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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 September 2023I am not a great one for garden chemicals. I find with aphids, for example, that if you leave them alone tits and ladybirds, especially their larvae, will do a fine job in clearing them, lacewing populations grow and, especially early in the season, wasps kill and eat a fair old number.
I must admit though I do control vine weevils and the bright red Lily beetle, and this year has been particularly bad for slugs. Any young plants planted out were eaten down to ground level overnight. The old standby was slug pellets containing metaldehyde, which affected mucus production, resulting in trails of slime and dead slugs around treated areas.
The pellets were usually blue to make them less effective to birds, but they still affected other wildlife including animals and birds eating the dead, poisoned slugs, the chemical contaminated water supplies and pets sometimes ate pellets making them ill. So, the chemical was banned for agricultural use in April, 2022.There is a misconception blue pellets were banned, but it is just that particular formulation.
These pellets are also blue and contain ferric phosphate which effectively prevents slugs from eating, so they starve to death. It appears to be less effective as there are usually no slugs to be found around the treated areas. This is because it doesn’t kill slugs instantly, they can’t eat so they go off to hide where they die unseen. The real effect can be seen in the lack of damage rather than the lack of slugs.
It has the advantage there are no dead slugs to dispose of, but the disadvantage is that the decomposing bodies of the hidden dead slugs could attract more slugs. Slugs might be annoying when they eat seedlings but they do a fine, unheralded job, as scavengers carrying out garden, garbage disposal of organic matter and even carrion.
They are also food for amphibians, many birds and hedgehogs so in areas of the garden where they are not a problem, and most plants can afford a few nibbled leaves, it is best to leave them be and limit protection to susceptible crops and young plants where this product seems to work well.
The container has a small hole at the top, nothing technical, which allows you to shake out enough pellets with a single shake to protect a small area around a plant without touching the pellets at all.
There are enough for at least a couple of seasons or more with my limited slug control on small sections of the garden so for me it is an excellent product at a good price.
