Slimy problem for gardeners as warm weather boosts slug numbers

Experts have warned of an invasion as gardeners battle record numbers of the slimy pests, which thrive in sticky, humid conditions.

The slug population was also greatly helped by a much milder winter than usual, seeing a larger number of the gastropods surviving to breed this year.

And it seems that even the experts are struggling to cope with the invasion.

Margaret Thrower, probably the county's best-known horticulturalist after her late father, Percy, admitted: "My garden is a nightmare this year."

The ravenous slugs have left her hostas "looking like lacework" and have attacked plants that they normally avoid in her garden, near Shrewsbury.

"I've lost plants through slug damage that normally I can control," she said.

And she is not alone.

Miss Thrower said that while judging garden competitions people had asked for advice after losing delphiniums, lupins and salad leaves. "They love the fresh, green shoots," she explained.

But when asked for her advice on the best way to control slugs she joked: "Perhaps when you find out you can let me know."

She said she used copper bands to protect pot plants, and had put down grit and gravel. "But I don't know if it's that effective these days." Miss Thrower also also advised using slug pellets, but sparingly and only according the manufacturers' instructions.

"You only need one or two," she said.

A research team examining new "monster slugs" claims that an army of outsized gastropods have also hit the country.

The pests are said to be particularly hardy and able to devour up to 20 slug pellets before they even start to show the effects.

These slugs, which are cannibalistic and eat others of their kind, are thought to have first arrived in Britain on imported lettuce and other salad leaves.

• How do you control slugs in your garden? Email newsroom@shropshirestar.co.uk or write to the editor to share your tips with readers.