snail attacks

Lots of studies are proving this (See The Hedgehog UK)
Their main diet is beetles,earthworms and insects.
They eat slugs and snails more if they are extremely hungry.
They can die from lungworm from the slugs
Another reason for exterminating the evil critters.

Really? I wonder how they found that out. I only know that since the signs of hedgehog habitation vanished from our garden (the neighbours put up a new fence with concrete gravel boards), we’ve got an increase in slugs and snails.

Just read that only 5% of a hedgehogs diet consists of slugs and snails. I am amazed!

So far this summer my hosta has not been attacked by these pesky creatures.

I have been putting crushed egg shells around the plant so wether it is just coinsidence or not i dont know.

Just happy my beautiful plant is surviving so well thus far.

Small gravel in the top of pots does work with Hostas or any other pot plants, our Dahlias and vegetables are being eaten by snails and had to use slug pellets as a last resort, first time ever.

Well, we have a Laburnum Tree that the snails love to cluster onto! We have to de-snail the tree trunk every so often, or the snails make their way down to the baskets.

When we moved in the house was empty for a year before, and the tree was covered like a boat with barnacles!!
We took buckets and buckets off and believe it or not took them for a ride in the car to some waste ground to get rid of them, cos we thought if we dumped them near by they would all crawl back!!
So we were told anyway. Unless someone was playing a joke on us
I just couldn't face trying to kill that many of them Yuck!!

I'm back again to say my experiment with coffee grounds around my French marigolds doesn't seem to work. It's six in the morning and there are two in the pot right now!

Could be that the recent heavy rain washed the grounds into the earth and it no longer "sticks" onto the snails (which is what they don't like).

Namsnanny: They don't attack my Million Bells. Is it because my pots are plastic? I'm surprised they can get into hanging baskets. Do they crawl down the cords/chains the baskets hang from?

I've taken to experimenting with plants which like my garden and the slugs and snails hate!!

I still have to use slug pellets on the hanging baskets thought, 'cos the blighters chew everything to shreds otherwise. Wish I didn't have to though.

And a word to the wise, I don't know if its me but I've used Million bells (Calibrachoa) for the first time, and the s's & s's absolutely love them. I wont bother again!!

I'm going to try sea weed mulch on the garden, as I understand they don't like it. But its going to be difficult to find as I don't live near the coast!!

Plus apparently it smells pretty badly

I don't like the idea of pellets because I encourage birds into the garden. I check out the plants affected in my case Hostas. Kill the little blighter's (not going into detail) that I can find.
If the plant is like lace I cut back the plant and you get a second growth if it's not too late in the season.
You need to keep checking.
I have hostas in pots and they are still eaten, tried the copper tape, no use. I tried lots of different methods to discourage them but nothing does the trick.
Even when the snails fall in my bird bath they still climb out, I don't think they can be drowned.

Snails are evil. I picked a handful of them off my flowerbed this morning. I had newts in the pond last year and the snail population seemed to diminish but they are back again. Grrrr.

Thanks everyone for the tips! Wheniwasyourage - just love your excuse for stuffing pistachios to keep snails away! Cider not easily available here in Italy.
Am trying with coffee grounds around my French marigolds and Miseria.

hmm Bluebell not sure about that..I did pay over the odds for it then it started to appear in other shops a lot cheaper.I seem to rem paying about £6 a roll! {shock]

oldgoat

Bikergran the coppertape proved useless for me I watched one crawl over it.... I did wonder if it was graded as I only bought from a cheap shop

We have a thrush in our garden this year, first time for ages, and it's making a great job of killing the snails judging by the number of empty shells.
Chatting about slugs to a customer in the queue at the garden centre, she told me that she had been round her garden collecting slugs and had a bowl full. Not knowing what to do with them she decided to flush them down the loo. A few days later she was horrified to discover them crawling back up the pan.... Sounds like a scene from a horror movie!

I'm trying pistachio nut shells around the plants in pots, and my marigolds have survived longer than last year (ie a week so far). It's such a shame that we have to eat all those pistachios through the year to save enough shells, but we do our best.

Have also tried wool pellets with some success, and this winter I kept the slug traps out all the time. You don't have to buy beer (and the cheap cider I used to use is twice the price here now with minimum pricing) as they go for anything left over like fruit juice. If I'm picking up cans and bottles for recycling I quite often get some left-over drinks of various kinds for the slug traps, so that is some reward!

Had a thrush in the garden attacking a snail for the first time today!!

What about scrounging beer slops from a local pub?

I hate to tell you, PECS but nematodes aren't that effective on snails, just slugs. You'll still need slug pellets for the snails.

I found the copper tape worked a treat,,made sure no gaps.
Apparently its a chemical reaction when the slugs secrete their slime. I tried it with one slug just to see if it crossed the piece of tape before I stuck it round the pot,the snail made a de tour away from the tape.

The wood pellets! I wonder if the ones you can use for cat little trays do the same job...although those do disintegrate fast,so maybe not.

I have just watered in nematodes! Not sure if they work yet..they are supposed to live parasitically and kill slugs from the inside

. My veg patch destroyed by slugs & snails this year after my careful nurturing of seedlings in the greenhouse.

We only get the odd one or two here, and no slugs at all!
Where we used to live it was a slug paradise, the hated things were everywhere.
Gravel should work as they don’t like the roughness.

I have no problem whatsoever in killing them. It's war

The RHS are currently doing trials at Wisley on whether natural remedies work. Results (probably shredded lettuce leaves) will be available in autumn. www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-44357663

I daren’t put down slug pellets as, judging by the droppings, we still have a visiting hedgehog. That and the thrushes and blackbirds seem to be the best deterants we have.

just about everything I have planted flowers and veg. (Even scotch bonnet seedlings) eaten by snails. I finally resorted to slug pellets and now literally have dozens of deal snails. I have basically written off this growing season.

Any alcohol works, not just beer.