On 10 Mar 2004 20:00:37 -0800, (Dan Driscoll) wrote:

(Helenkeller2) wrote in message ...
Hi,


I'm new here and I was wondering if anyone has a good solution to getting
rid of slugs in their gardens. They eat almost everything in my garden it
seems. I do put down eggshells, but the birds come down and pick them up all
the time. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!


Kathy

Hi Kathy,

Simply get "SLUG BAIT" at a garden or discount center. Sprinkle
according to directions. 100% effective.

Dan

I did that.. once.... never again. It killed hundreds of worms,
ground beetles that feed on slugs, and a few slugs. The stench from
the carnage lasted a week.. it was disgusting. It didn't make much of
a dent in the slug population, but it sure did in the slug predators
and the worms!

DON'T DO IT!!! Or, if you do so, get bait stations that the slugs
can reach but not the worms and beetles. The ol' stale beer in
shallow pans sunk into depressions and changed each day.. 'cept that
can get expensive.. so yeast and a bit of sugar in water works too.
They drown more than anything else, the alcohol may speed up the
process with beer.. yeast and sugar may ferment fast enough..dunno.
It's mainly a means to get them into the liquid to drown.

Other things I've read about it diatomaceous earth, but you would have
to have a tuck load of the stuff because there has to be enough of it
to coat the slug and suck the moisture out of the beast. I've had the
things crawl into my house.. get in the cupboards..and crawl up a box
of powdered milk, into it, and DIE as it sucks all the moisture from
it.. leaving ME to find this "stick" in the milk.. I looked at it a
minute or less and figured out what it was..and these are the big
brown speckled slugs that get 6" or more long. The little gray ones,
an inch or so long, don't come inside much, but they can manage to
scale a 5' tall dahlia to eat holes in the petals. I can see 'em and
their buddies getting together to scale the mighty dahlia just for the
sweet taste of pink dahlia petals!!! And they make it back down in
time to escape the morning sun! For such slow creatures they perform
mighty feats!

Janice