I need to correct something I said above, and that is what we have every time we dig a hole are grubs not slugs. I'm sorry that I confused the two.. :But when I looked online the holes on my little maples, that are 3 ft tall, look exactly like slug damage. After reading all of your responses and after realizing I confused grubs and slugs, I need to rethink my strategy of how to stop these holes in my leaves. Edited to add I can get you pictures in a little bit, after dh wakes up. He doesn't have to go into work til 11am this morning.. He's the one who posts my pictures, since I don't know how to do it. This post was edited by ilovemytrees on Fri, Jun 6, 14 at 7:12

I've found AMDRO to be very effective on any type of ant. You sprinkle just a small amount around the hill (NOT on top of it) and the workers will carry the flakes in to the queen. (it sort of resembles wheat germ). So far, I've not seen any ill effects on any other animal or insect. Usually, within 24 hours, you will see much less activity to none at all. cora

I asked this threads owner for permission and got it, to post a sub-thread on this subject. I, actually, have another attempt at scientific slug killing tests, but for now, here's a recent, VERY UN-scientific run at the mollusks. I was resting on the front porch steps when a slug crawled up one of the runners and onto a step. I just so happened to have a jug of Ortho Bug-Geta Plus within reach, so I got out a pellet and placed it in the path of the nasty. It right away started munching on it. I could actually see it gnawing. It never made it off that porch step. And NO, I did NOT step on it! So why do we still have some slugs? Because the lil' buggars get eggs laid before we get them all gone. The saga WILL continue, but Metaldahyde is allowing a lot of control, and we still have our cats (vole patrol), worms, frogs, tree frogs, and so forth. Using this method has costs. When the first nubbins first start showing in spring, apply. First week of July, apply (adjust for your zone and this years climate). First of September, apply. We have visited several gardens in about a 90 mile radius from us this time of year, and, no bragging, just appreciation of Metaldahyde, ours is obviously still in much better 'touring' condition. An aside, we go for the Bug-Geta PLUS because the PLUS ingredient gits cutworms, thrips, and a few other baddies. From my point of view, the very well buried, information wise, information is that the ingredient that does the cut worms et. al. is also reputed deadly to honeybees. YOUCH! Soooooo, the solution to that is to wait until 'O-Dark Thirty', when the bees are back home asleep, to apply this product. The nasty bee harmful ingredient is only viable for about 8 hours, so if you apply at dusk-thirty, by the time the bees are back at work it's harmless. I know this policy is working because after several years of using this product as described, we still have a plethora of, and many different species, of bees. Now if only I could figure out how to selectively make the sweat bees go 'somewhere else'. Modern living through careful chemistry, fwiw, hh

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.