Weird slug/snail problem...

[bearman]

I've got a bit of a strange slug/snail problem at home. I've got a large block paved drive, prob big enough for 5/6 cars. I've always had a few snails and slugs in the front and back garden, but at the minute there are bloody millions of them! I can't walk down the drive in the evening without sounding like i'm walking across a box of eggs I would say there are in excess of 300 every night!!

I can see how our fabulous British summer has made it a bit wetter than usual, but the house/garden isn't particually damp most of the time, and I wouldn't say that my utterly pants gardening skills has supplied them with a great food source. I thought about sprinkling slug pellets on the drive but I was wondering if anyone had any better ideas?? Or why i've got so many in the first place?!

A friend of mine suggested harvesting them and eating them...

Cheers guys!!

[shaggystu]

you need to get yourself a toad

[IanM]

Try cleaning the moss and algae off the blocks. I suspect the beasts are having a decent meal and their parents have laid tens of thousands of eggs under the blocks in the cool and damp which have now hatched.

Another week and they will be gone, but next year.........

[HillBill]

Been ton's of them here too. There was a point where we were removing over a hundred a day from the peas we were growing in containers, all dead from the slug pellets. Its an invasion i tell ya, albeit a very slow one lol

[tartanferret]

Perhaps have a border of copper tape on your driveway?

see article..http://www.weekendgardener.net/how-to/snails-slugs.htm

[ged]

You need a trained thrush.

[Globetrotter.uk]

A flame thrower and then you would have roasted snails for lunch.

[shaggystu]

A flame thrower and then you would have roasted snails for lunch.

kill them with fire!!!!!!!!!!

gemma suggests beer traps, but you'll probably need a bloody big one. maybe a couple of tea trays or similar?

[Harvestman]

No more slugs about than usual. Just that they are coming out in the daytime and are more visible.

Just like snails, if you purge them by feeding them something clean like carrot for a few days, they are perfectly edible like most molluscs.

[abominable_scouse_monster]

NUKE THEM FROM ORBIT IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO BE SURE!

I would try Salt get some nice cheep salt scatter it on the path then before you go to bed hose the area down, worked for me a year or so ago when the path to my garden gate was riddled with the slimy little sods.

[Perrari]

Put slug pellets around the edge of the driveway, it attracts them so the dead ones will be around the edge and not in the middle where you walk. But dont eat them afterwards !!!

[crosslandkelly]

I'm sure I saw something about some Spanish, or other European super slug, on BBC morning news last week. Southern coastal counties affected.

[abominable_scouse_monster]

I'm sure I saw something about some Spanish, or other European super slug, on BBC morning news last week. Southern coastal counties affected.

It was on mondya they had a story on the BBC news web site. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18672728

[The Ratcatcher]

Rather than slug pellets, which don't last very long, most garden centres sell a slug and snail treatment made of sharp crushed granite. It lasts for years, is non-toxic, and looks a lot better than piles of blue pellets everywhere.

Alan

[British Red]

Get yourself a slug and snail nematode treatment. Mix up in a watering can, water on, on more slugs and snails

It really is very effective and doesn't poison hedgehogs or thrushes

Nematodes are the latest and it seems the most effective way of controlling
slugs, this beats the chemical alternatives easily. Nematodes are tiny
organisms, so small they are invisible to the eye. They are naturally occurring
organisms which are harmless to you, your kids, wildlife and your plants.

The idea is to buy them in plastic packages, put them into a
watering can, add water and then water the areas affected by slugs. The little
nematodes then enter the slugs and release bacteria which slowly kills the slug.
Even better news is that the nematodes then multiply and go in search of more
slugs! It does work - farmers have been using them for several years and are
increasing their use of them each year.

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/techni...ests/slugs.htm

You can buy the treatment on Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&k...l_899ky542j7_b

I've used it - it works well

[bearman]

Thanks guys, I've lived here 6/7 years and i've never seen this many in my life! I like the sound if the nematode treatment-sounds like miniature biological warfare!
I think I'll give that a go first, if not its going to be an all out slug/snail annihilation with salt, blue pellets, copper bands, beer traps and napalm! (actually maybe not the beer traps, prob come home to find my garden slug free but full of the local 'hoodies'!)

[TeeDee]

Get yourself a duck on loan. No more slug problem.

[whats wrong with you all]

We have 4 chickens in the garden; Can't remember the last time I saw a snail or a slug

[bearman]

I'd love to have a few ducks or chickens! but its not really practical where I live , discovered that slugs make great target practice with the air rifle tho :0

[S.C.M.]

I'd love to have a few ducks or chickens! but its not really practical where I live , discovered that slugs make great target practice with the air rifle tho :0

Air rifle?! bet that makes a mess.

[British Red]

Not as nuch as shooting 12 bore "slug" does though

[yeha]

Beer traps work. I have 3 in the garden and they were full each morning for a week. Down to a couple a night now.