As long as I've been raising vegetables, snails/slugs have never been a problem for me until now. I guess it's all this cool, wet weather we have had. I've tried several homemade remedies to no prevail. I'm about to go to the local hardware store, but I hate putting chemicals on my vegetables but before I see them destroy my price cabbage, I will.
I remember a long time ago my mother putting beer out, and they would crawl into the bowl and drown. Maybe I'll try that unless some of you'll know something better.
I live in the cool, wet climate of the West of Scotland where we are almost always plagued by slugs and snails.
I can tell you from experience that beer traps work. They will drastically reduce the number of slugs in your garden if you regularly put out the traps. If you don't have beer you can make an equally good alternative with flour, sugar, baking yeist and water. I use the latter.
I have also used nematodes - again, this will reduce and even erradicate the slugs in your garden for up to 6 weeks at a time. You can make your own if you can't get them where you live.
Nematodes tend to leave gaps when the slugs get to your seedlings so for valuable seedlings (can't be used when cold, and you need slugs in your garden for it to work). Slug traps won't eliminate completely. So I tend to use the safe slug bait that's environmentally friendly around things I particularly want to protect (very small seedlings for example).
Keeping rotting vegetation and rubbish away from your key growing areas will reduce slugs where your prized plants are. Put the slug traps to entice them away and keep your growing areas free of all food and hiding places.
This year has been abnormally dry (until now) so we didn't need to do anything for weeks on end. But the rain is back and so are the slugs - with a vengence!!
