My dogs drink the beer.

bkay

LOL.

Here is a link that might be useful: This leaves only one question.

You might consider screwing open mesh wire covers to keep your beer guzzling dogs from drinking the bait...or just put the bait out after the dogs are inside and empty them before you let the dogs out woof, woof....woof, woof, woof.

It rained last night and again this morning. So when the rain stopped I got out my 2 gallon sprayer filled with ammonia and water. First I sprayed the composter killing about a dozen, then I went to Formal Attire (a notorious slug magnet) and sprayed another half dozen on that. Then I sprayed my seedlings and all the soil around them in a drench.

To paraphrase Lt. Col Kilgore: I love watching them melt before my eyes in the morning.

Steve

I love watching the slime traces of dying slugs in the morning and compute a body count in my mind.
Like so many things in life you have to keep after things, like applying a slug killer every few weeks. It beats viewing skeletons of hosta leaves in August. And don't believe all those tales about poisenous slug baits, no kids, parents, dogs, cats, squirrels, mice have complained to me. I have never seen sick animals in my yard, except dead mice and they are good.
Bernd

$8 a pound for slug bait can run into some money over a season. I like the idea that some have of putting it around the perimeter only. You could then spray with ammonia or use beer baits until the bed is free of slugs and protected with the "Sluggo" bait 'fence'.

Jon

$8 per pound ? For me it costs $9.24 for 3 lbs at HD, that's all I can afford. I spread it approximately once a month and protect the 300 hostas with it, that is many hundred $ worth of plants.
Bernd

Bernd,

I just quickly did an internet search and probably hit on the expensive "organic" type.

I may even be converted to using it as a perimeter defense. The copper wire costs nothing, but it is a trip hazard.

Jon

Chickens eat Slugs by the dozen. They sniff them out like a blood hound.
Bkay-you sure it is not your kids drinking the beer and blaming the dogs?

I hate chems here, but with about 2 acres of and about 2 thousand Hostas here, and after thousands of hours of reading about slug poison, bottom line is the now infamous metaldalhyde based slug poison, it works for us, and our cats, frogs, snakes, et. al. are all still here and working,

hh

Anything that kills insects is by definition poison. It doesn't matter if it is an organic or synthetic; it is still poison and acts in basically the same way to kill. The concentration of poison is the key as to whether it is dangerous to man or beast.

hh, my guess is that your cats are well fed and have no interest in scavaging slug baits for food. The real concern is use of Metaldehydes is that they dissolve into water. The EPA has a one tenth part per billion limit on Metaldehydes in drinking water. This is one three thousandth of any level that has been shown to have any effect on humans.

Myself, I think it is safe if used according to directions. If I had well water I would be careful around my well. I think the technique (that I have just learned) where people use a perimeter defense makes sense. If you spread a ring of bait around hosta beds the slugs will have to cross the "Death Ring" to get at the hostas. The zone inside this perimeter should not allow slugs to enter. Getting rid of slugs within the perimeter with ammonia while establishing this desluggerized zone would be necessary initially and may require an occasional spray.

It would keep the use of toxic materials to a minimum and it would save money and it should be effective. I don't know what problems there might be with this technique ???

Jon