Antislug pellets

[madmike]

I've just had a thought - will a bird be harmed if it eats a slug/snail that has eaten/died from antislug pellets?
Also, do garden birds try to eat antislug pellets?
I bought some the other day that have something to stop pets eating them, but what about the birds!

Cheers,.

A worried madmike

[songbird6666]

I always worry about this too. Last year I bought some which said "harmless to pets and birds" but I was still very careful where I used them to be honest. I worry about hedgehogs too, if they eat a slug or snail which has been poisoned, it can't do them a lot of good can it? Perhaps someone else will know, if not, maybe as well to ask on the BBC gardening forum ...... think I'll do that, and see if I get a reply.

[florall]

I don't risk using them any more. Funnily enough, since I started feeding my birds, and therefore having many more birds in my garden, I've noticed very little slug damage. I think the birds, especially the thrushes and blackbirds, eat the slugs and snails, so I probably have the same number of slugs as I used to have when I used the pellets. It just didn't make sense to me to feed the birds all winter and then kill them off in the spring with pellet-killed slugs.

[bristolbirder]

They won't do your Frogs or Hedgehogs or any slug eating bird any good.

Avoid them!

Steve

[Mary Evelyn]

I have a large sign in our shop asking people not to use slug pellets because not only do they kill hedgehogs but also our song birds.

Even if they had safe on the container,I simply wouldn't use them.

We have slugs in our garden but get very little damage and the birds get a truly safe feed.

A natural food for both the birds and the hedgehogs.

[tippy555]

Avoid ..them... don't grow plants that slugs like,or if you have to then let them eat ..I have never used slug pellets, leave it to nature.. it is awful but sometimes I would love to stand by an asile in a shop and tell people not to buy them!!! but to much of a coward!!and ant powder!! Why do people buy it!! to kill the most interesting insects and helpful in the bloomin garden, they are only active 2-3 mths in the year!! .ok if they are getting into the house even then you can use herbs ..BUT in the garden!!!!!!!pleeeeease..sorry but I do not kill anything living!!

[Stewart J.]

As others have said AVOID THEM, they have been associated with the decline of Song Thrushes, Hedgehogs etc. There are other methods, we use a slug trap baited with beer (At least they die happy)

Stewart

B (:

[Gill Osborne]

...don't grow plants that slugs like......and ant powder!! Why do people buy it!!

I used to have a garden that was very heavily attacked by slugs and snails and I soon sussed out which plants were soon munched up ( hostas and french marigolds were like caviar to my slugs/snails!)...they don't seem to don't bother so much with the geranium family...that's things like cranesbills NOT pelargoniums - they ARE pretty but worse than useless as regards feeding insects!
I used to collect the snails up and take them a couple of miles away to a local nature reserve and, after a couple of summers of doing this I did notice a reduction in the number of my plants getting eaten - or perhaps I'd just learnt by then which ones I could grow! ;)

But ant powder!!! :storm: NO excuse for it!!!!! Ok, so they may occasionally 'milk' aphids for their honeydew BUT i kept my aphid population to a very manageable level by growing flowers which hoverflies found irresistable! Cranesbills family, Poached Egg plant ( Limnanthes douglasii), sunflowers, scabious, night scented stock,virginia stock, foxgloves, nasturtiums etc. After just one summer of attracting the predators in my garden was bursting with hoverflies and ladybirds all munching on the aphids.

Start THIS summer by stopping any use of poisons etc NOW and by next summer you will have a garden which has a natural balance of predators and prey AND is bursting with life! :clap: AND, best of all, you'll have your own nature reserve - however small - which will be fascinating to watch all the year around! ;)

Gill

[camlass]

You can get orgainic slug killers that are not harmful to wildlife, they sell them here www.greengardener.co.uk
The product is called Nemaslug or something like that, I hear it's very good.
We don't get too much of a problem with slugs as the hedgehogs devour most of them.

[Colin Trotman]

Agreed, if you can't get genuinely 'organic' slug repellents - it's best to say goodbye to fancy plants which seem to draw the slugs, you can never be too sure with the validity of 'bird and animal safe' pellets - I've heard that slug pellets reduce fertility in birds who feed on the slugs that have eaten them - if you're into birds , settle for Honesuckle and lavateria, forget the Dahlias!

[ardnasx1]

I've read about new slug pellets containing iron phosphate, I think they're called Ferramol. Seemingly they are organic, totally harmelss to wildlife, rain resistant, and if the slugs don't eat them they breakdown and enrich your soil. Sounds too good to be true! I haven't been able to get hold of them so I can't give an opinion on them. At the moment I've had to settle for aluminium sulphate pellets, they seem to be the best of the bad lot that is available to me, and the "blue" pellets are the ones that really need to be avoided. I've tried nemaslug expecting miracles but unfortunately it only made a very small difference, and slug pubs, ground coffee etc hadn't much effect either. I think next year I'll avoid planting anything in my garden from the cabbage family and let the blackbirds do their work!

Sandra