Slugs and snails

Cjones

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So this year I am having a serious problem dealing with slugs.

I was wondering what are your experiences of dealing with them?. I must be trapping around 30 to 50 every night and they are still getting to some of my trees
 

Firstflush

Chumono
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You likely know the beer traps already. You can try Sluggo Plus which will take care if rollie pollies, centipedes, pincher bugs and ants too.

The number one thing I would recommend is cleaning up the garden detritus where they hide and get protection during the day.
 

Carol 83

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You can pour salt on them, but don't look at the results, it's really gross.
 

LittleDingus

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Diatomaceous earth. You can buy it as a powder or get oil dry. Top dress your trees. It has sharp edges that rips them as the crawl over it. Works for a lot of insects too. Pretty cheap. No chemicals. I even use it as a pure inorganic soil with great results.
 
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I bought three muscovy ducks that I let rip around the yard once in while. I just noticed today tho that the snails don't seem to be going after my native trees (Doug fir, maple) or native adjacent trees (exotic prunus) species but are trashing my truly foreign and herbaceous plants (avocado, heuchera). My ill advised carob seedlings seem to be snail proof. Srsly tho, ducks love slugs and snails.
 

Cjones

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Thank you. I love learning new stuff even if it is just fighting off slugs etc

I have just been using 1 single homemade beer trap. That has been working well. Infact to well I believe it's attracting the slugs from all around at a rider range.

I have decided to move the beer trap further away amd see if it deters them more.
 

Cjones

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Diatomaceous earth. You can buy it as a powder or get oil dry. Top dress your trees. It has sharp edges that rips them as the crawl over it. Works for a lot of insects too. Pretty cheap. No chemicals. I even use it as a pure inorganic soil with great results.
Now going to look this up. Thank you
 

penumbra

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You can try Sluggo Plus which will take care if rollie pollies, centipedes, pincher bugs and ants too.
I hope they still make regular Sluggo. I like it because it doesn't bother the other critters and it degrades to iron the plants can use.
Diatomaceous earth. You can buy it as a powder or get oil dry. Top dress your trees. It has sharp edges that rips them as the crawl over it.
This has been a long time cure used for at least several decades. They will not cross the powder DE if you pot it around pots you want to protect, but it washes away easily. The granular form is not anywhere near as rough as crushed lava which makes a very good looking top dressing.
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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Copper tape works wonders for me. It is expensive but it's totally worth spending 20 bucks on saving 20 trees.
I have four beer traps that catch the rest. One trap just doesn't cut it.
 

LittleDingus

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Thank you. I love learning new stuff even if it is just fighting off slugs etc

I have just been using 1 single homemade beer trap. That has been working well. Infact to well I believe it's attracting the slugs from all around at a rider range.

I have decided to move the beer trap further away amd see if it deters them more.

That's the problem with a lot of "traps". They work by attracting the baddies...which never seams a good idea to me. They don't just attract local baddies.

I used to use Japanese beetle traps until I realized I was attracting every beetle from the entire neighborhood :(
 

Wires_Guy_wires

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I don't think slugs have the sensory organs to smell things more than a couple feet away. But I googled around for 30 seconds and found that they can smell pretty well. Or is it "smell good"?
Oh well, it seems to work for me!
 

Cjones

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So earlier today I got talking to the neighbour and he noticed one of my slug baits. He laughed and ended up giving me some copper tape and told me he's been using it for years and has all ways worked. He's an old boy who's been gardening for around 40 years so I took his word for it.. well any way I just sat and watched for 20 minutes watching slugs go right over it with no problem..

Maybe some how I applied it wrong but the old boy sworn by it for his vegetable patchs.. I'm sure going to have another chat with him in the morning just to be sure.

But in the mean time il be ordering diatomaceous earth
 

Cjones

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There's two forms, the food grade costs a bit more.

You can also use copper strips as well.
Would the soil form work just as well as the powder?
 

LittleDingus

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Would the soil form work just as well as the powder?

I use NAPA 8822 (oil dry) as my primary soil component. I have slug issues from time to time on plants in potting mix...but rarely on plants in the NAPA grade DE. It's pretty cheap too.

As another anecdote, the NAPA employee I mentioned that it kills slugs laughed at me. His buddy in the back overheard and came out to tell us that a local farmer buys a full pallet every couple of years for slug prevention of his family garden (not the fields!).

So, now you have 2 more SOBs to swear at when you watch the slugs crawl right across the DE too :D

The good news is DE is relatively cheap and not at all harmful to plants or people.

As another potential alternative, I've seen crushed limestone work too.

...and as someone above mentioned, crushed red lava rock.
 

Firstflush

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I dont think the larger soil particle size DE would work as good unless the ground is completly covered where the pest would be forced to move through it.
 

Cjones

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I dont think the larger soil particle size DE would work as good unless the ground is completly covered where the pest would be forced to move through it.
Ok guess il cover alot of ground.

Thank you for your response
 

Pitoon

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Would the soil form work just as well as the powder?
I'm not sure I understand what you are asking.
Now I realize what you were asking. The issue with the powder form is that it will wash away when you water. Unless you make a paste and rub it down everywhere.

You should give copper a try, it's a lot less messing. Slug and snails won't cross copper. Just make a barrier around your pot and you should be good to go. Keep in mind if you have your pots on a slat table they can access via the spacing in the slats. If that's the case wrap the legs of your table and the entire table it protected.

Copper strip
 

NOZZLE HEAD

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You have a product called “nemaslug” available in the UK I have been following the research on it for years, and it is definitely the most effective slug control product.

It is really rare that y’all over there have a pesticide product that is not available in the USA but this is a good one. It is just beneficial nematodes, but I don’t think it is cheap.

I spend a lot of time dealing with slugs because they cause millions of dollars of damage every year in the agricultural region out here.
 
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