Super slugs

14 years ago

I don't just have a problem with slugs, I have a problem with Super Slugs. They glide over the crushed egg shells with out thinking, my garlic is more of a treat then a repellent and they happily climb out of my beer traps once they have drunk their fill. Even the snails climb out of my beer traps, I threw a couple in that I found in my lettuce just out of convenience. 20 minutes later they were climbing out. I go out at night before I go to bed and I see a ton in the traps, in the morning they are gone. I have almost every inch of exposed soil covered in ground egg shells and I have seen them just climb over them like they are nothing. I am almost surprised they they actually react to salt.

Help, I am desperate, I hand pick every night before I go to bed, but there is almost nothing left of my beans and I am running out of ideas.

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Comments (3)

Kimmsr
14 years ago
Either the dish you are using for the beer slug trap is too shallow or there is not enough beer in it. Once the slugs get in, if the depth is sufficient, they cannot get enough traction to get out, the yeasty odor of the beer is what attracts them but the inability to crawl out is what drowns them.
I have not seen that egg shells, or coffee grounds, are much of any help keeping slugs at bay, but spraying the plants with cold, caffienated coffee has worked, for me.
Those slugs need a cool, moist environment to live and breed so look around and find where that is and disturb it, or eliminate it. In my well mulched planting beds, a nice cool, moist environment, slugs are not a problem and I am not sure why they are not. The slugs are there, as are toads, garter snakes, birds, etc. that can help keep them under control, and maybe that is it. The predators keep the slugs under control for me.
morz8 - Washington Coast
14 years ago
Your 'from the kitchen' approaches don't seem to be working for you, had you considered slug bait?

There are several environmental and pet friendly brands on the market these days with iron phosphate as their active ingredient. Sluggo, Worry Free, Escar-Go...even Ortho produces one in their Ecosense line. Prices vary, comparison shop.
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novice_gardener123
14 years ago
Shadestorm, I too suffer from the attack of the super slug. Like you, I have had no sucess with ridding my flower beds and garden of these disgusting creatures. I have passed the obsessive stage and have moved into complete insanity when trying to rid my life of slugs. I have completely ripped up every shred of mulch around my house, placed lava rock around any vegetation worth saving, and have tried the "hunt and destroy" method. My problem is that I never see them. I try at all hours of the day and night to find them... I have a feeling my neighbors will have me committed some time soon. I do see each morning HUGE slime tracks glistening in the morning sun. I have tried the commercial slug bait and killer and I think I have more now than ever...
If you come up with anything that rids your outdoors of these horrible creatures, please post a follow up!