Genealogy Chat

I know its not a gene question but can anyone help with garden pests - no not stalking knomes!! The usual suspects - slugs, snails and vine weevils. Don't like to use chemicals as I'm quite green and also have a cat, Sorry mistake - I DONT want to kill them as in the birds with chemicals that I put down to rid my garden of the pests

For slugs and snails go out with a torch and catch em at it ! dispose of them as you will... Put copper tape around pots - they will not cross it but make sure there is no other way for them to reach the plants. Beer in yoghurt pots works for slugs too. Baked eggshells, gravel - they do not like to cross. don't know about vine weevils - just have to try to catch the little ******* Hope this helps Alice

Alice - see I have a major problem with killing things (can't do it) so can I kinda move them on to somewhere else - daft I know

Don't know about vine weevils but for slugs and snails why not try to encourage hedgehogs with an area which provides cover for them to hide up and perhaps a little dog food as an hors d'oevre, then they will enjoy the slugs as their main course; and thrushes, who will feast on the snails if you have a few stones or bricks that they can use as anvils to break open the shells.

Deborah, An orgnaic solution is to use nematodes - these are mircoscopic little beats which are specific to particular pests - you can purchase them for both slugs, snails and vine weevils. They work extremely well are nature-friendly and last several months.. I buy them from the Green Pest Garden Co - www.greenpestco.com. Peter.

so nice to see you dont want to harm wildlife as some people do, I feed everything Foxes, Hedghogs all the birds and we get hundreds as we buy seed, peanuts, sultanas, bread, suet balls and the like .There is nothing nicer than a garden full of baby birds screaming for their food it gives us a lot of entertainment. The nematoads I think thats right are the kindest way

Hi, I feel just the same (if you have been following my neighbour from hell thread you can imagine how I feel having a man like that next door). You can put crushed eggshells round plants to keep slugs and snails off. But what we do (stupid or what) is go out at night with a torch and collect them all up then take them (sometimes it can be 50 or more) down to the wood at the end of the road (I think we have 'homing snails' unfortuantely) as just the same amount appear the next night! (And now I have a neighbour who thought it was funny to cut down a tree with a nesting wren in it - god help me). We have a wild life pond which is full of frogs, newts, toads. They all keep the slugs down.

I've used nematodes for vine weevils and they do work well. Wasn't aware you could get them for sugs and snails - will look them up as I have two very nosey dogs who will try to eat anything! We have a neighbour who likes all the chemicals too - his slug pellets came through our fence and coincidentally (or not) one our dogs was poorly just after - he's fine again now we've spent £65 down the vets! Kaye x

Guys - thanks with the help - will look up the neigbour thing. My mother was sitting my brothers dogs and they got poison from a laurel tree in the next garden, Why dont people think when they plant things

Get a pond.........you then get frogs!! the frogs finish off the slugs naturally. You also get an abundance of wildlife in your garden. Make sure there's a place for animals, eg hedgehogs , to step down to drink(or step up to get out!). I am lucky, there are two hedgehogs that visit on a regular basis.........probably, partly ,because I throw chicken/chicken legs on the grass as soon as I spot them coming. With all the frogs + hedgehogs we hardly have any slugs. I can't believe the man who cut down the tree with a nesting bird in it!!! Unbelievable isnt it. Ann

Hi. Just to add my story of Slugs. A couple of years ago at a previous house I started getting invaded with Slugs. One night I decided to go outside with a Bucket a Trowel and a Torch, And off I went around the front garden armed and ready lol A neighbour was coming home and saw me leaned over with my Torch and thought I had lost A Ring or something Valuable.She asked if I needed any help searching.. I started laughing and said 'No i'm fine I'm just Slug busting' She looked at me very puzzled,(as I am a bit weird anyway)lol. So I explained I had been invaded and didn't want to kill them and thought this was the kindest thing to do.I collected about 30 Slugs that night. My neighbour must have told other neighbours the funny story of me with my Torch and the following night I was in another neighbours garden with them 'Slug Busting' it was great fun as everyone split up around the back garden and all you could hear was 'SLUG buster needed'. We took the slugs to the field at the bottom of our street and let them roam free. Its amazing how many you see when you start looking for them. Happy hunting all... hope you have as much fun as I did lol Lesley :~)

Totally I have been reading your messages and I think you are very brave I would have cried my eyes out over the birds nest alone never mind the other things he has done ,I hate to see any animal hurt I get so upset , we get people round here who decide to cut their hedges in the middle of May such a stupid thing to do and then they set fire to rubbish that has been piled in the garden for months goodness knows what is living in it . Do hope your problem gets sorted I have been in your shoes once never again it has made me paranoid so much I will not live in anything but detached now it is wonderful no noisy people on the other side of the wall. Good luck I am sure you will win Val

Sprickle ordinary table salt on snails / slugs they will shrivel up instantly. A salt ring round a flower bed will stop them entering. BUT do not put a lot of salt round your plants as it will probably kill the plants. Or pick up the snails and drop them in a bucket of strong salty water they will just fizz up and die. Use the empty shells complete - uncrushed in the bottom of flower pots instead of broken crockery or stones, as the empty shells will store water and help to keep the pot moist. Maurice

Val, we are in a detached house! Im beginning to worry seriously about my wild life pond as I can imagine this is the sort of person who will spray poison on to his garden (about .5 acre). We have also just spent £50 on wildflower/cornfield seeds(Emorsgate is the website if anyone is interested) We are nurturing poppies, wild grasses, ox-eye daisies, cornflowers, crowsfoot etc. I can just imagine this guy thinking they are just weeds and letting any poison float over.

i am using cocoa shells, they smell BUT snails,slugs, and cats do not like them, place them like a mulch on moist soil around your pots borders etc, water well, and they release a gum which holds them together and prevents the wind from blowing them away,they are also 100 % peat free, i am very impressed, not cheap £7.99 for a 70 litre bag, BUT heaven from these beasties of snails and slugs.They also keep weeds a bay too.

I am quite tolerant of pests really, they must be on the earth to serve a purpose! but the slugs on my Hostas - I could scream. They can get through so much in one night.

totally you sound just like me I grow poppies foxgloves lots of butterfly bushes poached egg plants anything which encourages wild life we have 2 ponds 2 bird tables and lots of feeders I think its a shame to put salt on slugs or poison them I just live and let live in the garden nature sorts itself out.

My pests were cats, but having met some great felines on this site i have become more tolerant, my new pests are the people down the street, who invented antisocial behaviour, there are dozens of them and they are all related to her over there, him around the corner, her up the close,and when they let the kids out which is all day every day/night they swarm like flies,my elderly neighbour was sitting in the sun today,and they walked up his path into his house (he did not see them)and came out with his walking stick and zimmer frame and trotted off down the steet with them, when i told the grandmother of these kids,5&7 yr olds she said Oh! he lets them play with them,as a foster carer i think any mother/gran should be concerned if their kids are walking in peoples houses this puts them and the adult in danger, just had to moan about this one, now my horrible nieghbours are giving me dirty looks i have a feeling i haven't heard the last.MOE!

Beer traps??? Sing a vending machine cup into the ground, fill with beer, the slugs love it, drown in it, but die happy.