Do slug pellets (or poisoned slugs) harm wildlife? I've not had cause to
wage war with slugs here yet as their damage is fairly limited yet. There
are lots of birds and wildlife living around the garden, and I sometimes
find toads amongst the vegetables all of which are helping keep the slug and
snail population down. However, all this wet weather seems to be boosting
their numbers.

The quick fix cheap solution would be slug pellets if the slug population
becomes a large army of leaf munchers, but would that kill any of my garden
allies - the birds, toads, hedgehogs or other wildlife - do the creatures
avoid the pellets or poisoned slugs - can they tell if a slug is poisoned?

The nematode solution would be too expensive due to the large area to
protect.

--
David
.... Email address on website http://www.avisoft.co.uk

In article ,
"David \(Normandy\)" wrote:

Do slug pellets (or poisoned slugs) harm wildlife? I've not had cause to
wage war with slugs here yet as their damage is fairly limited yet. There
are lots of birds and wildlife living around the garden, and I sometimes
find toads amongst the vegetables all of which are helping keep the slug and
snail population down. However, all this wet weather seems to be boosting
their numbers.

The quick fix cheap solution would be slug pellets if the slug population
becomes a large army of leaf munchers, but would that kill any of my garden
allies - the birds, toads, hedgehogs or other wildlife - do the creatures
avoid the pellets or poisoned slugs - can they tell if a slug is poisoned?

The nematode solution would be too expensive due to the large area to
protect.

An interesting read:-
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudicati...ication+Detail
s.htm?Adjudication_id=40295

An interesting read:-
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/adjudicati...ication+Detail
s.htm?Adjudication_id=40295

Thanks. Long article but the essence being that slug pellets scattered
thinly are not dangerous to wildlife and poisoned slugs and snails also pose
no threat to hedgehogs. The only danger it outlined were piles of pellets
being eaten by pets. We have a black lab that eats anything, but since our
veg plot is fenced off from the dogs it seems a legitimate way of killing
off slugs and snails if they become a serious problem.

So, bottom line being, scatter them thinly, keep pets out, no harm done.

David.

On Thu, 17 May 2007 13:22:12 +0200, "David \(Normandy\)"
wrote:

Do slug pellets (or poisoned slugs) harm wildlife? I've not had cause to
wage war with slugs here yet as their damage is fairly limited yet. There
are lots of birds and wildlife living around the garden, and I sometimes
find toads amongst the vegetables all of which are helping keep the slug and
snail population down. However, all this wet weather seems to be boosting
their numbers.

The quick fix cheap solution would be slug pellets if the slug population
becomes a large army of leaf munchers, but would that kill any of my garden
allies - the birds, toads, hedgehogs or other wildlife - do the creatures
avoid the pellets or poisoned slugs - can they tell if a slug is poisoned?

The nematode solution would be too expensive due to the large area to
protect.

There are two schools of thought. The majority of people here will
tell you that the blue pellets containing metaldehyde that are
commonly and cheaply available not only poison slugs, but other
wildlife such as birds, and that the poisoned slugs are themselves
poisonous. I have a book on hedgehogs (by Pat Morris, Whittet books)
which suggests that the hedgehog poisoning problem is at least grossly
exaggerated. Ever the sceptic, I would like to see results of a
properly conducted scientific investigation into whether they do or
don't harm other wildlife, rather than the rather emotional and hyped
claims made against them.

But to be absolutely safe, you can now get another pellet, also blue,
containing iron phosphate. They're called Ferramol IIRC, and the claim
is that when slugs eat them, they loose their appetite and simply
crawl away and die of starvation. The dead and dying slugs are not
harmful to birds, apparently, nor does the iron phosphate harm other
wildlife. But they're more expensive.

I'm not averse to using metaldehyde pellets and have used it in the
past, but I get the iron phosphate type nowadays.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net

I thought they were designed to strip off the slimy coating, rather than poison the slugs/snails?

I'm glad to hear that a light scatter of blue (cheap) pellets won't hurt the hedgehogs, but I'd like to know if the blue pellets are harmful to newts, as I have a lot of them and would like to keep them.

Also, related question, ant powder seems to kill woodlice, does ant powder harm newts? Or frogs?

Please, someone, respond: I'm beginning to feel like the Phantom Thread-Killer!

On 17 May, 18:18, Chris Hogg wrote:
But to be absolutely safe, you can now get another pellet, also blue,
containing iron phosphate. They're called Ferramol IIRC, and the claim
is that when slugs eat them, they loose their appetite and simply
crawl away and die of starvation. The dead and dying slugs are not
harmful to birds, apparently, nor does the iron phosphate harm other
wildlife. But they're more expensive.

Not much more expensive. I got some in Wilkinsons, so they're widely
available this year. Last year you could only buy 25kg from
horticultural suppliers, and I don't have that big a slug problem!

I can't comment on their effectiveness, but when I plant out my
sunflowers I'll protect a few with just the new pellets, and compare
that to the others that will get a collar made from a yoghurt pot with
the bottom cut off and a strip of copper tape applied. Then we'll
see.

I didn't think they actually counted as organic, not being a natural
product, but I saw them on
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalo...oducts_id=1821
Actually, these are exactly the ones I got from Wilkinsons and I don't
think I paid as much as that.

Andrew

On 18 May 2007 05:01:42 -0700, 1970alr
wrote:

I didn't think they actually counted as organic, not being a natural
product, but I saw them on
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalo...oducts_id=1821
Actually, these are exactly the ones I got from Wilkinsons and I don't
think I paid as much as that.

I don't know what constitutes 'organic', but iron phosphate occurs in
nature; it's the mineral vivianite. Whether this is the stuff in these
pellets, or whether it's synthetic, I've no idea.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net