Slug Trouble?
Question:Slugs in my garden keep eating our strawberries. How can I keep them away?
Answers:
My favorite commerical product is Sluggo - which is pet safe. The salt can make your soil sterile, but I do keep a jar of salt into which I put slug/snails I catch. Seems the most humane death.
I gave up on strawberries in the ground. The birds got what the snails didn't, and then I got a choking weed called wild morning glory. So I put them in a container with netting over the top. Got a decent crop if not a pretty planting. The netting I used was one of those shower "poufs" that I took apart (recycling!).
If you use a container that you think slugs might get into, you can use copper strips around the base. Crushed eggs shells are also a deterrent (sharp edges slice up the little critter's foot) but not 100% effective in my experience. There's the beer method - put it in something they can get into easily but not escape from and they'll drown. Not tried it myself, afraid I'd have a drunken dog rather than dead snails.
Also eliminate places they can hide during the day - overturned pots, crevices, any place cool and dark. Snails can hibernate a long time and (I read) live up to 17 years! Good luck!
a little salt on each
pour salt around the plants no more slugs
Take a jar cover (from like a mayonaise jar) or a tuna can and put some beer in it and place it in your stawberry patch.
You may want to place a couple of them around.
Slugs are drawn to the beer for some reason.
Hope this helps. :)))
here's a good one--bury an open can of beer so that it is even with the soil level, slugs are attracted to it, crawl in and drown. there are also commercial products at the nurseries. i'd put down a good mulch too. (maybe if the slugs are drunk they won't be so likely to munch your berries-wink)
put a couple of capfuls of beer out in the garden. The slugs will drink the beer in the middle of the night and dehydrate.
Don't do the salt thing, it will kill the plants. Try putting a line of lime around the bed, or a line of crushed egg shells. They don't like going across it. The beer idea works sometimes too.
Go to your local pool store and pick up a bag of d.e. filter powder, all d.e is is ground up sea shells, sprinkle some around the base of the plant and the slugs wont walk on it because of the granules they are sharp, also the D.E powder is all natural.
Water only in the morning - the surface soil will be dry by evening. Studies show this can reduce slug damage by 80%.*
Scatter oat bran on the soil to kill slugs and snails.
Coffee poured directly on slugs kills them.
Spread coffee grounds around base of plants.
Flour: When slugs get coated with the flour, they suffocate & drop off.
Surround your plants with one of these: wood ash, sharp sand, crushed egg shells, lava rock, diatamaceous earth, cedar, oak bark. These will cut & dehydrate the slugs, & eliminate them.
Seaweed is not only a good soil amendment for the garden, it's a natural repellent for slugs. Mulch with seaweed around the base of plants or perimeter of bed. Pile it on 3" to 4" thick - when it dries it will shrink to just an inch or so deep. Because of it's natural saltyness keep the seaweed away from plant stems so it's not in direct contact. During hot weather, seaweed will dry and become very rough which also deters the slugs.*
Sprinkle Chili pepper on slugs & on & around the plants.
Trap slugs with beer or other fermented material.
Galic spray is great for getting rid of slugs, cutworms, wireworms, & whiteflies:
In a blender mix 4 cloves of garlic with 1 chopped onion. Place this mixture in a large glass jar and add 2 cups of water. Add 2 teaspoons of bottled hot pepper sauce, stir ingredients together and steep for 2 days. Strain the mixture and add one tablespoon Ivory liquid soap. Then dilute with 5 cups of water. Do not use in full sun or high temperatures because that's when they can burn or stress plants.
A two inch strip of copper flashing material is an effective slug barrier. It carries a very mild electrical charge which is stimulated by contact with the slug’s slimy mucus. While humans can't detect it, slugs can, and they're repelled.
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