I live in the gastropod centre of the universe. They come out year after year as the no.1 most damaging and hated pest in the UK. None of the environmentally friendly suggestions from well-meaning people who don't really get the size of the problem works long term imo, e.g egg shells, gravel, handpicking, beer traps, diatomaceous earth, copper bands, frogs, toads, etc. Although they all help. I just live with a lot of damage. But if the problem is INSIDE your greenhouse I would have thought you could bend the rules and use chemical slug bait - either ferrous phosphate based (better) or metaldehyde based (worse but most effective). It is highly effective and if you clear up the bodies and put them in the rubbish there is no risk of wildlife getting hold of the poisoned corpses.

Flora, I think we could give you a run for your money for being the gastropod centre of the universe, until about 20 years ago all we had were slugs, the odd cutworm and earwigs to deal with, then the snails moved in. One particularly bad year we picked 40 snails of our pink dogwood tree in one night and those were the ones we could reach. I hope this is not going to be another year like that.
I planted out a small row of pole beans two days ago, during the first night the little sods got two of them so now at night I go out and put plant pots over them removing them in the morning. Once they get going up strings they should be all right.

Pesticides in B.C. have been banned so have to stick to the other types of control. I bought a couple of bottles of the cheap beer to try, I hoping these snails are not connoisseurs. I also bought half a dozen high domes to fit over the flats of beans I've just started. These little so and sos seem to be leaving the tomatoes alone but they started on the peppers so they go under a dome at night too. Enough whining here but I sure can sympathize with you.

Annette

The B is in BC maybe reflects the mutual pest problems ;-) The mild damp climates clearly provide the perfect conditions.

Possibly this link is out of date but it appears to imply you can get ferrous phosphate baits in BC.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sluggo in BC

Two minds think alike :), I just picked up some Slug B Gon, safe for birds and animals. Apparently it can get rained on and still be effective, fingers crossed.

I spray the whole garden before planting, a 10% solution of ammonia
This is done in the early evening when they start stiring.
This has worked well fot me and the ammonia eventualy breaks down into avalable nitrogen

Thanks for the tip Charlie, I'll give the ammonia a try.

Annette

What does ammonia do to growing plants? And what happens to it when it rains?

It has burned leaves of weeds when sprayed directly on them but did not kill them
The idea is to spray the slugs and snails,not the plants
We have placed wet boards and cardboard down where they will congrigate during daylight hours
Rain of course will delute and wash it in the ground, where it breakes down to a nitrogen source to feed the plants
There are quite a few posts on gw,pertaining to this subject ,some suggesting a 50 percent solution

....The idea is to spray the slugs and snails,not the plants...

I don't quite understand how that would work in a garden full of plants. Are you saying the ammonia actually has to touch the creature directly? Slugs and snails don't hang around in open spaces, they are in amongst the vegetation. If I can actually see them to spray them I might as well just pick them up and squash them. I garden in a climate where rain is possible at any time in any season so it would not be effective for more than a few hours. It's not a remedy I've ever come across as practicable in a wet climate. I just Googled it and didn't find a single reference to it from the UK. So presumably it only works in certain climates and under certain conditions.

floral you misread my post
I stated I spray the garden before I plant,usually right after the fall lettuce,spinach and other cool weather crops are finished in early spring
The residue crops are normally covered with slugs
At any rate we no longer have a slug problem and have not seen a snail in many years
I think your only solution in your wet climate is ducks
Charlie

I did read your earlier posts but they didn't mention that the crop residues were still in situ and that that was where the slugs were. I thought you were spraying clear soil.

I don't think spraying ammonia is a practical option for me as is likely to rain at any time,there are always plants in the garden and the ground is never completely clear of something growing.

Ducks would be wonderful but not on an allotment or in a microscopic home garden.

This is the level of gastropod activity we are talking about. Equal quantities of runner beans and snails gathered in one 5 minute picking session.

Flora, that picture will shock some people but not me, unfortunately. So far so good, I've got copper mesh, stale beer and Slug Be Gon in the greenhouse and the beans just popping through are covered at night with a plastic dome. No dead bodies to dispose of this morning.
It's a good job I don't plant many plants of each variety, this way when first planted out I cover them with plant pots just before dark and remove them in the morning, a pain but it only takes a couple of minutes to remove them in the morning. Once the beans are climbing I don't have to worry about them anymore. One year we had a cutworm problem but the last few years haven't seen any. I shouldn't have said that, fingers crossed :(.

Annette

I guess you girls can go out at night with a flash light and pirate your neighors toads
If not you can fatten up the snails and sell them to the French
Sorry the devil made me do it.

This post was edited by hementia8 on Mon, May 12, 14 at 11:12

I have been using Espoma slug bait (iron phosphate). I think it's helping, but I have still lost quite a few baby plants. Some are left intact; others are found with only a stem sticking out of the ground. I blame the slugs...maybe it's a rabbit instead? It's maddening.

http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/pdf/products/earthtones/Earthtone_Slug_Snail.pdf