Slugs

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So does anyone have any great homemade solutions or traps for slugs? My 2 hostas are just starting to come up and usually get ravaged by mid summer.
 
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shallow bowls of BEER they love it, get in and drown

from the net

Iron phosphate is non-toxic to pets and wildlife.
Low Tech Method

Hand picking of slugs is still the primary tool in any slug-fest. Lay boards, overturned ceramic pots and spent grapefruit halves in the garden soil before dusk. Sprinkling water around the slug shacks will make them irresistible to passing snails. In the early morning, tip-over the boards, pots and grapefruit and drop the resting slugs into a coffee can or yogurt container. (In my own experience, when I dropped live slugs into a pail, without a lid, thinking that they would drown, they simply crawled out eventually. Only when I began adding a few drops of dish soap to the water, would they succumb and die. So I just pour the slugs and water onto the compost pile.)
Also, the snails can be recycled into the farm pond as fish food, or their slime can be used for chafed skin.
Traps

Dig a shallow depression in the garden, sink an aluminum pie pan so that its lip is at soil level, and fill with beer, or a soup of yeast, molasses and water. Slugs will crawl into the plate, not be able to escape and will drown. Note: this method works best if your garden is fenced or if you do not have a pet that may drink the bait liquid.
For a more pet-proof trap, cut a 1” hole in an empty coffee can, sink the can into the ground so that the hole is at soil level, fill with bait liquid and replace the can lid.
 

j.w

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I just use the slug bait stuff..........put it in little slug houses made out of plastic pop bottle w/ a little plastic stick stuck through the top to hold it in place. Keeps the rain out.
 
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Slugs hate sand because it rips their bellies open and they die. Put a tablespoon or two of cornmeal in a jar and lay it on its side wherever there is slug activity. The slugs love this stuff and after eating it they die
 
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Some good tips here, I might have to give them a go!
 
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I will have to keep these tips in mind for next year. We have a lovely garden of hostas in our shade areas around the house, and they completely destroyed over half of the plants :( I was afraid to put beer out because I have two little boys who love to garden with me (and without me). Our beds are lined with landscape rock. Is this creating a habitat for the slugs to survive?
 

Ian

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We've got loads of the little blighters in the past week (lots of rain!), so I've had to go for using pellets to keep them under control. So far it's worked and it's now under control... now just need to get the rest of the garden sorted!
 

Jed

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So does anyone have any great homemade solutions or traps for slugs? My 2 hostas are just starting to come up and usually get ravaged by mid summer.
I agree,beer traps are by far the easiest way to rid your garden of slugs. I've used a small ice-cream container with holes in the side similar to the coffee can method.The lid helps against it filling up with rain.Next time you have a party,collect those half finished beers and keep it in a soda bottle in the fridge until you can use it or if you brew beers or wine you will have plenty of that yeasty sludge that attracts the little blighters.
 
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So does anyone have any great homemade solutions or traps for slugs? My 2 hostas are just starting to come up and usually get ravaged by mid summer.
Crushed egg shells should do the trick . You also could try sprinkling some salt or ashes around .
 
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What great tips! I also have a slug problem and it is very frustrating. I will have to try some of these tips and the great thing about most off them is that you have everything you need at home.
 
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I have used salt and ash to get rid of slugs. They seem to keep away from those areas or just die after crawling through them. I have had this problem only once when I think I brought home a plant with a few slugs on them... this was a long time ago though.
 
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I've tried the crushed egg shells to keep slugs away from my compost pile and it really works well. I usually have a steady supply because my kid likes to eat boiled eggs most mornings. It works like the sand by ripping up their bellies and they won't venture across the stuff.
 
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I have never heard of the beer trap before. I used to have them bad until I got chickens. I hardly have a bug problem at all. I figure some day when the kids are grown I won't have near as many chickens and I need to learn how to keep things under control.
 

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