Yikes, that's good to know. I'm sorry about hostas. I hope the solution works.

Another Minnesota gardener!! I found ANYTHING in the garden harbors/hides slugs. Wood, cement, metal..they seem to love to hide in non plant material. Once upon a time I had cement stepping stones scattered through out my hosta beds. For some reason the first season the NEW item is there it is most popular with them. Now that you know where they live you can easily find them when out on a slug hunt!! I always checked under the stepping stones and I was always rewarded with many slugs to spray!!

I have found slug infestation is cyclical in my gardens. Some years one bed or another will have a terrible infestation. In these beds, I use more drastic chemical warfare. Not a lot of stores in my area carry it Get-A-Slug by Ortho so I have to stock up when I find it. It works like a charm!! It makes the ammonia remedy much easier to keep a handle on. Just this week while watering my potted flowers I found a nest. I have pots in milk cans. Two of the cans sit on gravel/sand. The ants love to live under them so I move them a few inches back and forth to thwart them. This time I found a group of large plump slugs just hanging out, hiding from the heat no doubt. Ammonia to the rescue!! It definitely made me wonder about what I have read about them not crossing egg shells or other non soil products.

Babka, I do use Sluggo but it gets wet with all the rain we've had and also I would have had to buy it by the barrel this time. I wanted immediate revenge!

Arcy, I will look up the Get a bug also. Possibly available on Amazon. I also have noticed that I have the least slug infestation where the hostas are planted under or around pine trees. Raised beds or barrels do not seem to make a difference either. They are expert crawlers. OY!

why not lift the wood pieces.. and put sluggo under them ... then the rain wouldnt wash it away ...

i used to lay a 2 x 4 along the fence to the neighbors lawn ... and every so often.. go slug hunting under it ... i wanted to attract them.. stop them at the board ... and kill them there.. before they got to the hosta ...

perhaps we are missing the point .. you in fact gave them a place.. where you could find them ... and now.. by removing them.. they are back to free range ... you might want to rethink removal ... and put the lures back ...

in other words.. you are whining about the downside... and i am thinking... there might be a giant upside to your stroke of luck ... get out of the box you are in .. and think about it from the other box .. the one over there ... to your left ... lol ...

ken

That has been my approach too Ken!!! I kind of like knowing where they think they are hiding!! In fact I have a couple of beds near the house that are more clay for some reason. I have been digging and gathering up my stepping stones to set in those beds just to see if I can increase my success in finding the slugs. Wet newspaper or cardboard REALLY attracts them too. I found out by accident but gosh did I enjoy spraying those suckers!!!!

Thanks Ken and Arcy- I have ordered the Bug getta, replaced some of the wood steps, and bought out the ammonia stock from Menards. I will also place some Sluggo under something to keep it dry. I started building another garden for hosta so I want to get this slug warfare under control for next Spring. This year the deer left the hosta alone. So that was a plus.

I put Sluggo in a small bottlecap, cover it with a clay saucer and stake down a wire basket over it. The clay saucer helps keep the Sluggo drier and the wire basket helps keep larger critters out.

Cowboy's Slug Cafes

Slug Bells

The Slug Bells are fancier than my slug cafes but may not be available in the U.S. They are a similar concept.

Cowboy, that is one terrific website that you're building. Awesome pictures.