Slugs

The barriers I detailed in another thread work perfectly. No damage has been observed to any plant protected by the electric fences. However, not all plants can be protected this way. In the greenhouses I have on several occasions found slugs abseiling down into the lagoons and once in there an electric barrier prevents them from leaving.
I have patrolled at night with my head torch and yes, removed several on each occasion. The annoying bit here is being able to hear one of the slugs dining on Sarracenia but not being able to precisely locate it.

I used Nemaslug last year (again another thread) and that proved to be ineffective. I have now ordered slug traps for the garden and for the greenhouse floors. These can be baited with beer or pellets. I also want to make some that can be placed up in the lagoons on the pot surfaces so I'll be on the lookout for opaque lidded plastic boxes.

I've also had to use the two types of pellet but I'm not happy scattering even a small amount about in the greenhouses so having to do so in the garden is something I really want to avoid whenever possible.

Some of the unwelcome incomers.




I'll be adding to the thread as things progress.

The first of the traps, the two large floor ones are in position and baited with lager. It will be interesting to see if these nuisances like lager or will hold out for a bitter or mild. I just hope they hold the singing down in the early hours.




There's also some of these waiting in the wings

Day 2




That's a good job.... give 'im the money Mabel.

Your first pic looks like my garden on a wet evening. I tolerate them in the garden but not the Green houses.
But I use the manual method. Any which I find in the Gh are smashed (snails) or cut in half (slugs) and then fed to a sarra - seems only fair!

A secondary weapon in this war consists of 3 x 3" lidded boxes with holes drilled and then roughly enlarged in all four sides. I'm using slug bait in these. I only use these in the greenhouse  not outside as the slugs tend to feed then move off before expiring and they do not excrete mucus everywhere. I have posted this article before but I think it's appropriate to post again here as Ferrric phosphate is sold as organic.

Ferric phosphate article



I have been surprised how much bait has been taken from the boxes. There must be a pile of ex slugs somewhere.

I am amazed at how many slugs we are still trapping. A conservative figure is 100/day in the beer traps and day one was June 13th so we have been disposing of them at that rate for 73 days so far. Who would have thought there was well over 7300 slugs in my garden/ greenhouses. The war of attrition continues.
Don't forget the secondary weapons of the Ferric phosphate pallets in the boxes. With the amount of pellets disappearing there must be a gigantic heap of ex slugs somewhere. I restocked them yesterday and 2 of the boxes in the Darlingtonia house were completely empty. At least in there I find dried slugs on the floor on a regular basis.