“It's war, but not as we know it…”

Keeping dahlias safe from ghastly gastropod attack is a little harder when you’re organic, says Julianne Robertson

My name is Julianne and I’m a dahlia addict. With my addiction comes an obsession with slugs – specifically, how to stop them laying waste to the tubers I’ve nursed through winter, and how to prevent them munching the little green shoots emerging from those fat tubers in spring.

Slugs love this soft, new growth. They’re known to gallop across a garden at the mere sight of a sappy young dahlia shoot emerging from the soil. They gobble down newly-planted tubers and devour them as a tasty hibernation snack by sneaking into the greenhouse.

It’s fair to say I’m not a fan, but I’m also a gardener with a conscience so I try to avoid pesticides of any kind. In recent years I’ve employed a battery of organic, non-chemical weapons to try and deter their slimy shenanigans.

Every year I plan my strategy, adopt a steely resolve, arm myself with weaponry and go into battle. Putting out beer traps or ‘slug pubs’ was my first tactic. They worked to a certain extent… however if you don't want to sacrifice some of your best bitter for the cause, you have to buy the cheapest beer in the supermarket – raising the eyebrows of fellow shoppers. Secondly, you must empty the traps regularly, or you’re left with a foul-smelling container full of dead slugs and old beer. And where to dispose of the bodies? Will leaving them out for the birds encourage alcoholism in the local sparrow colony?

Next in the organic armoury: egg shells and coffee grounds. Apparently slugs don’t like the sharp edges of the eggshells or the caffeine in the coffee. I tried both these methods together (nothing like a ‘belt and braces’ approach) but the issue here is remembering to save the shells and grounds in some forgotten corner of the kitchen until you have enough to spread around each plant. I do enjoy my coffee, and we have a steady supply of eggs from our chickens, but with 20+ prized plants to protect, I’d be bound and buzzing for weeks.

I tried feeding the captured slugs to the aforementioned hens, but they turned up their beaks with disgust when presented with this slimy snack. Apparently you’re supposed to chop them up to make them more palatable. Erm, no thanks.

So last year I brought out the big guns – nematodes. I’d heard great things about biological control, so ordered a box of nematodes, dutifully mixed and applied the strange powdery liquid, then kept a close eye out for marauding molluscs. The nematodes worked pretty well in the raised beds... but failed in the borders, where the slugs continued to rampage through my herbaceous perennials at will, decimating several dahlias in the process.

In desperation I’ve even tried Weetabix as a decoy. Apparently slugs can’t resist cereal and prefer to munch on a wheat biscuit than a tasty leaf. So, I placed several around the perimeters of my raised beds in the hope it would work. It may well do, but it’s hard to tell whether the Weetabix has been battered by the rain, or from the tiny rasping jaws of a hungry gastropod.

Having thus exhausted my ammunition, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no magic bullet, no single weapon that will rid my garden of slugs or their snail cousins. But perhaps that’s a good thing. Being ‘wildlife friendly’ means welcoming all kinds of visitors to my plot, and encouraging a healthy eco-system to develop. I’ll keep battling on in the hope that my emerging eco-system includes lots of frogs, hedgehogs and birds with an appetite for my nasty nemesis! ✿

I’ve employed a battery of organic, non-chemical weapons