Thank's my problems with catching them,
1) I work from 4pm until 5am if not more. 6 days a week. So its rare I'm home at night.
2) 5000 square foot is a bit much to go thru by hand.
3 and finally) it's spring in south Carolina lowlands. I live between a major river and a swamp. While rattlesnakes are friends of mine I don't like being in the garden at night due to water moccasins and cotton mouths.

We have snails in our front yard but not our back thank God.
We do have earwigs..by the thousands!

With snails, I use pellets that are safe for wildlife and cats and dogs but deadly to snails..eats their insides.
I killed everyone of them. I just hand cast it where I know they are and done :-)

Dave

Cool thanks...what are earwigs?

Just put a few bowels of beer out there they cant resist it. They will crawl in and over indulge themselves to death. Try 1 bowel for 1 night and send back a post. It works.

You will come across many methods in your search. I've probably tried them all over the years and they all have worked. None are 100%, but using a few methods that suit your situation and work schedule, some combination will make sense.

Copper tape tacked down on the edge of raised salad beds does work. I just run steel wool over it to re-fresh every spring. After the bed is prepped for seed and plants are very young, i use a bit of the granular bait, not much.

As an added insurance, especially for herb beds that do not have copper, i use old beer.
Small plant saucer pushed down at soil level. That gets the misc. 'hobo's'.
-handy during a busy work week.

To start catching a larger problem, water only in the morning. Lay down thick soaking wet newspaper...they will find the moisture and hide underneath. Turn it over in the morning and you will find a slug party. Carry it out of the garden area and sprinkle with salt to kill.
(if you don't like touching) or pluck and put in salty container of water.
DO NOT sprinkle salt into your garden directly on the slugs like i caught my dad doing.
He killed my entire basil bed and thought he was helping...grrr

My most successful method is diatomatious earth, food grade, that i apply just as the hostas poke out of the soil in spring, that would be today. Purchased two 5lb bags a few years ago on Amazon and just opened the second bag this morning. I sprinkle around the hosta bed, wearing a quality dust mask. The dust is not good for your lungs but it is not harmful wet. We are having a damp day and i find it just as effective wet. (some say no)

I am also putting some into my woodland spray mix for the edge of the property as a tick repellant/killer, deer-be-gone etc...that mixture has other things and different subject...

The best combination of tricks is what you have time for and sticking with it early in the season.
It took me a couple years to catch up with it all but no problems last year at all.
Just needed a few beer traps. And the other easy things above....no longer bother with a newspaper trick as my numbers are WAY down. I may see 3 or 4 a day in beer traps.
One in my salad bed...often very tiny ones that if find in my salad rinse water.

I helped a friend with her second year garden...she called screaming that i increased her slug population...(i call it 'hysterical gardening', lol). Her wet newspapers we loaded as well as her beer traps. Soon she had it all under control.
-some think traps invite them from surrounding counties and neighbors yards...
(i don't believe that at all).

-can't stand being around ammonia so never tried that one, never will.

Here is a link that might be useful: getting rid of slugs

I don't believe in wasting good beer, so I use iron phosphate pellets.

Sleevendog pretty much covered it.

Kevin

If you're not home in the evenings and nights, you may have to use the methods that don't need you to be there.

Even a board that will make a damp spot for them to congregate can be checked in the morning when you get home. Your large property could also have a few toads or ducks, which love to eat slugs and snails, if your neighborhood allows it.

I agree with Kevin on using beer. Plus, it is not practical for 5000 sqr-ft garden. If you are concerned about chemicals, use SLUGO, which is environmentally friendly. It just cost more.
My method, on small scale, has worked for me, proven positive after 2 seasons.
Good thing about slugs is that they cannot come from too far away and need to breed in your garden and they are easy to be detected and destroyed.

Slugs dont need the whole beer ,just a little back wash .

Thanks a million yall I'll be trying several of the ideas I've learned here.

Old beer? I wasn't aware anyone let beer get old lol.

I have frogs and toads galore. (It's what draws the snake I think) but ducks don't stay around long.

Must be a near-beer alternative. Some home brew mix for those not willing to part with a swig. I seem to have a few gag bottles left over from a gathering...
bring some cheap stuff and drink my good stuff. : )

Or for those those who do not drink beer. Husband seems to loose one somewhere while doing yard work...or fall asleep with one half full.
Don't really need much. Even with a week of rain, they seem to just dive in on top of each other.

Did not really address the specific issue. (did not realize i was in pepperville)
I was just cruising various topics now that a big storm has rolled in.
My climate is not great for peppers. Just a dozen or so. Keeping the lower leaves off the soil and collar them early when young with a strip of copper if needed. I have a load of strips i cut years ago and they just need a bit of wire wool. Hardware stores have copper flashing, the raw stuff. Some have a coating to keep it 'pretty'. That won't work. Tin snips cut it easily.

I still think, for large scale, and early plantings before the slugs have a chance, is the diatomaceous earth. Just read and research the best way to apply.

This is the one i ordered a few years ago...

Here is a link that might be useful: diatomaceous earth

I just wish Beer worked on Moles

actually, the snakes may be the problem

they might be eating the toads.frogs and scaring away the ducks
those are the natural predators.
Those are what should keep the population in check in nature.
Lizards and Newts as well.

If you have a lot of places for them to hide (IE mulch) then, looking for them is a huge job
if there are only some rocks and flat surfaces you can turn over, you could start there, especially, if you can get them laying eggs!
(mentioned in the link below)

I was thinking you could buy those cheap dixie cups, and make a solution of sugar water and yeast in a bucket
fill the dixie cup 1/2 full, and put 50 of them out.

---------
FYI...

Colorado State University Entomology Professor Whitney found that Kingsbury Malt Beverage, Michelob, and Budweiser attracted slugs far better than other brands.

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010709n.cfm

I'm also looking for ways to rid my garden of slugs and snails. Last years cabbage looked like lace.
Picking them off at night isn't an option.
The use of coffee grounds, egg shells, ashes helped but those wash away.
This year scrap copper and beer are my attempts. But I'm way interested in using yeast since I don't drink beer and it seems like yeast would be cheaper.
Anyone have a recipe?

Zagut: you sure it was slugs? And not caterpillars? I'm not saying slugs can't do damage to cabbages, but when somebody says their brassicas look like lace, I think cabbage worms(loopers) right away.

Kevin

If you use snail bait stick with the ones made from iron phosphate better for you when they break down, doesnt leave no harsh chemical compounds plus the iron is good for the plants lol. I use slugo and natria maybe nutria I get it from lowes much cheaper than slugo. I get swamped by slugs and snails every year they come over from both neighbors every night. So I just sprinkle it around the perimeter of my beds and containers works like a champ. I tried the hand picking thing but got tired of going out every night.

Woohooman, It was slugs for sure. I just didn't have the time to fight them off. Caterpillars I can deal with it's slugs and snails that give me a headache.

Is Slugo safe for kitties?

I haven't seen a snail poison I'd want to use around pets. I don't like to use poisons but I've got to find something. I'm getting tired of getting the leftovers from the critters.

Says it is on the label.

Kevin

Greenman.... While I'm sure the snakes are eating the frogs and toads I've got plenty to spare. Like PLENTY. I like anything that eats mosquitos so I encourage the amphibians. Also have an odd amount of newts or salamanders. Not sure which. Perhaps both. I've got a house covered in tree frogs every morning. (BRight green mostly. Like living decorations lol) I'm not sure if black widows eat slugs but I'm fighting them off as well.

Thanks much. I'll google Slugo and go from there.

Instead of BEER try some water with a little bread yeast in it. I have heard (not tried myself) that is the yeast in beer that attracts slugs.

Beer worked for me! I know it's a waste, but it will get rid of them. Buried a few bowls flush with top of soil. Put about three quarters full of beer. By morning, the bowls were full of slugs. Did this for a week or so and got rid of them! Apparently the slugs get drunk. Its kinda funny to see them stretch out, drink for a few minutes and then fall forward into bowl!

I have a problem. Just found a snail on my Kalanchoe luciae. I knocked it out of the pot, doused the snail with salt water and sprayed the plant with a 50/50 vinegar-water solution.

This was one snail, but is it a harbinger of more to come? I have aloe in my backyard, and my neighbors have aloe and other sorts of plants as well. This is the first time having ever seen a snail, which I suspect was attracted to the Kalanchoe luciae plant.

I was inundated with the little fellas, put copper tape down...salted the perimeter, scattered slug pellets far and wide, had salt spray,made beer traps...THE WORKS!!
What finally got rid of them was a dosing of nematodes! Was a tad skeptical at first but after going through all tried and tested methods and still having to deal with holes eaten in my plants it was time for the big guns...nematodes, they worked their magic and a few days later all the slugs were dead!

Ha, for those considering doing a little night hunting, you might consider carrying a different type of flashlight. Overturning boards and such where I live may reveal one of these...

It's a regular brown scorpion, but shining a UV/Blacklight on one will make them glow florescent green. A digital camera won't pick up the UV though so it has to be changed in post processioning from purple to what your eyes actually see (I forget which filter).

This post was edited by mecdave on Thu, May 22, 14 at 8:54

More info in the Florida Gardening forum.

Here is a link that might be useful: Please share your tips on getting rid of Slugs and Snails

> "Just put a few bowels of beer out there "

pepperdave, do you mean pee ?

Never knew that pee killed slugs. May have to reevaluate my lifestyle...

Dennis

I tried the Natria slug bait (which uses iron phosphate like Sluggo but is cheaper). It seems to have worked or at least controlled the population. I don't see as many slugs and snails around as much in the evenings and mornings anymore. It's still a on-going control method but for now, the constant frustration of seeing some new damage every morning is over.

Of course, that is also combined with the plants growing bigger and fuller, so I may not notice bits and pieces of damage here and there. However, I'm basing my conclusions on actually not seeing as many bait pieces (assuming they were eaten) and not seeing as many of slugs and snails, as opposed to seeing plant damage.

This morning, I did saw some ants carrying the bait away, so at least I know they seem to play a part in the disappearing bait also.

I found probably the best and most eco friendly way to stop snails. Easy, cheap and long lasting. Some people told me to put egg shells on the earth and then I realize the snails don't like sharp objects on their slimy bodies :-) so this is how the idea of sand paper appeared! I have raised beds and around it a line of rough sand linnen. Glued stapled or nailed. Grid 60/120. They don't cross this. if you got no raised beds a stroke of something with sandpaper on the ground around it will have the same effect. Make sure there are no gaps though.

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