cambse Yes, apparently diatomaceous earth is effective for killing slugs. I personally have reservations about using it because I know it also kills beneficial insects as well, such as pollinators of strawberries. So if I can find a solution that works without killing beneficials or changing the chemical composition of my garden, that's what I'm aiming for. So far, wide copper strips seem to be the best answer, though copper doesn't kill the slugs.

>Other question: Do rose slugs only feed from the underside of the leaf??? Has anyone every spotted them on the top side of leaves or on the canes??? Jim, my memory is incomplete. I might have seen some on the tops of leaves, but if so, that's not the most common place to find them. For sure I've seen a zillion of them on the canes, as well as the undersides of leaves. I've also seen multiple times when canes were chewed all the way around, sometimes leaving just a thin thread holding the upper part of the cane still attached but hanging down totally upside down. And I've often seen long, often not so shallow, chewing cuts into the cane, going down or up the cane from somewhere in midcane. Usually, but not always, this results in the cane turning totally black throughout that cane area, necessitating that that dead cane be cut off and sealed. And if I didn't seal the ends of any sizable cut cane, that cane would become black fairly quickly and have to be cut again and sealed. Lots and lots of that happening here, starting in April and going on well into the fall. Until the start of Rose Rosette Disease here, this was by far the #1 problem for our roses--with blackspot, cercospora or anything else not even coming close. My theory is that because our yard has lots of woods and also some pretty low damp areas (especially last year when we had an unusual amount of steady rain throughout the summer instead of drought) it has or had conditions especially liked by sawflies. >I even found an article with the exact picture... I don't think I remember ours being curled around, though some might have done that and I was just focused on the straight kind. Using photographs, I've seen many, many straight ones climbing canes and on stems. They are hard to notice with the naked eye, but enlarging pictures on the computer screen works wonders. I don't have pictures of the undersides of leaves, but for those I turned over, I could notice them with the naked eye better... and there were a lot of those there too. == >I've used iron phosphate products for slugs and snails and it works, but I don't think it's effective for the sawfly larvae. Thanks for your information, Hoovb. Oh, well! We already do have the product, so we'll give it a try anyway, hoping that our varieties are a bit different than yours. Grasping at straws here, I know... The roses I started trying the product out with a couple of weeks ago have already succumbed to RRD, though, so I've no idea thus far on whether there's any chance that it might work here. Your post inspired me to actually read the label (novel idea!) and I did not see any of the specific types of slugs mentioned there that I could find in one of my books as some of the sawfly slug varieties that can affect roses, so your experience might well predict ours too. On the optimistic side, though, it does say that those particular varieties listed aren't the only kinds of slugs it will work with, and mentions also that it's effective for slugs on blueberries and apple trees (plants with some relationship to roses, I think). Anyway, we'll see... assuming that by the time RRD is finished with us here we have some roses left to try the product on. Oh, I did read one other interesting thing: if you don't want to pick each and every one off by hand--no chance!--one of my books says that a strong spray with the hose will work. I don't know what percentage will have the strength to climb back up, but the spray coming from the side will at least put them at some distance away from the cane (and for all our new roses in the pots, they'd have to climb the pots too). I've been mainly doing that for aphids, but it will certainly be a bonus if it helps with rose sawflies too! Best wishes, Mary

pd, whatever you use to fight the slugs snails and critters, it will pay off if you do it consistently. Diatomaceaous earth, crushed baked eggshells, slug baits, whatever: just use them. I never had much luck with the beer traps though. I think they got too diluted by our frecuent spring rainfalls. They'd only catch one or two overnight. Years ago to entertain a young nephew, I promised him a new video game if he and his sibs could pick 100, 200 or 300 slugs (I forgot the number now, but it was a lot.) They were done with the task and home with a slithering, disgusting 5 gallon bucket crawling with slugs in about 45 minutes! So much for entertaining youth in Western WA. But the population has dwindled to completely manageable since those days with seasonal baiting, and occasional slug-icide. It's really quite rare to find anything but new slug hatchlings and the big banana slugs in the woods these days. Three cheers. Raul, ah yes,I remember hurricane season now. I think I'd prefer hot and cloudy to cold and rainy, except for the fire ants! Every climate has its own pests and set of challenges, doesn't it?

Muddy it sounds like you are using Corry's, see the link, which is metaldehyde based and very toxic to pets. Please use it with caution. Before I switched to iron based products, I'd use Corry's or the gray liquid bait under a tilted brick or rock to get the slugs but protect the pets. I think the iron products are a tad more expensive but a lot less than a trip to the emergency vet. Here is a link that might be useful: Corry's Slug and Snail