The Metaldehyde products are excellent but risky to pets if not done right.
If you have pets, put some under planks or something slugs will crawl under, but pets can't get to. You need very little to be effective, as it attracts them.
put it out now, and at the first sign of and damage (usually mid summer), and in the late fall.

10% solution of vinegar or ammonia...

check out the FAQ's in the hosta forum ...

ken

Here are my notes for prevention and control of slugs and snails. Print it off and keep a copy handy.

1. Remove winter mulch, debris, dead leaves, and other ground cover until mid-June (70 degrees).
2. Water in mid-morning, so ground is dry by evening. Encourage good air movement.
3. Choose slug resistant plants with a heavy texture, not smorgasbords.
4. Interplant with natures repellent plants - prostrate rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) and wormwood (Artemisia absinthium).
5. Surround plants with abrasive materials - diatomaceous earth (available from suppliers of swimming pool products), wood ashes, cinders, sawdust, shredded eggshells, gravel, sand, oak leaves, cedar or oak bark, tobacco stem meal. Or cover the ground with finely shredded human or horse hair.
6. DonÂt mulch with slug-infested materials.
7. Spread powdered ginger, crushed limestone, or fresh-cut fennel around plants.
8. Encourage predators to feed on them - toads, turtles, lizards, snakes, ducks, decollate snails, and ground beetles (plant clover). Centipedes and fireflies eat slug eggs. Build toad houses.
9. Be a slug stalker before the sun rises. Look under leaves.
10. Make slug traps - beer or yeast in tins, beer-soaked clay pots, upside down grapefruit and melon rinds, cabbage leaves, wet newspapers, and boards.
11. Barricade plants with white spray paint or whitewash, aluminum foil with red pepper powder, aluminum lawn edging, wire mesh with sharp edges at top, or a thin (.002 inch thick) copper strip 3" wide. Commercial Brands: Slug Stop, by Concern (coconut oil soap); Snail & Slug Copper Barrier Tape, by Safer Inc.
12. Make a slug cocktail and spray it around your plants.
13. Coffee - researchers at the USDA in Hawaii have discovered that a 2% caffeine solution is effective in killing snails.
14. Use nematodes: effective but expensive and must be imported.
15. Commercially manufactured slug traps. Commercial Brands: Slug Saloon, by American Organic Products; Snapper, by American Organic Products; Slug X Trap, by GardenerÂs Supply Co.
16. Spray slugs with a 50/50 vinegar water solution or fresh lime juice to kill slugs directly. Or spray ground and stems (not leaves) with a 10% ammonia solution (clear type, not milky). A hot chile pepper spray is effective. Mix hot pepper powder with a few drops of liquid dish soap and water.
17. Commercial pesticides - pellets, granules, liquid sprays - varying ingredients and strengths, requires consistent application (every two weeks). Water the areas before treatment to encourage slug activity that night. Commercial Brands: Bug-Geta Snail & Slug Killer, by Ortho (metaldehyde); Bug-Geta Plus, by Ortho (carbaryl and metaldehyde); CorryÂs Slug and Snail Death, by E.M. Matson Jr. Co.; Deadline M-PÂs, by Pace Int. (metaldehyde); Escar-Go (iron phosphate); Slug, Snail, and Sowbug Bait, by Miller Nurseries; Slug-n-Snail Beater, by Bonide (metaldehyde); Slug-n-Snail Killer, by Bonide (metaldehyde); Slugetta, by Bonide (metaldehyde); Slug, Snail & Sowbug Bait, by Bonide(carbaryl and metaldehyde); Slug & Snail Bait, by Schultz Co. (iron phosphate); Sluggo, by Monterey Chemical (iron phosphate); Slug Out Slug & Snail Barrier, by GardensAlive.com; Stop Slug and Snail Repellent, by slugstopper.com.

a list??.. from don??? .. lol ...

the vinegar/ammonia at 10% is sprayed.. with a pump tank on the undersides of the leaves.. and down the petioles/stems...

avoid hitting the top of the leaves to avoid marring..

this is a 24/7/365 job.. until you get the population in check ...

ken

Ken,
the ammonia is cheap, but your time is worth so much more!

Dave

Indulge me because I know this isn't a "right" inquiry of a hosta forum.... but what happens to your slug population if you cut back on the water, water, water regimen and remove the constantly wet, damp, moist environment slugs adore? :-)

(I only ask this because I have beautiful, healthy hosta - maybe only 30 or so of a dozen or more different varieties, so I'm definitely not in your leagues - but they get what water nature provides and I don't get slugs.)

hosta make shade under them.. a cool damp place... no matter how much you water..

reducing water.. will just make the slug holes more pronounced..

ken

I think water affects population as does areas that hold moisture with mulch and leaf litter. However my front(north of house) garden is quite shaded and has little slug population or activity as compared to other of my gardens that get similar watering. So IMO water alone doesn't explain slug population.

I have linked a Colo State Univ Extension article on slugs below.

Duluthinboomz, pic below is difference in watering Hosta - top pic is 06 with water from rain (clumps are old - approx 18 yrs) and bottom pic is 2 yrs later with more regular watering. Both pics healthy plants and beautiful, but I like the look of the bottom pic better.

{{gwi:956807}}

Paul

Paul in MN, I've always been a minimalist with water...let nature take its course kind of a gal...but that is a startling difference, I think I'll water mine more this year and see the difference myself.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have the time to do the regular vinegar ammonia 24/7 job, BUT, Don that list is awesome and I can do many of those things. 1. I frequently visit Starbucks and will remember to apply grounds. 2. (and the best idea, not sure why I ever thought of it before) I have large mature cedar trees with tons of cedar "needles" below. I will harvest them and put them between the hostas (not on the crowns) before they leaf out. What a great and FREE idea!
Thank you!

Give it a try, Paul, and let us know how it works. Slugs have sensitive skin, so anything with sharp, jagged edges should work. (I wouldn't recommend broken glass, however, even though it should work!) My aunt mulched around all her hostas with lava stone and says it virually eliminated her slug problem.

Can anyone report on whether mulching with pine needles is effective?

As far as the red pepper powder, you can circle your hosta with a piece of lawn edging, then rub Crisco on it and sprinkle the red pepper powder over it.

I have a bed that naturally is mulched by white pine needles. I have not done enough research to say yeah or nay. However, the poulation is zero or very little.

My daughter-in-law has hostas under huge pines. She doesn't do anything for her hostas except add more non-pine mulch (she doesn't remove the pine needles that have fallen); she barely weeds...doesn't even water! Hers are growing very nicely and NO slug holes ever! The only negative in that spot is that if you do work there, you are almost guaranteed to get a tick!

Char

Yeah, slugs in my back yard are horrible because we have a lot of shade we can do nothing about and live at the bottom of three hills. I mulched with pine needles this last fall and it seems to have helped some. I do buy Sluggo, but I can't afford to buy more than one bag, and I always run out by late spring, but it does slow them down. I have yet to try the diato. earth from the pool store, but I will be soon. Also, I have used Epsom salt and lime powder with good results, but you do have to keep reapplying. And not all plants want too much lime. Then there are the three or four nights of what I call my yearly "slug-fest", when I break my back plucking them. I think they are one of the gardener's biggest banes, especially if one doesn't want to use poisonous stuff. Anyway, I'm glad they dislike pepper. I will try that too..