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

On 10 Mar 2004 22:33:32 GMT, (Helenkeller2)
wrote:

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

Oh Lordy, wouldn't I love to have an answer to that one. I have never
heard of egg shells... what are they supposed to do ??

There are plenty of poisons on the market... I don't like to use them
because of small animals, but I end up doing it anyway. but only with
limited success. One system we used a number of years ago, was to buy
some ducks. Ducks love to eat slugs !! But before you do this, you
best love ducks.

We've gotten to the point where we only grow plants that slugs don't
eat...

Dick

"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

The PNW has got to be the slug capital of the universe - they even name
festivals after them here! I have found that having a wide assortment of
plants seems to limit the damage. Otherwise, hunt for and remove egg sacs
early in the season, get rid of debris slugs like to hide under and use a
child- and pet-friendly control like Sluggo or Escar-Go.

I also go on slug patrol in the evening in summer after I water - they seem
to be most active and visible at this time of day. I either chop them in
half, toss 'em into the road or salt them. Brutal but necessary.

pam - gardengal

(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

"Pam - gardengal" wrote in message
news:z9Q3c.1460$i76.26708@attbi_s03...
snip

I also go on slug patrol in the evening in summer after I water - they
seem
to be most active and visible at this time of day. I either chop them in
half, toss 'em into the road or salt them. Brutal but necessary.

pam - gardengal

Yeah, but don't you say with sadistic glee when you put the salt on them,
"Bubble you miserable thing." or, "Eat my hostas now with half a digestive
system!"? as you slice the beasties in two.

John

Dick Zielinski wrote:

...There are plenty of poisons on the market... I don't like to use them
because of small animals, but I end up doing it anyway. but only with
limited success....



I don't have significant slug problems, but I've heard that they like to
congregate under cover of something during the heat of the day. Placing
a board in the garden will provide them with some shelter. All you have
to do then is lift the board and collect them. Alternatively, you could
place the slug poison there and the board will keep small animals from
getting to it.

Dick Zielinski wrote:

...There are plenty of poisons on the market... I don't like to use them
because of small animals, but I end up doing it anyway. but only with
limited success....



I don't have significant slug problems, but I've heard that they like to
congregate under cover of something during the heat of the day. Placing
a board in the garden will provide them with some shelter. All you have
to do then is lift the board and collect them. Alternatively, you could
place the slug poison there and the board will keep small animals from
getting to it.

(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

Sluggo is organic and really works. Garter snakes are also highly
effective, but they will be disturbed by human traffic.

Besides picking them off, I've heard (but haven't yet tried) that you can
turn the board over in the morning after the slugs have congregated,
exposing them to birds who consider them a tasy treat.

Anybody tried that?

"Dwight Sipler" wrote in message
...
Dick Zielinski wrote:

...There are plenty of poisons on the market... I don't like to use them
because of small animals, but I end up doing it anyway. but only with
limited success....



I don't have significant slug problems, but I've heard that they like to
congregate under cover of something during the heat of the day. Placing
a board in the garden will provide them with some shelter. All you have
to do then is lift the board and collect them. Alternatively, you could
place the slug poison there and the board will keep small animals from
getting to it.

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 01:39:55 GMT, Dick Zielinski
wrote:

On 10 Mar 2004 22:33:32 GMT, (Helenkeller2)
wrote:

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

Oh Lordy, wouldn't I love to have an answer to that one. I have never
heard of egg shells... what are they supposed to do ??

There are plenty of poisons on the market... I don't like to use them
because of small animals, but I end up doing it anyway. but only with
limited success. One system we used a number of years ago, was to buy
some ducks. Ducks love to eat slugs !! But before you do this, you
best love ducks.

We've gotten to the point where we only grow plants that slugs don't
eat...

Dick


Toads! Toads love slugs too, and mosquitoes and all that.

Janice

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

"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

Beer!

(1) Leave dishes (cut down plastic bottles/containers) around with 1/2in of
beer in the bottom and they will crawl in and drown. No toxic chemicals
involved. Your karma is preserved as they die happy. You have to dispose of
the corpses to where the ants can get them though and renew after rain.

(2) Drink it and forget about the slugs.

David

What "harm" do slugs do in the garden? Sorry, my slug expertise is lacking.

Janice wrote in message . ..

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!


slug bait is indeed quite a poison, and all other methods a nuisance
(yes, you can spread either coffee grounds, diom(sp?) earth, hair or
wood ash around each seedlings, but you have to do it for each
seedling, reapply after time or heavy rains, etc). the beer is only
marginally useful, at least with the smaller, grey, eastern slugs I
have, not if you have thousands like I used to have. Hand picking
works every time (faster to bring a bucket of soap water and dump them
in) but if you have to pick over a hundred every night for weeks it
can get tiring. sluggo works all the time, and now I only need a light
sprinkling every May (about 1/4 of can). I can even indulge in my
favorite low-maint. gardening technique, composting directly in the
beds, without fear of providing food/shelter for the slugs.