when does slug season end?

deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

16 years ago

I had major slugs earlier this year. I'm so new and stupid that I didn't even realize how bad they were until many of my seedlings began to disappear and the fat slugs by them grew fatter. Big clue there. We began to go on Slug Hunts in earnest. I must have found a major nesting ground because we caught probably over 40 slugs on one shasta daisy alone. Since our slug hunts I see far far fewer slugs--maybe a total of 4 in the entire garden after a rainy night. One day I want to have a mulch free garden, but my plants are so young this year that mulch-free would end up being weed-full. So, this year I'll continue with the mulch around my seedlings. My questions regards mulch and slugs. I've been waiting to mulch around any seedlings because I thought the mulch would make it easier for slugs to travel and devour. I'd like to go ahead and get mulching done, so I'm wondering when slug season ends. When do slugs enter their next life cycle around here, or just die and dry up (latter option preferable)?

BTW, now I have more bare dirt than plants, and the winds we've been getting have been really drying out things. I'd like the mulch to help keep moisture in the ground on windy days, of which we are having many.

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Comments (7)

lschibley
16 years ago
I usually see my slug numbers decrease around the time of the first frost, though these New England slugs can be pretty tough.

:)

Sorry! Just had to tease. Tell you the truth I never have heard of a slug season. Seems I battle them all summer long.

Lisa
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
Original Author
16 years ago
Ha ha! You tease. I'm laughing so hard I'm crying. Actually, I'm really not laughing that hard but I'm still crying. Till frost?!?! I'm crying harder now.

Can we have a hard frost next week? Just kidding. Damn Yankee slugs. Good grief, they're tenacious!
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NHBabs z4b-5a NH
16 years ago
Yup, they are pretty much around whenever the plants are.

You can make your hunts a bit easier by setting traps - just boards laid on the ground that will be dark and moist underneath. The slugs will hide under them when it's bright and dry, so you can just look under the boards and then knock them into a can of soapy water.

I tried beer traps with all kinds of variations when I had a slug problem in a previous house: cans above ground, cans buried to the rim, straight beer, beer mixed with flour . . . but the result was always the same, happy slugs, not drowned slugs. So now I consume the beer . . . ;>) What really worked besides the board trap was to go out on a warm damp night with one of my husband's 6" nails and skewer them. When the slug-kabob was full, I'd scrape it off into a can of soapy water (just in case one wasn't lethally injured in the skewering process) and then go back to skewering. I'm not sure if it helped reduce the slug population, but it sure was satisfying.
houstworks
16 years ago
I'm seeing very fat slugs already this year.
I haven't noticed them this early before and this fat.
Especially since we haven't had a lot of rain compared to many years.

Are you seeing slugs that look like this?
diggingthedirt
16 years ago
> When do slugs enter their next life cycle

LOL I"m trying to imagine what that stage would look like. A slimy brown moth perhaps? With fangs?

I use non-toxic Sluggo. One can is about 20 bucks and lasts a couple of seasons, just sprinkle it around after rain.

No skewering, trapping or hunting is needed and it's not all that expensive, compared to beer.
blaketaylore
16 years ago
I remember the days of forty slugs on one plant. It took a couple of years of dedicated daily slug hunts, but I did seem to reduce the population quite a bit. This spring, I have only come upon a handful of them. I don't know if it is becasue of the success of the previous slug hunts, or if it is the copius coffee grounds that I have been adding to the beds since early March, at the rate of about four or five gallons a day.

Also, I hear that chickens, in chicken runs or just running around, will gobble them up, but I would fence off my garden beds from them

I did use boards and moved them around and that did help with my hunts. I think becasue my house is in the middle of the woods that certainly added to the slug problem. But as I said, I do think that the daily hunts, rain or shine, as early in the morning as possible, before breakfast, made a big difference.

I wish there was a slug season, or they had a natural cycle like other pests do, but unfortunately they are around as long as the plants are, unless you are very vigilant. I have never tried sluggo, but if it is organic stuff, I would have used it a few years ago. But fortunately I don't feel I need it now.

Good luck
mmqchdygg
16 years ago
As far as I know, there is no "season" for slugs...
...it's open season year round.

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