The secret history of slug pellets - and perhaps you shouldn't tell your neighbours this one!

Slug pellets are made up of less than 5% poison, 95% dog-food and colour; the poison element is washed out into the soil rapidly by any rain.   What's left lying on your neighbour's plot?   Guessed it yet?   Slug heaven - little blue pellets which ATTRACT slugs from miles around!

I look around at my neighbours' plots, and those who use slug pellets have many more slugs, and sustain much more slug damage, than those who do not!

It set me a-wondering - could slug pellets be perhaps designed that way?   They kill lots of slugs within 24 hours of application - this shows the gardener they work.   And then they lie around attracting lots more slugs - just to remind the gardener to get out his/her wallet and buy another box of poison pellets!

How cynical of me!   But after I'd posted this little diatribe, I received this story on a bulletin board:-

"As told to our fuchsia club by a speaker, who is an organic grower and doesn't have many problems with slug.

"He was invited to a seminar by a leading slug pellet manufacturer, and was surprised when he was shown a video of a slug eating the pellets.   What happened next?   The video showed the slug dying and then . . . it then released all its eggs!   So that's why you seem to get MORE slugs and not less. So the companies that produce slug pellets are on a win all!"