In article .com,
"Thornhill" wrote:

Floyd:

The cheapest and easiest way to kill slugs is beer. Here's what you do:
get a plastic container that's 2 or 3 inches deep. Pour an inch or two
of beer into the container. Finally, bury the container so that the top
is at ground level. Slugs are extremely attracted to beer and will
drown themselves in the pool of beer. You'll get results as soon as
overnight.

If the slugs are really big, you'll need to adjust the amount of beer.


If you're having problems with rain water, take a two liter soda bottle
and cut the top off; reattach it so that it's inverted, allowing the
slugs to crawl into the bottle when it's on its side; fill with beer;
place on its side. If this sounds too complicated, try erecting some
kind of umbrella over the containers.

Good luck (but you won't need it).

"Beer traps do attract slugs but don't reliably kill them unless the trap
is deep enough slugs can't reach over the top to get out (so saucers don't
work, slugs climb right off the saucers, but Yoplay yogurt plastic cups
are just barely too deep for a slug to climb out of, so it drowns in the
beer). Such a trap would also endanger frogs & small lizards & beneficial
insects that per chance fell in, without really resulting in a dramatic
lessening of the slug population."

Not just any ol' beer will attracts 'em either:

"[Some] findings from the Colorado study: slugs don't like Rainier Beer,
Strohs, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Coors, or Millers. Anyone who likes these beers
lacks even the good sense of a slug. Anheiser-Busch beers were across the
board better liked, inducing one soul to suggest a new brand, Slugweiser;
but nothing equalled non-alcoholic Kingsbury Malt in slug appeal. Slugs
don't like flat beer at all, they want it fresh. Slugs don't like wine.
Gallo Wine was slightly more appealing than plain water, but not by much."

Re copper:

"For cold-frames or raised beds, it is possible to attach copper flashing
to the frames. Slugs do not like to cross copper because it causes them to
experience a minute electrical discharge (or such is the prevailing
theory). It works only if the copper strip is wide enough they can't raise
their bodies over it. The majority of copper stripping sold in garden
shops for this purpose is not wide enough to create an effective barrier,
which would need to be six inches wide, or the largest most destructive
slugs will hump right over it without touching the copper.

"Copper-barriering an entire garden is not going to be practical, but it
is an excellent method for protecting very sensitive seedling beds or
small containers. Copper screen or copper flashing can surround a raised
bed, or for small planters, copper foil (such as Snail-Barr) can be used
to wrap the entire container. Shrubs can have a band of copper around the
lower trunk.

"Copper needs to be cleaned periodically with vinegar or will tarnish & no
longer have the desired effect. Personally I cannot imagine going about
making rings of copper for all the shrubs or encircling gardens with
copper mesh, risking my hands or the feet of animals that can be cut on
the edges of copper, then remembering to periodically polish the copper
scattered about the garden. But at least this is a system that can work,
unlike so many folklorish methods & worthless toxins that desparate
gardeners try."

Excerpted from:
http://www.paghat.com/slugcontrol.html
and:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.gardens/msg/e74ae1376e8002d8?dmode=source

-paghat the ratgirl
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