Pests and diseases - Slugs and Snails

Signs - Irregular holes are eaten from leaves, slime trails often left around the plants on the soil and the leaves

Damage - Young plants and seedlings are particularly vulnerable and can be stripped bare or eaten down to the ground. Particularly fond of Hostas and Delphiniums.

Treatment - Treatments abound for slugs and snails so there's no choice of options to try. My own personal approach is to not grow anything that they like eating apart from Delphiniums because I love Delphiniums. When the new shoots are emerging in the spring I scatter mini slug pellets around them and stop when the leaves are large enough to be less tasty to the slugs.

These animals feed mainly at night so if you are particularly bothered, you can go out and manually pick them off those plants most under attack.

Rings of material that is uncomfortable to cross such as sharp grit or broken egg shells will sometimes discourage them, I did see an experiment on this though on a gardening programme and they happily crossed everything in their path.

Plants in pots can be protected by greasing the rim with Vaseline and salt.

An old remedy to deter snails and slugs is to collect as many as possible, morning and evening. Tip them into a bucket of boiling water and let it stand for a few days until the smell becomes fearsome, then strain off the liquid and use it to sprinkle round vulnerable plants, such as the young growth of delphiniums, lettuce and so on - but not on them. The remains of the slugs and snails can also be scattered.

Sprinkle slugs with salt to kill them (if you can stand the resulting agony).

Trap them using containers in the ground, slightly propped up pie tins or plant pots that have various baits in them though you still have to get rid of them which can be a problem if you don't hate your neighbor. Suggested baits:

Empty grapefruit halves, lemons and oranges also work too, but grapefruit are best

Beer - the slug-pub

Yeast, mix some with water and a bit of sugar

Potato cut in half, placed cut half downwards

Damp dog food

You can deal with your captured slugs and snails in a number of ways according to taste. Placing them out for the birds may work, but the slugs and snails invariably make a run for it so some escape.

Another way to deal with your captured slugs and snails (I haven't tried it myself - the wife won't let me) is to put them in a plastic Tupperware type container and then put them in the freezer. This is probably the most humane way as they just slow down and become torpid in the cold being cold blooded (yes they do have blood of sorts). So they are effectively anaesthetised before being frozen, put the carcasses on the compost heap.

Plastic bottles. Take a 1.5Ltr or 2Ltr clear plastic bottle and cut off the base with scissors. Remove the stopper and place over a single plant. A simple but effective way of protecting tender plants from slugs or the weather.

Go out to the garden in the late afternoon and lay boards or pieces of cardboard on the bare soil around your plants. In the morning turn the boards over and scrape the hiding slugs into a large yogurt or cottage cheese container.

Animal control, ducks, chickens, frogs, toads and turtles all eat slugs and snails and can be used in a fenced yard or greenhouse as appropriate.

Another option is to go for biological control. Biological control of a pest relies on introducing a predator species so "fighting nature with nature", if chosen carefully, the predator will stop damage to your plants without damaging the environment. Such biological controls are safe for the user, children and pets. They will not harm other beneficial garden insects and are biodegradable.

They do rely on the predator always having some food though, or they will die out, so like other organic practices it is a question of maintaining a small population of pests to allow the predators to be ready for them, in this case though the balance is skewed away from the problem.

For slugs and snails, the biological control is a Nematode worm sold as "Nemaslug". The nematodes aggressively search out and attack slugs. They enter the slugs body through a hole behind their heads (the pulmonary aperture that they breathe through to be precise). Once inside they release a bacteria which stops the slug eating. The nematodes then start to reproduce inside and within 7-10 days the slug is dead. The nematodes continue to reproduce as the body breaks down. This new population enters the soil and searches out new slugs to attack. This is a natural, non-toxic product that is safe for both users and wildlife. The nematodes stay active for 6 weeks so a single dose protects plants when they are emerging in the spring and are most vulnerable.

Nematodes can only be used in late spring and summer when the soil has warmed up (to above 5Â°C). On heavy, waterlogged clay soil, the nematodes can find it difficult to move, so Nemaslug can be less effective in these conditions.

Reasons to like slugs and snails:

Go and look at them out in the garden after the rain has fallen and it's warm. Watch them as they glide elegantly and effortlessly with their eye stalks and feelers moving this way and that and try not to be impressed.
There's something noble about the way that they face the world, completely vulnerable with their soft bodies, unable to move quickly, not very aware of their surroundings and unable to do much to defend themselves other than retreat to a very thin shell or just cower in the case of slugs. Then again I suppose, compared to being able to see the bird that was going to eat you but not being able to do anything about it, - blissful ignorance is preferable.
In historical times slugs and snails provided an excellent source of protein for the impoverished. Sometime unfortunately the poor widow with healthy strapping children living in a village with otherwise sickly children (with less resourceful parents) would be decried as a witch.
Centuries ago people believed in spontaneous generation. Meat spontaneously turned into flies if left, cheese into mould for instance. Well I reckon that modern science has overlooked this theory as far as slugs and snails are concerned. Soil in the presence of plants spontaneously generates slugs and snails.
Snails of course as we all know are an attempt by a well meaning angel to cover up the fact that God made slugs when he wasn't paying proper attention. "I'll give them a little house, that'll make them look cute and then people will love them.........".
They provide food for thrushes, hedgehogs and many other animals.
No matter how much you think you like Hostas, slugs and snails will always have a deeper appreciation.
Slugs secrete an anaesthetic, Native Americans used to suck on a slug when they had a toothache - so now you know what to do next time, probably works with mouth ulcers too.