On Sat, 24 Apr 2004 04:32:38 +0000, McQualude wrote:

(Bob S.) said:

Did you see the recent article about caffene being poison for slugs?

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?art...6F5-48B2-1D1A-
8B07809EC588EEDF&catID=1



Saving your old coffee and tea grounds, making a brew, and spraying the
area to be protected is supposed to kill or run off the slugs. And it
doesn't have to be a strong brew - as little as 2 per cent caffene is
enough to kill them.

According to the article a cup of instant coffee contains about 0.5%
caffeine, brewed coffee has more but as little as 0.1% will deter 1/4
slugs from feeding.

If you'll search the archives of this newsgroup you'll see that I've been
advocating / vigorously defending this for quite some time. Moreover, I
have referenced the U of H study all along. The article you guys are
linking to is hardly new information.

My technique has been to sprinkle FRESH grounds on the soil surface after
signs of slugs (either damage or trails ... there are two photos of trails
on my gardening website) is spotted. Use of fresh grounds is not mentioned
in the U of H report. Their study focused on spraying amphibians with
carefully calibrated solutions. My study did not care what the precise
dose was, only what the practical application parameters might be.

I only have to do this once a year. I never see signs of slugs afterward
.... not in the same season, anyway. I use about 1 pound, or slightly more,
per 100 sq. ft. evenly broadcast on the soil surface (do not work into the
soil) in the evening. After nightfall, the slugs come out to feed and are
never seen again.

I believe I am getting about 100% kill off and that the following seasons
slugs are immigrants from the public alley behind my garden. If I were
getting less kill off than that, I would expect a resurgence in growth in
the same year. Moreover, I would expect the technique to quit working as
caffeine-tolerant slugs bred with each other. So far, it continues to be
reliable. This is my third year of using this technique.

I have taken a lot of vary public flack about this and most certainly DID
publish my findings -- right here -- so I am not getting a warm fuzzy
feeling right now at seeing this gussied up report.

That link is about two years behind this newsgroup and nearly three years
behind ME.


Bill

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