Plants to repel/attract slugs

theend00

Hi there! Hope you are all doing well

I have some very persistent, virtually suicidal slugs attacking delphiniums and lettuce unsurprisingly . Sharp sand, copper, wood chippings and bark have all failed to stop them , and I have thus lost faith with other methods like eggshells etc. despite not having tried them , I think I know the answer already  

The more convincing solution seems to be to provide food for them in addition to aromatic plants to create free zones, and hope that ground beetles appear. I have looked around online for stuff like chamomile nobile ( which I assume must be more attractive than common daisies Bellis? ) and red clover, in addition to trailing rosemary. 

I haven't bought these yet, I wanted to gather a bit more information first, perhaps determine if this is a waste of cash or not. Has anyone had success with this method ?

Thanks a lot ! John

B3

They don't eat these plants, but I doubt that they actually repel them.

theend00

Maybe their dislike of them is overstated, another myth apparently. That convinces me more to find something they like more than my stuff. There must be a way surely... predators can't come soon enough
 >:(

Well this was my thinking exactly, apparently red clover they find irresistible, but there are so many myths online that I wanted to find out what actually works from people who've managed to do so. Hostas you say?

Posy

The population of slugs will grow to meet the food you provide. Numbers of natural predators will also increase but because they are more complicated and follow the prey, they will always be playing catch-up. Most gardens provide more opportunities for 'pests' than predators because they are in no sense natural environments. Not all gardens have slug problems and some contributors on this site will tell you they are easily dealt with. They do not understand!!!

 If you have a large slug population they will destroy many of your plants long before ground beetles take a few and the birds will have virtually no impact. I am not aware of any plants that repel slugs and most popular methods of control have little effect. Some people have success with nematodes, although they are costly.

In my garden I have tried all sorts of methods but now I pick the slugs off and dispose of them. It is time consuming and hard on the spine but it works. It really does work.

Lyn

A friend of mine buys a cheap Lidl lettuce to break up around his special plants, once the plant is bigger it can survive the odd chewing. 

DaveGreig

Place a beer can lying on its side half full of cheap ale with the hole uppermost at the base of the plant. To make it less unsightly scrape a furrow with your trowel place it in and cover with soil, leaving the hole exposed obviously. You can even make a soil ramp up to the hole but it’s not necessary. It helps if you widen the hole with tin snips or heavy scissors because it will allow snails in as well. 

It’s a cheap but effective rainproof slug trap that will need emptying and refilling once a week and you’ll be amazed at how many dead slugs are in it.

I have Spanish slugs in my garden and apart from picking them off at night and nematodes nothing else works. The nematodes were great but killed most of the slugs which I believe had a knock on effect for the predators.

I started doing this years ago when I saw how expensive commercially available slug traps were and it works a treat.

Lyn

I tried putting the whole can in the ground but I couldn’t get the big slugs out to empty it for recycling and if you leave any in there they don’t half pong! 

theend00

Hmm I was trying to avoid mass killing , but perhaps there really is no other solution for persistent ones. The reason I was so hesitant to use beer was because it apparently kills beneficial slugs , carnivores, but perhaps it doesn't do that much damage . And it's not going to be any less deadly than hunting at night .
I would like to believe lava rock works but there are so many conflicting opinions , it is quite amusing .

I will say thank you to you all though , I'm not rolling in money , so this sort of advice is sparing my wallet , I am very grateful I want mother to have something presentable