Published on 12, July, 2020
I’m at war.
I’ve been doing some gardening. My mental health team suggested it last year because, and I quote, “it’s a no stress hobby that will get you outside in the fresh air and it’ll be good for me”. They were right about the fresh air, that can’t be denied. And I was feeling better with no stress until-they came. I am of course referring to the biggest pest in anyone’s garden: snails and slugs!
Crime scene photo #6.
Seemingly overnight snails and slugs have ransacked my garden and are terrorising my flowers and strawberries. I attempted to garden last year, wanted to grow some strawberries as they’re my fav to eat and they’re also healthy. I follow this guide sheet on healthy eating as I’ve got IBS and certain foods, generally the unhealthy ones-set off digestive upset for me.
So I’m trying to do healthy eating to better manage and prevent these issues.
But even with the healthy fresh summer air the stress is mounting up! Despite my best efforts these slugs have launched a devastating attack. Strawberries are at risk, some have been eaten whole or mutilated in severe cowardly attacks. These cowardice slugs dare not strike during the day-they only come out at night when I’m asleep, too afraid to face me honourably during the day.
Don't let this cuteness fool you!
Lol! Ok it's not quite that bad but seriously is there any advice on how to best deal with these little slugs? I don’t want to get any poison pellets as I live on a mountain in a rural area and the birds might eat them, I also despite myself don’t like the idea of hurting the slugs. But I also do get extremely stressed when my strawberries are looking nearly ready for picking and then a day later they’ve been devoured. All my hard work wasted.
It’s annoying but I do like the challenge lol-although it’s embarrassing that I’m being outwitted by a slug! Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions on how to deal with these garden pests are more than welcome...
I know this is a bit late. On Gardeners World this week there was a man who gardens in a Japanese way. He had small trees like apple trees and a lot of mixed planting. He mentioned that this meant that ground beetles could live there, beneath the trees I think and they then ate the slugs
I don't suppose the strawberries in crime scene photo no.6 are Anemic by any chance ?
In honour of Paige, wherever you are.
I caught two of the little blighters this morning. My wife is livid .
I also stressed over this problem with a handful of plants. the Vaseline solution. came from direct observation one day watching water bead up as it came into contact with a gob of it.
I use this also (a saml amount) on the the sides of pet food dishes left on the floor. Keep ants and other crawlies out ,even cockroaches.
I also have an effective spray formula against winged pests. It works a charm on all palnts, if you'd like to have it let me know. Happy to share. Happy digging, happy eating!
Yes!!! Thanks to you-thank you soo much! I really am very grateful because it was super stressful at times x.
Yes-I've seen those. Definitely want to get a fountain of some kind-also really want to get some nice pond ornaments too.
strawberry days are here again!!
You can get small solar powered fountains for ponds, it can go from a big fizzy thing to a gentle burble, but will keep the pond oxygenated
Great to hear you came out victorious in your battle against the slugs! Enjoy your strawberries!
Lmao!!! U!S!A! I suppose in my country it should be U! K! U! K! But somehow that just doesn't sound as good.
*does little victory dance*.
Cake for all...
This is great news! U! S! A!!! U! S! A!!! (I'm not from the USA, but this seems to be type of thing people say when they've won a war! )
Hello-thank you for the tip. I've not heard of this technique before but a quick look online and it looks like this is a good step to take as slugs are addicted to marigolds. I might grow some anyway, that way I feed the slugs-and then still get to grow and enjoy my strawberries. Thanks!
Thank you so much for your reply-I do appreciate you taking out the time to respond to my thread. I'm happy too confirm though that the war is WON!!! A very kind member Uhane suggested I use Vaseline-so I got some yesterday and applied it around where it was needed and this morning....
2 strawberries, still alive, growing and thriving!!! Yippee!! If all continues to go well-I should hopefully get to eat these strawberries once they're ready for the picking. I do feel bad for the slugs-they can't help being hungry but my strawberries aren't free for the taking lol.
I am in the middle of putting a pond in to my garden-sadly it's being held up by the terrible weather now-but when it's dryer I'll try and get it finished. I'd love frogs and fish in my pond.
Grow or get yourself some marigolds. My Gramny does this every year she calls them suicidal marigolds lol because their purpose is to be eaten so the slugs eat them instead of your strawberries. It works too. My Granny uses them each year, her neighbour does too and my dad's started doing the same and it works for him well.
Getting rid of slugs is really easy. Let the frogs do it for you. Build a pond, preferably one with some kind of circulating water such as a small waterfall fed by a recirculation pump. This will help keep the water quality good. The frogs will move in and your slugs will become Mr and Mrs Froggy’s dinner. Plus you get the huge benefits from the beautiful and calming sound of running water in your garden.
Okay, so it looks like I may have jumped the gun slightly with my response. I've just seen that a few other people have already suggested the snail movement strategies. I guess I was just eager to write about snails eating strawberries as if it were an out-and-out war!
Hey there!Assuming you are comfortable handling the snails/slugs, as a short-term defensive strategy against the snail's offensive, have you considered relocation? This might sound silly, but I occasionally help my parents move snails and slugs out of the garden and elsewhere. We live in the countryside, so spending a few minutes every day collecting all visible slugs and snails before relocating them seems to help, at least according to my parents who are pretty avid gardeners. This almost certainly isn't a long-term solution as you aren't doing anything to reduce the population. I'm also sure that any enemy troops that are moved can, albeit slowly, make their way back to the frontlines. However, if performed daily maybe moving snails away from the combat area could maybe reduce the severity of the attacks (Emphasis on the maybe). The added benefit of this strategy is that it does not result in any causalities!
In the long term, it sounds like you may need some allies in your fight against the snails! I wonder if there is a way to make your garden attractive to the Song Thrush? I've witnessed those birds take down many a snail foe. I'll save the details as whilst the Thrush is effective at combating snails on the battlefield, its methods are particularly violent. Whilst this approach would result in snail casualties, it would hopefully control the local population!
Hello Uhane-thank you so much for the further explanation-wish I’d had some to use for last night as the bloodthirsty beasts were back and I’ve only got two left now. Sounds like it’s worked wonders for you, so really happy for you r.e. that-and super grateful for you sharing your tip with me. I don’t have any Vaseline unfortunately which means a trip in to town for me *sobs* but it’ll be worth it if it means it saves my final strawberries! Another member suggested putting jars over them which I’ll also be trying tonight-with the Vaseline as well it means 2x defense and hopefully my strawberries will survive the night. I do enjoy doing this bit of gardening, the mental health team were right-it’s a good hobby and generally zero stress-except the slugs.
What I’d really like is to have a flowered garden blooming with gorgeous fruits and vegetables as well-my mum had this when I was a child and I remember it so well. It was beautiful and when you stopped out the back door you could smell the sweet scent of the flowers-this is what I want to achieve with our garden now. If I can save thestrawberries-it’ll be my first successful garden venture!️
Thanks for the tips-interestingly I do get birds in my garden but they don't really eat anything I think they just use the garden as a pit stop. I am in thy middle of putting in a pond though-but had to stop because the weather's been so atrocious! It's like 76% completed.
I've got 2 strawberries left now but I love the idea of the jars which I'm going to put in to action today-should work unless they tunnel under them-which I wouldn't put it past them!
I'm sorry to hear woodlice are eating your strawberries. I haven’t had any woodlice go at mine yet-the slugs probably ate them too! I hope you can find a way of defending your garden against them x.