slugs

lelia

As spring approaches, I?m starting to think about slugs and how to get rid of them/ prevent them. A gardening mag. I just read was so very helpful as to say "don?t give them anywhere to hide." We have a very large, partially wooded yard, so not giving them anywhere to hide is nearly impossible. Last year we were plagued by them and I?d really like to try and stop it this year. I?m a big fan of hostas and would love to protect them. We have five different varieties of slugs in our yard, some of them very large and very vile (I measured one last summer and it was six inches long) and I really want to do the best possible job at keeping them at bay. Any suggestions? I?ve tried putting out slug pellets for them, but it?s expensive stuff and as soon as it rains you have to put out new stuff.

hoping4septimus

I just put out bowls of beer for them.

jezzi25

yup the beer works awsome, bury a shallow dish, but deep enough to drowned them, so that it is even with the ground and fill with fresh beer at least every other day. Just put them far from your plants that you are protecting so they don't snack on the way .

kylara111

My poor hostas took such a beating from them last year.  Between the kids and us, we go through a lot of eggs, so I started putting eggshells around the base of my plants and that seemed to stop them.  Unfortunately, they'd already done some damage.

I didn't want to do the beer thing because I didn't want to deal with a bowl of slugs and beer after they had drowned. 

nitaw

kylara111:

My poor hostas took such a beating from them last year.  Between the kids and us, we go through a lot of eggs, so I started putting eggshells around the base of my plants and that seemed to stop them.  Unfortunately, they'd already done some damage.

I didn't want to do the beer thing because I didn't want to deal with a bowl of slugs and beer after they had drowned. 

This is what DH is for! LOL

hayleydeee

Yuck! We have a lot of them around too; my college's mascot is even a slug!

I've heard of people putting a few inches of copper tape around their plants. Apparently they don't like to crawl over it. But I usually just get the kid/ pet "safe" snail killer and put that out. It is expensive though. 

 

musgral8

I've always had great luck with egg shells or diatomaceous earth, which is crushed diatoms that are very sharp. You can get it at any home and garden place. 

karome

I am going to be all about the diatomaceous earth this year.  Our hostas were decimated by slugs last summer and living in a heavily wooded area we also can't really go by the whole "don't give them places to hide" thing. 

I would do the beer thing but beer soaked slugs just sounds vile.