I think they are being sprayed from outer space. What else could account for having a snail and slug plague simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic. 400 in an hour - that's an amateur score ; ) I've just lost 36 baby lettuces overnight. Mind you it does seem to have rained incessantly for over a month which produces conditions for gastropod paradise.

Every good organic garden will be a haven for slugs simply because we provide a good environment for them. A nice cool, moist place to live and grow and lay eggs that will produce more. Provide a haven for predators of slugs, toads, snakes, birds, etc. and look for multiple other methods of control. Stale beer is a good attractant. Put that in shallow saucers in different places to attract and drown the wee buggers, Iron Phosphate baits can help, Diamotaceous Earth, eggs shells and other sharps can also help. It will be continuous work.

Try this link.
I use coffee grounds & coffee waste compost.
I know many people have tried UGC & saw no change. But I can not find a snail or slug in my over 1600 sq ft garden. It is sandy, so it drys out quickly,
No snail ever or feed marks or slugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: slug kill

Sorry Flora that sucks that they got your lettuce. I was thinking that I was making a big difference after that 400 day because they seemed to have slowed down to a snail�s pace so I decided to get a little wild and plant some more seedling this weekend and yes you guessed it they're back again today. Major FROWN! Fortunately they seem to only be really bad in this one corner of my yard so I'm going to keep fighting them there and go ahead and plant in some other areas. I was wondering about coffee & yes I've heard the stories of beer too but that seem like such a waste of a good beer. I was drowning them in a salty beer liquid at 1st but that seemed like way too good a death for them so I went and got out the BLEACH! Let's put you butt in a can of bleach and see how you like that you little so and so's.
I've also put down an extra board near the area that they like & I make sure that I throw all our salad waste there for them to munch on. This morning I found a lot of them dinning at the salad bar but hey if it keeps them off my plants. I did see they mentioned a couple of organic slug baits in the FAQ (Escargo, Sluggo, & Worry Free) so I was going to look into them a bit. Oh and yes I drowned at least another 225 again this morning. YUCK!!!

All the best strouper2 in your war against slugs/snails. I picked another half bucket today. In my experience nothing works against slugs/snails if you have a real infestation except chemical baits. I hate to use them but sometimes I cave in. Beer, coffee, eggshells, copper strips - no use at all. Even the ferrous sulphate 'safe' bait doesn't work in a month when it has rained heavily pretty much every single day.

I have a hosta growing in a pot set in the top of a three foot tall chimney pot. I guessed up there it might be safe. I even spread a thick layer of crushed eggshell over the entire surface of the pot. Result - shredded hosta.

This year they are even eating stuff they usually leave alone like mint and chard.

This link has DOZENS upon DOZENS of ideas for getting rid of slugs:

Here is a link that might be useful: Slug facts

Thanks for the site Nancy & yes it's certainly right when it says that they do just LOVE marigolds and to think that I was brought up thinking that NOTHING likes marigolds. Now I do have to say that I'm surprised the little bastards are picky about their beer! WTH is with that? Reminds me of a couple of my drunken friends that will only drink certain types. I mean really after the 1st one does it matter & if you're just going to drown yourself in it anyway who cares what kind it is?

Yeah flora I keep thinking that I'm winning but then I have one of those days that just makes me want to grab so poison and go a sprayin. How's the weather in the UK been? It's hot and dry over here already & I wouldn't think that they'd like that but it doesn't seem to be stopping them. I think that I'm just going to give up on the marigolds this year & plant something else to see what happens. We'll be gone all weekend & I have some extra cleome seedlings that I'm willing to sacrifice so I think that I'm going to throw them to the wolves to see what happens. They grow pretty darn fast so maybe they'll get big before the sluggies completely demolish them. Plus the slugs still have what's left of my marigolds to munch on so maybe that will give the cleomes the time that they need. And WTH I might as well put out a saucer of beer for them too but sorry sluggies it's only going to be Busch because you're certainly not worth anything better. ;)

It's finally stopped raining and we've had a few dry sunny days so I've been out hunting among the vegetables.

What I found hiding in a single chard plant.
{{gwi:140991}}

In my experience mulching with oak leaves is a very effective slug deterrent.

Sprays are a waste of time imo because slugs are most prevalent when it rains and the rain will be washing off your stuff.

Wow flora that's just an INSANE amount of the little beasties.
I actually once again thought my problem was getting better but then I watered last night & this morning I was being overrun yet again. However I'm actually posting this for a NEW reason. I've been kind of pleasantly surprised lately that the slugs haven't been mowing down very many of my plants especially when I go out and find over 100 of them in such a small area but then this morning I noticed that most of the ones I was finding were on the rotten banana and orange peels that I've thrown in the area (they like banana the best). I have a compost but many morning I just throw our banana peels right on top of the soil & this area has a lot of them and the slugs seem to really LOVE the ones that are really rotten. So now I'm wondering if this is keeping them off of some of my plants??? I mean I found next to none on my plants but on most of the peels I was finding several and there was a LOT of big ones. I'm going to do a little more experimenting in another area where my plants are getting eaten but I can't seem to catch what's doing it and I'm wondering if the slugs are doing it all at night so I'm going to throw a few peels around to see if they take the bait. And I guess if it works we're going to be eating even more bananas than we already do. LOL Oh and I'll keep everyone posted.

What about devising a banana peel trap. Lure them in with banana peels and then have a little box with a stick and rope. When they enter the box, you pull on the rope you attached to the stick and the box falls down on top of them trapping them inside. .....

Well, perhaps another form of trap would be more effective, but I think the Banana peel for a lure could be a good find. I have some waiting to go out to the composter, I'll put them around and see what shows up.