slugs

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

14 years ago

OK, I've already lost some plentiful jugs to slugs. A couple of jugs were wiped clean, but most just had a bountiful harvest reduced to a "just too little to be enough" harvest. They also managed to get into some jugs with few sprouts and now I have less than 10 sprouts in those jugs.

Yesterday I took off more slugs, and even chopped two in half as they were crawling into the drain holes. I haven't found an answer yet on the web as to whether they will survive and continue up the soil, but I'm watching those containers like a hawk.

Last night, in an effort to sleep soundly (I didn't realize WS to lead to sleep deprivation via seedling anxiety) I put all my jugs on a porch raised about 3 feet off the ground.

Is that enough to keep them away?

P.S. These slugs are just a couple yards from the garden with a stone wall and pathway separating them, but I haven't seen any slugs or slug damage in the actual garden. Something to cheer about!

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Comments (8)

kqcrna
14 years ago
Slugs can climb up, but I don't often get them if jugs are up off the ground.

Try Sluggo (iron phosphate)- not in the jugs, but encircling them.

Karen
beck_wi
14 years ago
You could try the beer trick too.... fill a small tin can with beer. They will crawl in it to get to the beer and drown.
Maybe they will prefer the beer to your seedlings.

whenever I find slugs, or any bug for that matter in my garden it goes in the fish pond.
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Comments (16)
Hey Jennifer: I did use Sluggo once but you have to re apply it often. Seemed like a pain for the cost. We have three cats that are into positively anything so I have to use any chemicals if I can help it. So last year I went out and bought a whole bunch of plastic ashtrays from the dollar store. This is for my hosta beds. Once a week I fill up the ashtrays that are hidden behind the hostas with whatever the single cheapest beer is at the grocery. At that time I might rinse out the slug carcasses or I might not. It is just as effective to pour beer in with or without dead slugs (or what's left of them) in the ashtray. I do rinse them out as needed with the hose and then put them back in place. It works great. Furthermore I like the looks on my neighbors faces when I walk around the front yard at 6 a.m. Saturday morning carrying a six pack:) Kate
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Coll, you say" So I either spray and melt them on the spot or cut them in half with a tool if I have one handy. I read that if they have even one eye left, they will live. You can squash them with your foot, but cutting them in half is just making two of them, or so I assume. This is really a gross subject, reminds me of a slobbering bulldog with strings of slime getting on my hands, and I really don't like that....although bulldogs are fine, nothing against them, just their drool!!! You all have some exotic slimeballs to deal with, mine are all one kind, that wet gray color. My turtle disappeared, have not seen any frogs or toads this year, so it is up to me and the ammonia and Sluggo Plus and any other chemical in my arsenal. I had to stop with the pellets while it was raining so much, but now I must resume the back breaking job of spreading Sluggo on the ground, and ammonia in the pots. It's amazing to me that tender plant roots do not die from the ammonia, because it destroys my skin if I come in contact with it--or bleach for that matter. After I treated some plantaginea with a bleach solution for foliar nematodes, I had dermatitis for two weeks....it got on my hands and kneecaps, don't know how that happened.
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Easy to do, inexpensive, and safe. ....almost too good to be true.... Scroll down to "Do the java-jive against slugs," more than halfway down the page. Now, instead of pouring left-over coffee down the sink, save it and pour it over the soil around plants that need protection. Slugs will avoid the area (according to Owen, whose source is the USDA, Hawaii). Or put down used coffee grounds for similar results. (Used coffee grounds can be had for free at many Starbucks. Suggestion: Keep heavy-duty garbage bags in your car, or a tub, 'cause sometimes there's seepage from the grounds.) http://www.plantea.com/slug-baits-coffee.htm Here is a link that might be useful: By Marion Owen: Learn how coffee can help you fight the war on slime
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Comments (18)
Thanks for all the comments and helpful hints. I put the cheap Walmart dry dog food out in the evening and kill the diners at about 9PM and maybe again at 10PM. By morning it is typically gone, even though it was often sprayed with the ammonia. As it will stay light later I will have to adjust the schedule. Recently my nightly kill dropped to 20 one night, so I skipped about a week. I will put out the dog food tonight. Ok this will sound gross, but they also like chewed up chocolate or chocolate cookies. The very weird thing is I had a liquidy chocolate that I deposited on the ground. I did this about 4:00PM, then went to a play. Came back and checked about 9PM. I thought that the way the chocolate dropped to the ground and worked it's way into the dirt that they would be working on the chocolate awhile. Surprise, the Chocolate was ALL GONE, not a trace in all 8 spots. Wish I saw what happened. I may try that again tonight.
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bgrow_gardens
14 years ago
I ditto what beck_wi said... Dead beer is a wonderful thing
when it comes to trapping slugs! I never was a believer til' I tried it this spring. Now I fill tuna cans, and whatever I can salvage that will hold dead beer out of the trash....
Watch out for those roly-poly pill bugs too. They darn near wiped out my future zucchini crop.The zucchini were at the very tender barely two leaves stage as well! I spied them all over the place, and even caught a couple dining on those tender seedlings as well...Or at least I thought so.... Well maybe it was slug damage, and they were coming in for the proverbial kill... However, I did catch one of them feasting on a tender stem at the time.... So now I assume if slugs don't get em' pill bugs will. Although I have read that pill bug.... roly poly bugs are supposed to feed on decomposing waste, and such...
I don't have a fish pond yet, however, it is something to think about...almost incentive to put one in if you ask. me...
bgrow_gardens
tiffy_z5_6_can
14 years ago
I have always kept my containers off the ground since the first year when I lost a few containers to those slimy you-know-whats. Frustrating isn't it?! Hope all turns out for the containers you saved them from.
silverkelt
14 years ago
I have the opposite problem, they dont bother the jugs, but rampage on my daylilies in particular.. Every year I say Im going to put out sluggo or try a trap (I dont drink beer, but Ive been told wet alfalfa is also a might attractor, which I do have, but havent put it out!)

Frogs and Toads are starting to appear, as is salamanders. The slugs diminish after early spring. Usually just in time to be rampaged ourselves by the black flies..

For those of you who do not have black flies (lucky you) They are little gnats that suck blood, and they swarm, sometimes in the dozens, OFF or raider doesnt seem to effect them as much as well, they just find the little spot you missed and bite you there! Luckily there season is fairly short..

Silverkelt
ellenr22 - NJ - Zone 6b/7a
14 years ago
Esgar-Go by Gardens Alive worked so well for me several years ago that I still have almost the whole container.

Two applications, and I haven't seen any since.

It is harmless to children and pets.
blaketaylore
14 years ago
I didn't know what a slug was until I staretd gardening. Then I started each morning before breakfast on a slug hunt that resulted in the elimination of many slugs each day. It wasn't a very nice way to start the day, but after a couple of years I have noticed that the slug population is much smaller and so far this spring have only come across a couple which were eliminated right away. Then do crawl up porches. I haven't had any attack my jugs which are in the garden where they will be planted. If they are attacking your jugs, I would declare an agreesive war with them immediately. Becasue for every slug you see, there are probably several hundred that you don't see waiting to munch on your plants. The more you can eliminate now, the easier next year will be,
ladycraft
14 years ago
I love to get my spray bottle with ammonia water and the flash light to go slug hunting after dark. Can you imagine what the neighbors think?

slugs

Comments (8)

kqcrna

beck_wi

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