Ideas on eliminating slugs?
#11
  Re: (...)
I am really hoping that somebody out there has had some success with a slug problem. Mine is quickly reaching epidemic proportions in my garden. I literally have thousands of the slimy little critters. In a square foot area I probably have 40+ slugs and I have a 100'x100' garden. They are driving me crazy.

I have ordered a product called Escar-Go and dutifully scattered it this morning. I guess it is a bait that they must ingest to kill them so it should do the trick, but takes some time and I would imagine takes repeat applications. I have also scattered diatatomaceous earth that I read would slice and dice their little bodies if they travel over it. I did this earlier this week, but it didn't seem to put a dent in the slug population. Forty pounds of DE later, I still have a ton of the little critters.

So I am looking for any other suggestions. I couldn't possibly set out enough beer to eliminate these guys (nor could I afford that option and hubby would probably divorce me for wasting his beverage!)

Ideally I would like something that I could apply and immediately watch their little bodies curl up in death throes. Okay, maybe that was too much for a family site, but I am at the end of my rope with these guys.

Please help me!!!!
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#12
  Re: Ideas on eliminating slugs? by iBcookin (I am really hoping t...)
Doesn't throwing salt on them work instantly? Sounds gross, but I think that's what works. Maddening little buggers, aren't they?
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#13
  Re: Re: Ideas on eliminating slugs? by cjs (Doesn't throwing sal...)
Save and dry all your old egg shells. (If you don't eat many eggs, beg, borrow or steal them from friends and neighbours) Crumble them, and scatter them around the base of the plants. It hurts their poor little slimy bodies when they try to crawl over the shells.
Practice safe lunch. Use a condiment.
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#14
  Re: Re: Ideas on eliminating slugs? by Lorraine (Save and dry all you...)
Hadn't heard of the salt, I will have to try that since that is exactly the kind of thing I am looking for. But will the salt have any effect on the garden? I could try pouring it on the areas where I have piles of slugs on top of one another. Honestly, you cannot believe how disgusting this is!

I already throw all my egg shells and kitchen waste in the garden, but the garden is so big, there would never be enough to get rid of these guys. It has been really rainy here and they are thriving. When the sun comes out and dries the garden, they kind of shrink up into hard shell cysts. But as soon as it rains, poof, insta-snails by the thousands. I have been tempted to take the wet-dry vac out and suck them up. What I really need is to convince a couple dozen children that picking them out of the garden and tossing them into the pond would be LOTS of fun. The bass LOVE them!
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#15
  Re: Re: Ideas on eliminating slugs? by iBcookin (Hadn't heard of the ...)
Salt is the classic one. Also, pans of beer (it's not the beer, itself, that kills them, but the drowning - beer is just the bait, since they are VERY attracted to it).

Other references:
EarthEasy
Colorado State University Extension
Family Matters
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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#16
  Re: Re: Ideas on eliminating slugs? by labradors (Salt is the classic ...)
Thanks, Labs. I will check out those sites. I'm not very computer literate so I don't venture into the realm of computer searching, plus being limited to dial up, it is just too dang painful to sit here waiting 10 minutes for a site to finally load only to find that it really isn't what I was looking for. So I appreciate your suggestions.

Wonder if the bass would like drunk slugs?
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#17
  Re: Re: Ideas on eliminating slugs? by iBcookin (Thanks, Labs. I will...)
Go buy several pounds of mussles, cook them to your preference (I like to steam them in white wine and onions and garlic. Anyway, enjoy your mussles, put the shells in several thicknesses of brown paper bags from the grocery store, and go out to the driveway or sidewalk and pound them into small pieces with a hammer.

Scatter the pieces of broken mussles around your plants, when the slugs slither over them they are cut to ribbons. Totally organic pest control.

Good luck,
Sally
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#18
  Re: OOOH, I've got a good one by lxxf (Go buy several pound...)
LOL, Sally, when I started to read your post I am think, "Hmmm, maybe she is going to suggest I harvest the little guys and throw them in the pot with the mussels, white wine and garlic!" I keep thinking I should be able to create my poor man's version of escargot!

I am still working on this, but my problem is that my rows of plants are probably 75' long and I have probably 12 rows of stuff. So I can't accumulate enough of the the eggshells and mussels, and even for that matter the DE, to protect the plants. And maybe I shouldn't even get all that worked up about it. I don't know that they are really doing all that much damage, it is just that when I go out there and they are literally covering the walkways between my plants . . . it just pushes my buttons.

If we could get two days in a row without inches of rain they would probably dry up into the little crunch bits and I wouldn't have to look at them. But we have been really wet lately.
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#19
  Re: Re: OOOH, I've got a good one by iBcookin (LOL, Sally, when I s...)
"throw them in the pot with the mussels, white wine and garlic!" - me too! I was getting just a little hesitant to read further.
Retired and having fun writing cookbooks, tasting wine and sharing recipes with all my friends.
www.achefsjourney.com
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#20
  Re: Re: OOOH, I've got a good one by cjs ("throw them in the p...)
Of course, you COULD just tell them they can stay, as long as they get a job and buy their own food.


Oh...wrong kind of slug.
If blueberry muffins have blueberries in them, what do vegan muffins have?
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