I saved this old thread from when I first started visiting Garden Web - I don't remember what forum it was on. After my post, Spike (the venerable ur-webmaster) pulled the thread. I never knew if it was my fault, the last straw. That also happened to me on another thread. I felt like the little kid who hammered a nail into a telephone pole just as a huge blackout occurred, and thought he caused it. Claire (Note the date of the first post.) ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by Ted - Maine - 4b on Sat, Apr 1, 00 at 18:59 I woke up this morning and went out to check on my primroses. To my horror, they were nearly all gone! After checking around the bed for a while, I discovered two *enormous* yellow slugs slinking away. At six inches long, they're about twice the size of any slug I've seen before! Could these be banana slugs? I've heard horror stories about the way they gobble up perennials. I thought they only bothered gardeners in the Pacific NW, but with global warming, we've been having some unusually mild winters lately in the Northeast. Maybe we're due for an invasion of banana slugs? ----------------- Follow-Up Postings: RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Kerry on Sat, Apr 1, 00 at 21:03 OH dear, they are spreading, these slugs are usually huge and are a puke green to very dirty yellow looking and have dark green to brown spots on them. There are many ways to get rid of them, on it to take you salt shaker out with you to the garden and sprinkle them liberally, when i say liberally i mean it! They have a tendancy to slough off a layer of slime that has been salted and get away, those little buggers, another way, a little more wierd is to put cheap beer in a wider saucer, they LOVE beer and will go into the saucer and drown, and the beer kills them anyway if the drowning doesn't. So keep up the fight, and I hope you win, by the way i heard sprinkling salt around the area keeps them annoyed also. good luck, Kerry ------------------- RE: Delicious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Karen in Toronto - 6a on Mon, Apr 3, 00 at 12:07 Ted and Kerry, since you know that beer attracts slugs, you might be interested in learning that salt, while killing the banana slugs, also makes a very good seasoning for them. While visiting a friend down south(Leamington, Ontario), we had a very tasty meal of banana slugs, dredged in coarse sea salt, dipped in beer batter, and deep-fried. They taste kinda like zucchini. PS - the above story is not true. I don't eat deep-fried food. PPS - Good one, Ted!! --------------- RE: Delicious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Ted - Maine - 4b on Mon, Apr 3, 00 at 16:36 I like the "coarse sea salt" touch. Also, it stands to reason they *would* taste like zucchini . . . ----------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: chris on Tue, Apr 4, 00 at 18:52 Hi, just a brief note, don't go haywire with that salt! I did last year. It killed the slugs. it also killed my lettuce, all of it. I have heard vinegar is another way to get rid of them, however don't know the results on lettuce! ick. Slugs are my most favorite enemy now. Who'd ever think I'd hate a bug? mollusk, whatever, that much! ------------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Nancy - PNW on Wed, Apr 5, 00 at 0:24 If you have kids they can be a great help in slug correction. I invented the "Slug-a-pult" for their removal. It consists of a slender bamboo rod, as long as the person is tall. Secure the slug onto the pointed end, then carefully lift it up and back, so that by whipping the bamboo forward, the slug is flung 100 yards or so. Kids enjoy the competition of seeing who can fling their slug the farthest. There may be a problem if you have neighbors. ----------------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Nadine NY5 on Wed, Apr 5, 00 at 7:42 Vinegar with lettuce sounds like instant salad. Add some olive oil, and you're all set! ---------------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Jan - 7 on Wed, Apr 5, 00 at 21:14 LOL!!!! But seriously, there's a product called Snarol, a powder, I used it last year on the strawberries because the slugs were eating them.. It had to be re-applied after rain. Also, I was told (but never tried) that slugs hate pain, and you can create a "barrier" by spreading that gravel sold for fish-tanks around your plants. ------------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: The Slug - 6a on Thu, Apr 6, 00 at 12:09 You people kill me. Signed, The Slug ----------------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Beverly VA N 5a6b - Shenandoah Valley on Fri, Apr 7, 00 at 0:32 Just stumbled on this web page that you all may find interesting. It recommends killing slugs with vinegar. Here is a link that might be useful: Slugs and Vinegar ------------------------ RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Rhonda - 7 on Fri, Apr 7, 00 at 22:04 I had to smile when I read this, the only memory I have of San Francisco I have is one of the huge banana slugs in a Japanese botanical gardens there. Luckally we didn't have them in Atascadero, where I grew up. Thanks for the memory. Rhonda -------------------- RE: Voracious banana slugs in the northeast! Posted by: Claire - MA 6b on Fri, Apr 7, 00 at 22:13 Banana slugs can also be dried for future culinary use. I find the easiest way to dry them is to hang them from the branches of any smallish tree. If you choose the brightest yellow slugs, you get a good facsimile of a golden chain tree with the slugs dangling down. When they're fully dried, you can harvest them whenever you need a quick, nutritious meal. Claire

I am just learning to machine quilt and I am playing with meandering. Varigated thread would also look pretty. Be sure to post the finished pics!!!!! Rosa

I rarely draw patterns on a quilt so it was done freehand. It's really no different than your single strand "Pothos", which is also easy to do freehand. Now that you've got the feel for how a vine is made, try doing some samples without your paper pattern and see what happens. Then try this: go to the picture of my vines again and take your finger and start following the vine around--I think you'll begin to see how I traveled around to fill the space. I think that what prevents folks from trying freehand designs is that we get locked into the idea that every motif in a design should be exactly the same as every other motif and sometimes that's true, as in a formal feathered wreath, for instance (I do use a drawn pattern for that sort of thing). However, in nature leaves, feathers, flowers, spirals, etc. come in an infinite variety of shapes and sizes even on one plant. The way I see it, this variation is what gives a quilting design interest and character. A machine can replicate an image perfectly over and over, but where's the fun in that? I'm currently adding big, swooping free-form feathering to the wide borders on a client's quilt. I'll try to get some pictures with my computer when I'm done, or will try my scanner if that doesn't work. I've got to get a new camera SOON! Annie

Hi, Donna. I've never tied a quilt, so I have nothing to contribute to your question, but I wanted to say, "Hello." I sometimes forget that those of us who post often are not the only ones using this forum. Be sure to post photos of your latest projects. We're glad to hear from you. And you are correct about the folks on this forum. I, too, think they have the answers to everything quilty. And they are the friendliest bunch around.