“Mark Keenan, journalist with The Sunday Times (Irish edition) has been writing a piece about allotments in the Home supplement. Mark draws on his experience as a first time plot holder on No 34, and his informative and witty observances make recommended reading” South Dublin Allotments Association
Well I beg to differ with the above view particularly after reading his piece in today’s Home supplement in The Sunday Times entitled ‘Win the war on slugs’. I have already struggled with Mark’s negative view and stereotyping of garden centres being expensive and the positive promotion of D.I.Y barns but today’s piece amazes me.
His piece reads “For the first time this year, I have reached for the little blue boys. I use the ultra-toxic, blue slug pellets sparingly, on the grounds that nothing else works. Please don’t e-mail or write to me about nematodes, beer baths, copper wire, roving ducks or hedgehogs. All belong in the ACME warehouse of solutions as frequented by Wile E Coyote. Thus far this year,I’ve used the environmentally friendly white pellets and I’d stick with them if they didn’t dissolve overnight in wet soil.”
Well if Mark researched his products or went to a garden centre he could have bought Gr
owing Success Advanced Slug Killer. This is a bait which can be used around children, pets and wildlife as it only targets Slugs.Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer is a truly ‘advanced’ Slug Killer completely out dating all Slug killers of the past. It will only kill slugs and snails, and will not harm children, pets, birds, animals or wildlife etc. if used as directed. This product has already enjoyed overwhelming success in Europe and America.Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer is an important breakthrough in slug control, with many environmental benefits:It will only kill slugs and snails. There is no secondary poisoning of birds or hedgehogs etc. and they are completely safe even if they eat the pellets so long as the product has been used as directed.It is based on ferrous phosphate (iron phosphate – which is an organic compound) plus a bait, thus making it attractive to slugs and snails.The slugs and snails are attracted to the bait, ingest the pellets and then crawl away to die, leaving no dead slugs or snails around and no unsightly slime. Any bait not eaten breaks down rapidly to iron and phosphate nutrients as part of garden soil.It is safe to handle and apply it can be used safely around ornamentals, fruits and vegetable’s is suitable for organic gardening.
owing Success Advanced Slug Killer. This is a bait which can be used around children, pets and wildlife as it only targets Slugs.Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer is a truly ‘advanced’ Slug Killer completely out dating all Slug killers of the past. It will only kill slugs and snails, and will not harm children, pets, birds, animals or wildlife etc. if used as directed. This product has already enjoyed overwhelming success in Europe and America.Growing Success Advanced Slug Killer is an important breakthrough in slug control, with many environmental benefits:It will only kill slugs and snails. There is no secondary poisoning of birds or hedgehogs etc. and they are completely safe even if they eat the pellets so long as the product has been used as directed.It is based on ferrous phosphate (iron phosphate – which is an organic compound) plus a bait, thus making it attractive to slugs and snails.The slugs and snails are attracted to the bait, ingest the pellets and then crawl away to die, leaving no dead slugs or snails around and no unsightly slime. Any bait not eaten breaks down rapidly to iron and phosphate nutrients as part of garden soil.It is safe to handle and apply it can be used safely around ornamentals, fruits and vegetable’s is suitable for organic gardening.I hope that Mark realises that his choice and promotion of ‘ultra toxic, blue slug pellets’ are not good for the environment and maybe he should do some research on whats wrong with toxic blue pellets. See the link below for a few reasons to make a better choice and they are rainfast.
I agree with you. I’ve used Nemaslug for 2 years with intermittent success, but I’d rather sacrifice my plants to slugs than use the blue pellets. I went on a walk through my allotment ground last year and found a mostly dead hedgehog laying in the path. It was still alive, but barely. I didn’t know what to do with it but I am certain it had ingested poisoned slugs and was infact poisoned itself. I’ll have a look for the product you’ve mentioned here as the snails seem to have grown to the size of golfballs this year and Nemaslug does little to fully grown snails.
In our own garden the ducks are the best method of slug prevention, our hostas have never looked better. Good to see that you will consider alternatives Anab1.