Hi
Good luck with the beer tests!
I put out some bowls with some cheap beer in it,but we have had so much rain this summer it just got washed out so i gave up.I squashed a big slug with my bare foot the other day and it was strangely liberating.Cheers.

From what I read, slugs are attracted by the yeast. Take some beer with yeast in the bottle, if such a thing exists over there in the States.

tccowboy uses beer....actually he sets up little "slug cafes" throughout his garden. HOpefully he will weigh in on the subject.

Hi. I always use dark beer (Stout or Guinness). I put it in a 'Quick Noodle' container, and bury it in the soil til the top of the container is about a 1/2" above the soil. They seem to enjoy it.

Donnie

Since rain dilutes the brew, it works best to hide the beer traps under hostas with dense leaf canopies. Less spoilage that way. I use cleaned empty cat food cans, buried most of the way in the soil or mulch, with the cheapest beer I can find. At home, I catch only babies and slugs that are about an inch long. At our summer place in the woods, the creepies are often 2 or 3 inches long when dead, and sometimes have shells. Ick Ick Ick.

But nothing beats applying Sluggo regularly. Doesn't harm pets and wildlife, like some of the older slug baits. I'm a devotee.

~Bunnycat

A friend of mine sent me an article of things to try to keep slugs away from your plants. One of the ways the article suggested was placing broken eggshells around the plant. It explained that since slugs crawl on the ground, they would naturally avoid the eggsshells since they are sharp.

I have a small Island Charm that seemed to be the nightly slug main course. Since I have it ringed with the eggshells it has gone untouched. Yes, the white eggshells aren't that pretty, brown eggs might be a bit more camouflaged, but I'll take that over feasted on hosta leaves any day.

Susan

I have in my notes to use Bud or Michelob. I can't remember where I read that they prefer those over others. Oh, and they hate Sam Adams, so send your Sam Adams to me.

Along with the eggshell approach is the small chicken grit available at Feed & Seed stores. Sprinkle that around and they will avoid it!

The grit won't bring about their demise, but maybe they'll look for a meal in another cafe! :o)

Also, the coffee grounds--they hate those, as well!

So, if your method of defense is 'offense', get the beer! At least they go "hiccuping!"

Can't remember where it was, but I've read that you should use the cheapest beer you can find. Which makes sense, if it's only the yeastiness that attracts the slugs. That raises another question though... I wonder if a little dry yeast, activated by stirring into water and a little suger (just as if you were going to bake bread) and placed in the cans or containers in the garden, would have the same effect. That might be something to experiment with.

Well, I checked my bowl twenty-four hours later. No slugs. The beer level seems a little lower. If any slugs did drink, they left again without even leaving a tip!

How long does the beer take to lure them in?

I'm thinking about putting a tiny little neon sign outside the bowl...

lmao...drunk dragging

If the beer level continues going down, I'd check for staggering chipmunks.

LOL! That's a thought!

I've been sprinkling diotomaceous earth underneath and between the leaves, mainly to kill earwigs, but it works well on slugs too. I put the diotomaceous earth into a shaker that is used to sprinkle flour onto cutting boards. It works fairly well as long as you give it a tap once in a while to unplug the holes. The shaker is just a cheap plastic thing I've had gotten years ago at a grocery store. I've seen the same thing recently and it's still only a few dollars, although you could make your own by punching holes into the lid of a clean, dry yogurt container or something similar.

Janice,

For the coffee grounds, is used OK? Could we use the grounds after making the coffee?

Oh, and for drunk critters, don't forget the tree-rats (uh, squirrels) they will try anything at least once.

Jen

Jen, I should have indicated that it is USED GROUNDS that work! Not sure why, but supposedly that is the case!

So it's the YEAST in the beer, that works, huh? If that's the case, I sure wish I'd broadcasted under the hosta
the 'Krispy Kremes' that DH brought home the other night! Sigh! I hate it when he does that!!!

Now, that would be a good experiment! If they wouldn't die from the KK's I bet they'd, at least,
be much fatter and more easily spotted to blitz with the Ammonia cocktail!!

Man, I'd love to do a 'graphic' of that mental picture right now! Can't you see it--big fat slug, kicking back
with a huge donut in hand, chasing it down with cheap beer!!hehehe

Okay, I just can't resist asking this question:

Am I the only one, when seeing the topic *Slug taste test* envisions *ESCARGOT*????

Teresa, I don't give the slugs any beer, my Slug Cafes are alcohol-free (come to think of it, they are smoke-free too).

All I do is put a half-dozen Sluggo pellets in a bottle-cap and put a clay saucer over it to keep them drier (they still get moisture in them but last much longer than just being on the ground). I only use a small amount of Sluggo which helps to keep the Squirrels/Chipmunks out of the cafes (also, if they get into them, not much Sluggo is lost). If any cafe is compromised by Squirrels/Chipmunks, I put a rock on top of the cafe (sometimes even that does not deter them).

I haven't had much Slug damage and use very little Sluggo during the year.

The photos I have are from 2005. I use small bottle caps and use less Sluggo than what is in the photos.

Cowboy

Here is a link that might be useful: Cowboy's Slug Cafe photos (WARNING - slugs in photos)

Hey, tsbccowboy - I've never seen your slug cafe slide show and it was disgustingly enlightening. Now I know how to use it! I've been sprinkling it all around each hosta and I have over 250 - and going broke! I guess I thought it was like the diatomacious earth stuff - that you needed to cover any space that they would use as a route - which basically means a ring of the stuff! I know they 'baited' -- attracted to it rather than the hosta. And then they gorge and die, I guess. That was soooo helpful! Thank you!
Where have I BEEN!

Westy

Cowboy, Your slug cafe is quite an idea.
I'm curious...what time of the day did you take those photos?
I've always just spread the Sluggo all over the place, around plants, under plants, edge of garden, even in the yard getting to the garden.
I got tired & broke of buying Sluggo in those small 1# cans for $10 each...so I ordered a 40# bag of the stuff.
I've had very little slug damage this yr.
Your idea is a good one to save on Sluggo.
Another question.. do you prop up the clay pot alittle for the slugs to enter easier?
Oh, one more question..how far apart do you have these cafes?

My dogs would drink the beer. They will try to steal it if you happen to set a can down and they think you aren't watching :( So I will try the Sluggo thing...Cowboy where did you get it, I can't find it locally just the "bad" stuff that would hurt my too curious dogs.

Westy1941, I hope you will be able to use less Sluggo and still get good results.

Sassy7142, the photos on the 19th were taken around noon, the others around 8 am. Lately, I have only seen a couple slugs when I add Sluggo to a cafe; the first year I saw a bunch the first few times. I try to fill the cafes every 2 weeks but it is probably closer to a month & I still don't have much slug damage. The saucers are not propped up; ofentimes there is a small space between the saucer and the mulch (I don't think the slugs need much of a space to get through, especially after seeing them under the pots of potted plants). Each Hosta garden has a cafe and when some gardens merged together, the new larger garden would just keep the existing cafes. The cafes may be about 30 feet apart (very roughly). Some cafes are closer together in a garden that is connected to a woods. Any area that has had slug damage will get an extra cafe.

MaidofShade, I bought Sluggo at Bachman's here in the cities. Also bought Shultz iron phosphate at Menards. I have seen Sluggo on eBay last year (haven't looked this year).

Just a note, when I fill the cafes, I take a screwdriver along to clean out the old Sluggo. It is usually in a clump after getting moist (the Sluggo does not stay completely dry, just drier than being on the ground).

Cowboy

Everytime I read the title of this thread, I read it as tasting slugs. Yuck!

Cowboy - what an awesome idea with the little cafes! I've been too cheap to use Sluggo (money that could have been spent on hostas ya know...) but I think I'll give that idea a try. Thanks for sharing that!

I had to give up on the beer idea when I found our barn cat drinking it.....she's goofy enough without adding beer to her diet...LOL

re: yardmom's post!!

I knew it! I'm NOT the ONLY one seeing it that way!
Thanks for fessing up, 'Dorothy'! ;o)

Thanks Cowboy,...so Iron Phosphate from Menards is the generic Sluggo? Great. I have to definately try the cafe idea cause I never had so many slugs before, I think it is cause no rain but My Hostas get watered so this must be paradise compared to the burnt up lawns everywhere else.

Great idea Cowboy - I'll have to try those "cafes" as well.
and yes Janice
I didn't even want to read this thread - afraid of one of those "Survivor" moments - I've a weak stomach ...lol :)
Snails, mussels, escargot, yuck!! My DH loves mussels - yuck!

June

I tried the egg shell thing since it was easy and environmentally friendly. Checked the following morning and virtually all the egg shells except a smattering of little pieces were gone! What kind of yard citter eats egg shells?