Slugs it seems, are predisposed to bypass the immeasurable tasty tidbits they wake up next to every day and head right to any plantings a human has carefully laid down in sweetened soil. It does not seem to matter what plants are sown, as long as human hands had anything to do with their existence. Slugs are going to find them and have their slimy way with them.
I have been battling slugs for, well, forever I guess. As a wee tacker, I was tasked to perform daily slug patrols in Dad's various gardens. Dad has since passed onto the great beyond, but the task of slug patrol continues unabated.
I have been battling slugs for, well, forever I guess. As a wee tacker, I was tasked to perform daily slug patrols in Dad's various gardens. Dad has since passed onto the great beyond, but the task of slug patrol continues unabated.
If the little bastards would wait until the seedlings gained some girth as well as some height, I might not hate them so much. But they insist on going after the children. This will not stand.
I have learned a few things over the years about slugs and how to keep them at bay:
I have learned a few things over the years about slugs and how to keep them at bay:
The beer in a cup trap is a bad idea. While it is somewhat heart warming to come out to the garden and see cups full of dead drunken slugs, I figured out that the beer was drawing more of them in than if I had not put any beer out in the first place. More coming in meant more getting to my plants to ply their evil ways.
I tried commercial remedies a couple of times. It might be my imagination, but once I was sure I saw a couple of slugs hiding at the shadowy edge of the garden chuckling and poking each other as they watched me plop down a store bought slug trap.
The only technique that works for me is to get physical and put myself in harm's way to defend that which I have struggled so hard to create. When I was young, I would pick them up and toss them in a can to be thrown in the garbage after Dad poured a small dose of kerosene in the bucket. So of course, I would have slug slime all over and then bring it into the house. Slug slime in the house does not a happy Mom make.
I tried just stomping on them. Sure, it killed them, but leaving a carcass was just an enticement to all the slug hordes waiting in the shadows. And often I would end up with them stuck to my shoes and they would end up in the house. Dead slugs in the house does not a happy wife make.
Over the years I have altered my approach. Now I use a scraper to scoop them up. Instead of disposing of them, I give them another chance at Life, but from a new location. I fling them as far away from the garden as I can. I have gotten pretty handy with that scraper. They might find their way back, but I am sure it takes them more than a day or two. And this has been the most effective slug deterrent I have found.
Anyway, just a few words regarding slugs. As integral parts of Nature's clean up crew, I guess they deserve a modicum of respect. But only if they stay out of my garden.
I tried commercial remedies a couple of times. It might be my imagination, but once I was sure I saw a couple of slugs hiding at the shadowy edge of the garden chuckling and poking each other as they watched me plop down a store bought slug trap.
The only technique that works for me is to get physical and put myself in harm's way to defend that which I have struggled so hard to create. When I was young, I would pick them up and toss them in a can to be thrown in the garbage after Dad poured a small dose of kerosene in the bucket. So of course, I would have slug slime all over and then bring it into the house. Slug slime in the house does not a happy Mom make.
I tried just stomping on them. Sure, it killed them, but leaving a carcass was just an enticement to all the slug hordes waiting in the shadows. And often I would end up with them stuck to my shoes and they would end up in the house. Dead slugs in the house does not a happy wife make.
Over the years I have altered my approach. Now I use a scraper to scoop them up. Instead of disposing of them, I give them another chance at Life, but from a new location. I fling them as far away from the garden as I can. I have gotten pretty handy with that scraper. They might find their way back, but I am sure it takes them more than a day or two. And this has been the most effective slug deterrent I have found.
Anyway, just a few words regarding slugs. As integral parts of Nature's clean up crew, I guess they deserve a modicum of respect. But only if they stay out of my garden.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ...............................................
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Tune for this post is an appropriate choice....... "Hey Slug" by Sarah Maddack
4 comments:
Mike:
While I agree that slugs are a pain in the ass in a garden, they ARE very interesting creatures in terms of their nervous system. I end up talking about them regularly in a few classes and have one lab experience for students in a course too.
PipeTobacco
The only plant slugs seem to bother in my garden (such as it is) are ornamentals, especially hostas. Slugs love hostas. Hostas survive anything so I don't worry about any slugs that happen to wander on to the plants. Having lived in the Pacific Northwest and seen banana slugs in action, it's pretty easy to ignore the tiny blobs of living snot here in Michigan.
Hah! Also, the beer trick is one I have used to purposefully COLLECT the living samples I have used in lab. It works well, and if I collect frequently, they are still living that way for lab. Over the years, I have had a few students comment on their “beer-like” aroma in class, so that these days, I make a point to explain to them in an “attempted humorous” fashion my slug hunting expeditions to bring the beasts to them.
PipeTobacco
A friend of mine used to comment in a strip club about the snail trails on the drip rails.
I have heard of the beer trick but didn't realize it just attracted more of them. Everyone likes free beer I guess
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