If you go out early in the morning while it is still cool and dewy wet outside, you may have better luck spotting the slugs. Once you get used to seeing them nearly invisible hugging the edge of leaf or sometimes even curled around a new bud, they aren't so hard to find, but you have to kind of train your eye to actually see them--they blend in well with the curves of the leaves. Sometimes towards evening if it gets cooler, they seem to come out to the edge of the leaves again. I guess they like to hide under the leaves in the heat of the day. Your slugs may all be "departed" by now. After a week or two, the good bugs come along and get them. Unfortunately, they leave the damaged leaves behind for a long time. Once I think the good bugs have done their job, I clip back the canes a bit to get rid of the ugly leaves and to stimulate some new growth--aided, of course, by lots of water and a feeding (if they haven't been recently fed, that is). Fortunately, no slug problem this year. Had lots last year. Don't know what makes the difference. Kate

Yes, I bought a whole big can of it!! Are they called cans or tubs or tins? I'm not even sure, but it was a big white, plastic container and cost me a lot! But it was well worth it!! I sprinkled some on the ground around the plants and I soaked some in a five gallon pail overnight. I strained the tobacco out of the water, split the strained water between two five gallon pails and topped up the two pails. The juice was pretty strong! After all, I soaked one third of the white container of tobacco overnight!! And, I started with boiling water! I then used a hand held pump sprayer and sprayed every plant thoroughly. My friend did the same thing with her garden. Even though we didn't see any slugs, we repeated the procedure two weeks later and we haven't seen a slug since. However, we are also vigilant about where we get plants and we NEVER bring other garden soil in without checking it thoroughly!! I don't want a repeat go round with those things!! As I said, I have no idea why it worked. My mother suggested it and I tried it. Maybe an expert could tell us. All I know is I was at my wits end and I was willing to try anything! I was even thinking of salting my entire garden, using alkaline salts from sloughs near the city. Now, that desperation!! But then, I am told I am a rather "crazy" gardener!! I grow roses in raised boxes. I have some of the biggest Japanese Butter Burr you will ever see in SK and instead of grass, I have rug! Yep! My garden is a sight to see! I don't call it sank_chew_airy for nothing!! airy

Heather, I'm relieved to find out that diatomaceous earth does not harm earthworms. It makes sense that DE would last in the soil for decades, since fossils don't decay quickly, but the directions tell us to renew the application following rain or watering. Hmmm. That wouldn't be just so we'll buy more DE, would it?? Safer's Slug and Snail Bait works for me, too. Don't know why I forgot to mention it in an earlier post. Probably because I don't see the gratifyingly instant results that I do with ammonia. I used to go slug hunting, late at night, armed with a flashlight, long-handled tweezers and a bucket of boiling water. (I'm surprised the neighbours never called the police! I must have looked quite suspicious!!) I'd pluck the beasts off my plants and watch them disintegrate when I dropped each one into the bucket. I knew the water needed reheating whenever I saw slugs start to escape up the sides. After a night of hunting, I disposed of the carcasses in the back alley, so the birds would have a feast the next day. Once, however, I guess the water had cooled off too much by the time I had caught the last batch for the night. I threw the slug water into the back alley and went to bed. The next day, my DH went to the alley for some reason, and he soon called me over. Not only had many slugs survived the "hot" bath, but all of them were crawling back towards my yard!!! Needless to say, they didn't make it. ;o)

I also use beer and that has been pretty effective. For me poison of any kind is not an option as I have several cats, one of which is my baby and becoming geriatric so I don't want to take any chances. I went to the dollar store last year and bough several small plastic ashtrays. I just sit them behind my hostas and they are hidden by the leaves. On the weekends I go out and buy the cheapest 40 ounce bottles of beer I can get and just re fill the ashtrays. I don't clean them out until the end of the season as they just fill up with slug corpses again anyway. I find that doing this once a week works fine, is completely biodegradable and safe for kitty. Finally the looks I received from my neighbors the first Saturday morning I strolled out with a Miller-Lite 40 ouncer in hand I will cherish forever. Hope this helps. Kate