When I first bought them the advice was to apply them for a maximum of 4 times per plant over the course of their "lifetime".

That seemed a bit vague and I haven't come across those instructions since then.

I seem to notice that they are disappearing from where I have put them after about a week.

Could anything apart from the slugs be eating them?
Does the rain dissolve them pretty quickly ?(it has been quite dry)

I also notice it says to put them on bare soil.Are they ineffective in the weeds?

Do they attract slugs and if not would it be a smart move to attract them somewhere away from the actual veg where they can eat the pellets?
- What about putting them under wood planks where the slugs tend to gather (and I normally dispatch them with a scissors)

You can also use coffee grounds or sand to keep slugs away from certain areas.

That wouldn't work where I live because (a) I've tried it and (b) it is too wet.

So you think they will work in areas other than bare soil?

. I mean won't they be out of the rain if it is the rain that dissolves them so quickly?

Personally I have a suspicion that the birds (or something else) may be taking them since I can't see any trace whatsoever within quite a short period of time. .

I used them last year and noticed a big improvement in survival rates compared to previous years where I never used pellets of any description .So I do have confidence in them.

I think I may have to start tagging individual pellets so as to ascertain what is actually happening to them.

I first tried powder because the cats would eat the pellets, and I suspect one actually died from it. (After seeing the cats eat some, they would act drunk or disoriented for a while.)

Lucy and I live in climates where there is constant moisture/rain so methods which rely on dry barrieers don't work very well. Beer traps work if they have a roof but they only deal with a few slugs at a time. I use ferrous sulphate pellets on my allotment because I don't want metaldehyde there. I put them under a piece of wood, tile etc. But they still dissolve fairly fast. In the ornamental garden I do use a few metaldehyde pellets, very thinly placed around precious plants which slugs/snails can destroy e.g hostas. They also have a penchant for eating the flowers of bulbs like hyacinths and fritillaries. It is just a constant battle and I only fight it where a plant is really precious. I have a lot of frogs in the garden but they don't seem to make a noticeable impression on the numbers.

I've never seen powder on sale here.

Too bad we can't ask our ancestors.

I tried the beer in container method but it was way too much disgusting work.

Yes, kids helped tend to the garden also, because that was one of the family's primary food sources. In a modern family, you might see one member, maybe 2, of the family who is really into gardening and the others kind of not really.

And they did have beer back then too! I'm sure one of those folks stumbled upon the fact that beer attracts the slugs.

I'm confused why you prefer ferric phosphate to metaldehyde. Metaldehyde is a pretty simple hydrocarbon that breaks down to acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is what your liver makes from alcohol before metabolizing it further into fats and sugars that the body can use. It's also what gives you a hangover in excess.

The big, nasty Great Slug was brought over by the early settlers to make into medicines.

That is how I deal with very severe insect problems. If I have very bad year for bean-beetle, for instance, then that garden gets no beans the next year, or very few. The removal of the favored food source collapses the pest population. Perhaps slugs are too omnivorous for that strategy to work. What about reducing the delicious crops to a much smaller area and surrounding with grain or something they don't much care for and have a hard time getting through?

Kevin

1- What is called slug/snail BAIT is just misleading. When they crawl over the stuff they get injured and sort of bleed to death. So slugs do not eat the stuff. Or I don't think so.

2- Best (The Best) way to control s/s is to hunt them and destroy them. Start early in the season (Now is the right time in my area). I get a bamboo skewer (with a sharp tip) and just skew them one after another, as many as I can find (Like a shish kabob: (grin)). I can find them during the day when it is lightly raining or it is over cast. In sunny days, get a flashlight after dark. DON'T FORGET THE SKEWER. haha

3- I mix slug stuff + coffee ground + sand + ground egg shell. This way I use it generously as coffee ground, sand egg shell is at no cost. I have seen them running away from it while bleeding and eventually dying a short distance away.

4- you can cover your seedling/small plants with nylon tulle. Very effective for s/s, flea beetles and earwigs too. Once the plants become mature the damage is not critical although not desirable. Continue killing them, NON-STOP.

BUT the MOST effective way is hunting them. This way you reduce the population. I can tell that two years ago(about this time) they were all over grazing like goats. But this year I have hard time finding the, So far I have hunted half a dozen of the. They used to chump the iris last couple of years. This year the irises are unaffected (so far).

There is no easy way, I can admit.

BTW: today is lightly raining. I will go out in a while to check. Later on I can sleep at nights without worrying. hehe

It hasn't been taking the peas but I wonder if it is the culprit for my disappearing ferric phosphate pellets.

I would imagine it won't be too difficult setting a trap for the varmint.It was staring at me for a minute or so and I was weighing up whether it would approach me if I stood stock still -at which point I would enter Tom and Jerry mode with the flat of my spade. But it seemed to notice the barest movement of my eyes and turned tail.

@woohooman what are "Korry's pellets" made from?

By the way last year I experimented with home made nematodes.I just gathered up a good amount of slugs and kept them in an enclosed space which favoured the growth of the nematodes .When the slugs died I drained off the liquid and spread it around the place with a watering can.

It did increase mortality but I was half hearted and and inexperienced .I am sure it could be done better and more successfully - I may repeat the effort again this year.

I was very disappointed with the overall result and try do do whatever I can to avoid this if I possibly can.

I am under no illusion that I was ever getting on top of the situation.

Now I adopt lots of different strategies -one of which is to get as much bare (compacted) earth as I can around the veg as well as leaving bits of strategically placed planks or similar which I look underneath in the morning.

I have tried befriending the birds so that they know when I am working and that there will be treats for them but there is only so much they can eat and they can't keep up with all the slugs that I might uncover as I go along.

I leave piles of stones to encourage slug predators like beetles (which eat the eggs) and there must be loads of other things I have tried over the years.

But there is no substitute for a good dry spell and on the West of Ireland you cannot count on that as so you are always on the back foot..

That's not actually correct, seysonn. Maybe you are thinking of diatomaceous earth? Both metaldehyde and iron sulphate are poisons which the gastropods eat.

Very few birds will eat slugs but hedgehogs do.

Would you happen to know which kinds of tortoise might be suitable?

I didn't know they came in varieties at all

What if they ate a slug that had been poisoned by ferric phosphate? Would they find it unappetizing ?

I don't think birds go for slugs that have been poisoned with metaldehyde (although I have been able to get them to eat slugs that I have killed with a scissors )

Anyway, it seems we may have identified the root cause of the slug problem: lack of garden space and consequently insufficient fallows and cover/trap/sacrificial crops.