Beware Tummy Marchers ::The war is on!!! (Bio Slug Pellets)

Member Name: kelebhutu

Product:	Bio Slug Pellets
Date:	13/12/08 (299 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap, effective, bio-degradable

Disadvantages: small-- loads of smelly rotting slug dead-bodies to be cleared

I used to consider myself as a really kind-hearted and forgiving person till I met some souls who changed my outlook on life entirely. They came in all their three shapes and some even came bearing their homes on their back and threatened to take over my garden ( one of my most loved possessions) from me.


The Rivals:
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There were absolutely hundreds of them everyday.. much more than I could throw out . This is not unusual as slugs and snails love moist humid whether , with occasional rain-helps them slide towards food and breed better..
They usually breed just when the soil temperature is above freezing and the soil starts turning warm ..about April and continue to do so till September after which they just hibernate.
Did you know each day they eat twice as much as their body weight...approximately two kilos worth of greenery in an average UK summer ?

The opponent:
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What is the point of working hard through early spring protecting plugs I have grown in the freezing cold when I got was snail/slug poo on mosaic-cut ice-berg lettuce, slime-cover carrots and cucumbers and I don't even get to see whether a much cherished bud with promised unique colour reach its splendour as a bloom.

I have read this somewhere that according to Napoleon ' the best army is one that marches on its tummy' , that is all very good if you are the leader of the army but when you are the opponent , gardener in this context you'd rather fight bravely yourself or loose everything you have worked hard for.

My heartache led to my cruel decision and I decided to treat my garden with bio-slug eliminator as I had heard so much good about it.

The war-machine:
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You can buy it in 1kg packs (plastic bottles with the childlock screw-tops) starting from £4 ish in most DIY/gardening centres.
Obviously it being a gardening product the packaging is in green
. There are some online shops that do it in 500gms packs too.

The active ingredient is metaldehyde making up about 3% of each 1cm sized blue pellet . It is supposed to dehydrate the snails/slugs and kill them.

.There is a lot of concern/speculations about this active ingredient regarding its safety of use around pets and children.

Of course I do not have a pet (other than my toddler - who touch wood has a mortal fear of touching anything that has been told will hurt her badly) however I have made it sure( just for the friendly neighbourhood cats that love basking in my garden) and the few occasional hedgehog strollers that each pellet has only about 3% killing agent hence a pet would require to consume two-three handfuls to get sick and die.

The pellets are supposed to have a pet-repellant and a bitter taste hence pets wouldn't even like eating too much at a go .The blue colour is purposely added to the pellet to make it bird repelling as well.

According to research metaldehyes breakdown into water, metals and aldehydes with time and exposure hence they are bio-degradable and do not remain in the food-chain as toxins.

How to use it :
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The instructions are well written on the pack and I usually follow that in the following manner-

It is better to wear gloves and not to touch it directly but just sprinkle lightly around the stem(some good 2-3 inches away) and not directly on any leaves around evening time .

Too much at a place could attract pets to try them .

It's a good idea to re-sprinkle in 2-3 weeks time if there is too much rain , as though they are rain-proof they do tend to get eroded.

It would be also nice to use them around ponds which have fish in them.

As for storage after use make sure to keep it somewhere which is out of reach of children, pets and rain well re-capped.

Efficiency :
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I get absolutely loads of dead enemies by the next morning( the war on terror from the slugs comes to an end in my garden), which does look disgusting to be honest but goes to show how useful it has been. I tend to scoop them up and throw them or just bury them.

All my vegetables and young plant look healthy and bite-free . The garden looks happy and flowers and fruits well these days(except in the winter lull).

I do nurture a guilty conscious for killing the slugs(remember I was once cream-hearted) but I am not dying from not eating fresh healthy just picked fruits and vegetables which I have worked my backside of on .

I am not sure if the pellets have done this or not but while I was using them our neighbours cat started taking a detour route outside our fence.




Alternatives methods for slug elimination:
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I would rather stick to using bio-pellets but there are some other ways too which you could use if you have a bigger green heart---

Using salt which would only increase soil-salinity over time and make the soil unfit.

Using beer but then you have chances of hedgehogs orbirds getting drunk on eating the drunk slugs and meeting an accident.


Hang birds houses..birdtables(beware you might have birds eating up your berries

Use nematodal control... they are expensive and you have to replenish every 6th month or so.

Garbage heaps can harbour hedgehogs... they may not want to live in your garden at all and run off to your neighbours.

Using copper wire/strips to electrocute them...which is both expensive(unless using for a few pots or so) and I haven't had that good a result out of it .

Summary: A very effective way of eliminating the mega munchers