

I am also trying Vaseline smeared around the top of each of my tubs and planters. I think... it is working. I have found snails on the sides of these planters but none actually eating the hundred or so new plants put in over this week.

It is too early so say for sure but it is a relatively cheap trick - it took me about half an hour to smear fifty pots with the Vaseline (working like stink!).

I have a large tub of slug pellets but hate using them as the birds eat the dead slugs/snails then suffer and we have several birds nesting around the garden..

I will update in a week or so, advising if the sticky stuff worked or didn't.

Oops. I murder slugs and snails.
Well salted water in a black bucket and in they go. Dead.

This year my garden is swamped with snails but on the plus side very few slugs. What with these and the rabbits I'm just feeding the local vermin. Any new plants I put slug pellets around them and spray them with stuff that's supposed to deter rabbits but nothing seems to work. The deer have also been in and nibbled the tops of the young trees, I'm really just wasting my time gardening!

We don’t have snails but we have possums. My husband was trying so hard to grow herbs in pots on the back deck and the other day he went out to find all four pots reduced to stumps. Evidently possums like herbs, who knew?

I save eggshells,wash them and break them up and scatter them around endangered plants. Snails can’t cope wth th sharp bits of shell. It’s easy and free from chemicals.

With me its slugs eating everything despite loads ending up in beer traps its the wet weather suits the pesky slugs

Thank you for that. I have never thought of Vaseline. I must admit I am a vegan and hate to kill anything but they have killed all my lovely Alstromeria plants which I have spent hundreds of pounds on and this is war now! I have tried copper wire, salt, home made friendly solutions, plastic bottles, paid hundreds of pounds for slippery plant pots, on plant supports, egg shells, coffee grounds, beer, etc., etc., Vaseline out it comes. Thanks

We're fighting a war against slugs. DH is employing the King Charles Highgrove method, out with a torch, picking them off the plants We don't have any servants to do it. I've applied nematodes. Between the two we seem to be reducing numbers.

Would anyone like to borrow my front door?
Every other day when I get up and go downstairs I will see a snail at the top of my front door - on the part that is glass. I've no idea whether its the same one each time , and why it should ascend, as there is absolutely nothing edible up there. I'm afraid I usually pick it off and throw it onto the road. Apologies to tender hearted readers !

If you have problems with snails and slugs eating plants in pots or containers put some copper tape around the top of the pots, a tip I saw on TV suggested by David Domoney, I have tried it for the first time this year and it seems to be working, you can get the tape from Amazon

I’ve tried all the usual to save plants, especially my poor old Hosta. Best thing I’ve found is very old fashioned and very messy Vaseline round the top of pot about 2 inches wide. But I didn’t check in the middle of the plant where there were two smalls snails hiding! Lacy leaves! Btw egg shells didn’t work either.

Slugs are alien enemies from the depths of the cosmos, sent here to make sure we starve to death before the master race reaches earth...I managed to keep some seedlings free of them by balancing the tray they were on on 4 smaller pots and sprinkling salt around them. Voila! no slimy trails and some dead slugs.

They have done the same with my hosta but left the flower spike alone. One gardener on TV said not to water in the evening saying that it doesn't give the water time to dry on paths and grass so making it easier for the slug to get about they suggested late afternoon 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve lost plants too. Have to be crafty with obstacles like hessian and salt trails (no good in all this wet weather) plus netting around the sunflowers I have left. Coffee grounds too. Last year I had silvery trails over my indoor rug EVERY night! Couldn’t find the culprit. Vac, brush, steam cleaned - next day - trails again. Then out paper between the rug and the patio doors sprinkled with salt. That worked, no corpses though. Next time I didn’t put the salt and paper down … yes! Back again. Finally stuffed the tracks of the patio doors with cleaning wipes doused in white vinegar. Success!

Forgot to say that when they were babies, I covered the courgette plants with the end of a large plastic bottle to keep them safe...

I had some courgette baby plants that got completely eaten, as well as a Hosta plant that my mum gave me that disappeared. some years are worse for slugs and snails than others (this was a bad year), but this year seems ok (am in Scotland), anyway, I got more courgette plants and had to cover them with a muslin cloth teepee and I managed to save them from the wee beasties, however, was a bit of a pain to use. I also put down a cauliflower husk which kept them busy eating that for a few days. I can't bear to kill things even slugs etc. lol

Petunias aren't my favourite plants , but I like the splash of colour that they produce .
I planted mine out with alternative slug and snail repellents .
They worked for a couple of days - one day out shopping and I've returned to completely decimated plants .
I can't even tell what colour they were .
So I've uprooted the lot and transplanted them to pots on my front doorstep - a dry area , which is slug and snail free .
But I'm wondering if they will recover .