Ortho Slug B Gon ECO Slug and Snail Bait 1 kg

Details

Slugs and snails are molluscs, not insects, and nothing you spray for aphids or beetles touches them. They feed at night and in wet weather, rasping ragged holes in leaves and taking the tender growth off hostas, lettuce, strawberries and seedlings, and by morning the culprits are back under a board or in the mulch. Bait is the practical control because it works while you are asleep. The "ECO" designation on this one points to a bait based on an iron compound rather than the older metaldehyde chemistry, and that difference is worth understanding — check the label to confirm what you are buying. Iron-based baits are considerably less hazardous to dogs, cats and wildlife than metaldehyde, which is genuinely dangerous to pets and has poisoned a great many dogs over the years. If you have animals or small children in the yard, that alone is a good reason to choose this class of product. Scatter pellets thinly over the soil around the plants being damaged rather than piling them up. Slugs need to find the bait while foraging, so a light, even spread over a wider area works better than a heap. Apply in the evening, ideally on damp ground before a wet spell, and reapply after heavy rain or as the label allows. A 1 kg container covers a good-sized garden through a season. The rest of the job is habitat. Boards, pots, thick mulch and dense low foliage give slugs a daytime hiding place right next to your plants; clearing those out reduces pressure considerably. Follow the label for approved crops, rate and any pre-harvest interval, and store it sealed, dry, and out of reach of children and pets.