Slugs!

[craigwend]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18672728

Have to agree about the abundance of slugs this year

absolutely 'loads on the roads' last night ... no not cycling

however not seeing so many snails, even on the 'crunchy' lane, where Mrs craigwend said the road is covered in them

 

[biggs682]

we leave a pot of salted water near the veg they eat and most mornings we have at least 2 or 3 that have drowned

 

[fossyant]

Cup half buried with a cheapo bitter in it - you'll get loads.

We've had years of tonnes of snails - not too many at present, but we have trimmed down the bushes on the field behind us this year - less 'climbing' opportunity.

 

[ianrauk]

My wife finds it absolutely disgusting that I am able to pick up slugs to get rid of them. They are a bit sticky though. Their goo is tough to wash off your hands.

 

[Shaun]

We occasionally get them inside - in the kitchen - they manage to slither through the air vent for the drier. I usually very quietly grab a sheet of kitchen roll, grab the gooey little tinkers and wrap them in it, and then throw them out of the kitchen window (without alerting Mrs. Admin who would be mortified if she saw them!).

 

[MisterStan]

There are so many slugs and snails on the cycle path next to the busway that you can't help but hit a few, there were some giant slugs this morning too.

 

[summerdays]

Our runner beans have been beaten by the slugs/snails ... never managed to make it much above the ground. And this year they are even clambering over the broad beans.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Every evening I go out with a tub of salt: kill them all!!!!!!!!
Slimy devours of my tender lettuce leaves

 

[Shaun]

Do they actually have any positive effect on the environment? Do they eat other bugs or keep other diseases at bay on your flora and fauna?

Or are they just slimey little tykes that leave a silver trail in their wake of garden destruction?!!!

 

[summerdays]

Do they actually have any positive effect on the environment? Do they eat other bugs or keep other diseases at bay on your flora and fauna?

Well they do eat each other.... is that positive?

 

[Night Train]

Do they actually have any positive effect on the environment? Do they eat other bugs or keep other diseases at bay on your flora and fauna?

Or are they just slimey little tykes that leave a silver trail in their wake of garden destruction?!!!

I found this.
They convert leaf litter into compost but also...

They were part of the diet of Indians and of early German immigrants, who batter-fried them.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I read somewhere that hedgehogs eat slugs. I wonder ....

 

[Strick]

There was something on Radio 2 about slugs a week or so back.
Pat, yes hedgehogs do eat them apparently. This woman that runs one of those hedgehog hospitals (must have small ambulances.....) said she never gets slugs in her garden.
Apparently its not such a good idea to kill them with salt, as the birds then eat them and the salt harms or kills (dont remember which) our little feathered friends.
Lad here swears by the cheap ale in a plastic cup method.

 

[buddha]

slugs, snails and aphids
they are to the gardener what bankers and solicitors are to the economy.
Squish them all

 

[PaulB]

A suicide-squad phalanx of slugs gave their all on the very steep hill that I am about to go cycling on. They do this repeatedly and there are times my wheels skid on their carcasses and approx one in six pedal turns give me no forward traction. Do you think they have a gripe against cyclists? They are all but impossible to avoid and you have to go through this apocalyptic carnage of slug-meat and slippery innards every time you ascend that hill*.


* At this time of year in wet/damp conditions.