Tweezers?? I need tongs!! I use the 10:1 diluted ammonia. I have three types of slugs- light beige, gray/brown, and orange. I have found that they all die differently with the spray. The pale ones writhe and die very fast. The orange ones take a long time, but without the writhing drama...they just sort of roll up and melt. It does kill them, but it can take a while. If I walk away and come back in five minutes, I will find a pile of orange goo in their place. I do wish they would just die instantly because it makes me feel bad.

you guys ever consider kitchen rubber gloves???

ken

I actually dont touch em at all, Ken. If I need to get one off a leaf, I just touch it with a stick and it sticks pretty well to that. I don't like to drop them in a jar of anything because then you have this nasty jar to dispose of. So I either spray and melt them on the spot or cut them in half with a tool if I have one handy.

What is the best time to look for them? Right before dawn? or even earlier in the day ..
It might be nice to use the ammonia mix and put it in one of those pump up sprayers and just give everything a quick shot when the little slimers are out slippin and sliden.

I used to do the pump sprayer and do more wide spraying but got a toad one day and felt really bad about that. So now I stick to the squirt bottles and aim better.

They start coming out at twilight. I go out with a light at about 9:30 most nights. If I happen to be up super early, I may go again then. Also during or shortly after a rain.

I caught at least 50 this morning. Right after it rained and before the sun came back out.

LOL Col, I use sticks too. I'm lucky, my DH follows me with the cup of salt water (a McDonald's 32 oz plastic cup). He disposes of the cup and the slimy, salty water too.

I used the pump sprayer with the ammonia. Today, I lifted pots and found the slugs underneath. Somethings just shooting the ground under the pot with the ammonia made them come to the surface, it was ugly!

Gesila

Now that is a DEAR husband indeed! Mine did hook me up with the Petzl headlamp, but that's as much as he will do to help out there.

If your not in a hurry, just pick the little darlin's up and put them in the palm of your free hand. Eventually they will slime their way to a fingertip and you can just flick them into salt water. Or onto ken'sdriveway and just stomp on them like I do: stomp--stomp---stomp--stomp: and just to make sure STOMP--STOMP: = dead slug!

I HATE them things!

Les

Perhaps we'll open up our two spare bedrooms as a Hostaholics Bed n Breakfast. Rent would be one hour after twilight slug pickin' ;-?

Meanwhile, since about 2 acres of over 1500 hosta plants make all that 'hunt n peck' impractical, I'll stick to thrice yearly application of metaldahyde. No, it is not really dangerous for pets, properly used. I would never knowingly put our vole-patrol pets in danger!

fwiw,
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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.

No, I really don't think they have any chance of survival if you cut them in half. Their insides just ooze out. Gross, but a merciful death over the ammonia, I'm afraid.

No offense,Gesila,but I'm glad I don't live in Michigan! Here,I don't have a bad problem with slugs. Mostly,they only appear when we've had some rain. Right now,it's dry for a few days,and I haven't seen a slug. I never use slug bait. I think that just attracts them to your hostas. I use ammonia/water mix,and just spray any I find,or sometimes I just remove them and flick them deep into the woods. They won't be back this year! Phil

I see slime trails, so some slugs must have enjoyed BugGeta Plus. I spent this morning giving my hostas liquid fertilizer on the roots, about 30 watering cans of Tomato fertilizer. Then I made 4 gals of Bayer Complete Insect Killer which has Merit in it, is systemic and fights nematodes. I used that to spray the leaves and petioles of all hostas. Who then has time to go out with a flashlight and collect slugs, would be too much work, my DW already complains.
Bernd

I have to use a 1:5 ammonia solution, because the big slugs just exude this white slime and slough off the ammonia, and then they crawl away. The 1:5 kills them and hasn't burned any hosta leaves so far (though I don't completely soak the leaves, I just spray when I see a slug).

But my slugs are huge. They get up to 4 inches long, and that's not even fully stretched out.