Slugs like organic gardens since we try to maintain an environment they really like, cool and moist, with the mulches we put down. Predators of slugs include birds, toads, some beetles, mice and shrews, and snakes where they live.

Ferric Phosphate, or Iron Phosphate, has been a bait and poison used for years as one control of slugs , but it is a passive method of control. The slugs must find and ingest that bait for it to work. What I have seen about spreading the Iron Phosphate bait is 4 to 8 pellets per square foot repeating as the baits are eaten or dissolved. Spread the pellets before planting so the slugs find them before they have seedlings to munch on.

There are some concerned that spreading Iron Phosphate on the garden might lead to poisoning of children or pets, and that is a possibility if quite large amounts of the bait is ingested (50 mg?) depending on body weight.

kimmq is kimmsr

It is impractical (and very costly) for me to follow that advice as I would need to replace the pellets every day.My method of laying down planks of wood protects the pellets from whatever it is that is eating the pellets. However it does restrict the area that I can cover with pellets as I cannot cover the whole garden with these boards.

Nevertheless ,since I started to do this my crops have hardly been attacked even though I can see the slugs are extremely close to the seedlings.

I will have to carry on this way (it is extra work) but could there be a better alternative ?

Lucy, I can completely relate to your experience. I have an issue with both slugs and snails in my garden and have been using an iron phosphate bait to control them, especially with all my container plants (the buggers crawl right up the sides of the pots - easy peasey!!). No sooner do I apply the pellets then I watch the birds fly in and pick them all out. Pretty expensive bird food!

There are other ways you can control these voracious beasts. You could try a metaldehyde-based bait. Not as environmentally friendly and I wouldn't use if I had pets around (which I do) but they do work well. Then there are the beer traps - use a flat tin (like a tuna or cat food can) sunk into the soil and filled with beer. The slugs/snails are attracted to the beer and fall in and drown. Messy and need to be emptied and refilled often but they work pretty well also. Finally, many folks report good slug control using caffeine - spreading used coffee grounds around susceptible plants or even better, spraying the plants with brewed coffee. NOTE: this is a repellent only - it does not kill the slugs or snails but apparently they dislike coffee and will shy away from any plant so treated.

I also dispatch these creatures directly when I encounter them. Slugs get sliced in half with shears or trowel and the snails get hoiked over to a graveled area where they are picked off by predators or dry up in the heat and sun before they are able to find cover.

Yes , I shy away from the metaldehyde because worry about the wildlife or birds being poisoned ( even though I know that they don't eat the dead slugs).

I too have started the coffee grounds around individual brassicas since they try to regenerate at the base and these shoots get grazed out of existence.

I had not thought of spaying the leaves with caffeine but maybe that could also be a good tactic .(but I doubt once the slugs are established inside the cabbage leaves that it would have any effect.

Do you happen to know ,by the way whether the IP pellets actually attract the slugs? Otherwise , my method could perhaps be improved upon if, say I mixed in a few things that might actually pull them in (grated potato , torn lettuce leaves or old dog food etc?)

Attracting slugs seems a risky business ,though if they can do damage before they die.

The metaldehyde baits are totally unacceptable to an organic grower and since this is an organic growers forum someone suggesting the use of that says they do not understand organic methods.

kimmq is kimmsr

Oh, get over yourself, you silly man! I am tired of having this pointless discussion with you.

Lucy, I don't know about the IP type baits they may have in the UK but here the pellets of IP are coated with an attractant - the iron phosphate itself has no particular appeal to the mollusks.