Slug deterrent?

[zonbonzovi]

Normally, I love slugs. In the vegetable garden is a no-no, though. So far I've tried cheap and fancy beer laid out in strategic locations where the most damage is being done. I go a-spearing once daily but the 10-15 invaders are easily replaced the next day. Barriers are useless, of course. I'd like to surround the perimeter with something that will penetrate that protective mucus layer that isn't toxic. Any ideas?

 

[Low]

Diatomaceous earth...poured in a 1x1 line around the perimeter...

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[zonbonzovi]

Thanks, Low. I considered that but I'm afraid that the 2x daily watering and would mean reapplying daily. I read something about copper strips...any experience with that?

 

[grayzone]

believe it or not.. Malt liquor works well also... pour a bowl full of the cheapest , most ghetto 40oz you can find (OE or 211 , stuff of that nature) the slugs will crawl right into the booze (rather than the plants/garden) and shrivel due to salt content... even if they escape theyd be too drunk to eat, and likely die from alcohol poisioning

 

[Low]

Copper could work...although ive never tried it, it makes sense....from what ive read, the slime they produce is mildly acidic, so there could possibly be a chemical reaction that the slug finds unpleasant..maybe even a very slight electrical reaction (think car batteries) that would cause discomfort....

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[zonbonzovi]

gray, how 'bout Steel Reserve? lol

I found copper for a reasonable price and there isn't enough density for the meth zombie crowd to get excited over. I'll report back if it works.

 

[grayzone]

gray, how 'bout Steel Reserve? lol

I found copper for a reasonable price and there isn't enough density for the meth zombie crowd to get excited over. I'll report back if it works.

211 steel reserve would work great... I remember my dad swore by the stuff.. He was a regular GARDENING WITH CISCO kinda guy. He gardened every year in the summer growing corn, tomatos, peppers, a lemon tree, peas, etc in the back yard
while the front was Japanese lace maples, flowers etc.. He was a firm believer in having a nice yard and thats probably where a lot of my work ethic came from.. I was the kid at 10 on up , roaming the neighborhood mowing lawns and what not for summer cash, rather than watchin cartoons and stuff..
If you ever do try it, LMK

btw the bolded text in your qoute is priceless... sad you gotta think like that now a days, but its true

 

[Galapoheros]

I went to a site that recommending going out at night to pick them off, said it worked really well. Doesn't seem too much of a pain to check it every other night or so imo. You could pull a "Tom Sawyer" on your wife, or if you have any kids say, "MAN! this is fun. I don't know if I'll let you do this or not." You could have fun torturing the slugs with a salt-shaker for what they've done, that's motivation. Seriously, I had the idea of using 2-sided tape, covering one side with salt and wrapping the sticky side around the base of the plants. Too much work though and wouldn't work with all that watering anyway. Read about the copper strip idea years ago when I was thinking of raising snails but never tried it.

 

[zonbonzovi]

gray, I had to leave my car with dead battery not long ago on Marine View Dr. and feel fortunate that it didn't get molested for resale. Other acquaintances haven't been so lucky

Gala, I pick the slugs off nightly but will be gone for a couple of weeks on vacation. Copper and cheap beer will have to do for now. Long term I want to backfill an area with discarded concrete and let the grass grow over it, then introduce some garters from a place down the street that is thick with babies this time of year. Snail eating carabids will feast on young slugs, too.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Dry eggshells have sharp edges.
Slugs HATE sharp edges.
However,only DRY eggshells will work well...MOISTENED eggshells develop moistened internal "eggskins" that slugs will nibble out of eggshells whose formerly sharp edges appear to have lost their repellent properties.

Shrews are more effective.
And you may have seen signs of them: even in suburbs.

Ever see "rodent runs" that real rodents would have become stuck in...?
Shortly after I saw some of these I found out that the micropaths' architects were all native shrews...and that more and more slugs were disappearing.

The reason wasn't hard to guess.
Shrews LOVE SLUGS.

Nor are slugs the only crop raiders that shrews discourage...They guard their private pathways so zealously that they will evict intruding mice.
Several of the real rodent runs whose owners had tried to intersect the shrews' highly private pathways disappeared shortly thereafter.

However,shrews can become so "shrewish" where pathway defence is concerned
that they will attack intruding SEEDLINGS until the gardener finds out that shrews require a full quarter inch between seedlings and pathsides...

And,once I did understand...

All the shrews settled down.

And they did slug the slugs.

 

[TomM]

There's always this:

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Was there ever any water under the door?
A little lingering moisture might have been enough to grow woodrot mold underneath...and slugs LOVE IT!!!

They came in the house?
If people were trampling mold odor onto the floor beyond...
Its odor wouldn't have had to be obvious to humans to attract invertebrates.

It is unlikely that the dead slug was an effective "warning."
Few wild animals understand why people kill them:
the dead animals cannot learn or understand anything and the live animals don't know what happened.

And you might as well take the jam back.
None of the slugs were engaged in a conscious "contest."

And you might as well take up the "winners" sign-they cannot read it at all.

The salt in the maze might be better employed reinforcing a straightaway barrier under and on either side of the door.

That is probably where the original attractant was.

Better luck next time!!!

 

[Crysta]

not sure if this is true

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

 

[zonbonzovi]

You guys are hilarious. The salt maze, while ineffectual in the rain soaked NW, at least had strong comic relief.

I should have dipped the cuke in an aluminum solution as it was the first thing that was eaten down to the nub

I had an old garden hand suggest something akin to the Louise's eggshell scheme: coat the entire bottom board of the garden fencing in adhesive and attach broken glass. Seems labor intensive but worthwhile after watching various starts get eaten.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

I preferred work with shrews.
They ran most zealous patrols.