Garden office owners given advice on dealing with slugs

Garden office owners given advice on dealing with slugs

» 15th July 2010 «

Keen gardeners have been given some pointers on how to stop snails and slugs roaming around their garden offices and eating their favourite plants.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has indicated that the current forecasts of heavy rain may lead to many snails and slugs becoming active again after the recent and prolonged dry period.

With many of them also likely to be hungry, the gardening charity has suggested ways in which people can protect their plants.

These include watering in a new batch of nematodes as those previously distributed would have died in the dry soil and using proprietary slug pellets containing ferric phosphate or metaldehyde.

"Barriers, such as copper tapes round pots or mineral granules and egg shells sprinkled around plants discourage slugs and snails getting to your plants," the RHS added.

Slugs can become a particular nuisance in the garden because of their tendency to make holes in leaves, flowers, bulbs, tubers and stems.

Meanwhile, the seedlings and new growth seen on herbaceous plants in the spring are said to be at the most risk from slugs.

Posted by David Webb