SLUGS!

There are not many gardeners who can look at a slug without some degree of horror. Slugs can decimate a garden, especially one with newly planted seedlings. The slimy creatures do, however, have a purpose in the grand scheme of things – breaking down woody debris. They’re wonderful in the compost pile but gardeners certainly don’t need to encourage any more than are already around.

In fact, their rate of reproduction is such that slugs do often need some level of control. The best way to combat slugs is to understand their lifecycle. Know thy enemy! Slugs contain a high percentage of water and will begin feeding as soon as soil temperatures rise above 40 F (5 C), emerging from the soil or from protected areas. They prefer to forage at night or on dull days when temperatures drop and the garden is damp. Their gelatinous eggs, laid in clusters of 40-100, can be found in the soil, under rocks and even in outdoor pots. Learn to recognize them!

Slug Predators
Many natural predators will eat slugs. Providing a habitat for them will help build their populations so that you do less work in the long run. Slug predators include:

• Ground beetles - Like to live under wooden boards during the day.
• Frogs - They prefer damp sites and a quarter of their diet may comprises slugs.
• Birds - blackbirds and thrushes, robins, starlings, rooks and crows, jays, ducks, seagulls and owls will eat slugs.

Cultural Methods of Control
There are many simple things you can do in the garden to decrease slug damage. Because slugs are made up of so much water, they are very susceptible to drying out. In the early spring, cultivate your soil to expose their eggs to drying air & predators. Try to keep your garden as dry as you can without damaging your plants. This can be achieved by using drip irrigation or soaker hoses rather than overhead sprinklers. In addition, if you mulch your garden, pull the mulch back from the base of susceptible plants.

Handpicking
Handpicking is an extremely effective way of riding your garden of hundreds of slugs. For the squeamish, chopsticks or tongs can be used to catch the offending pests. Neighbourhood kids are perfect for this kind of work. A headlamp, pair of tongs, and a bucket of soapy water is all that’s necessary. The best time to hunt for slugs is 2 hours after sunset.

Baits
Slugs are attracted to chemicals given off by the fermentation process. The most popular bait has been beer. However, not all beers are created equal. In 1987, a study at Colorado State University Entomology Professor Whitney found that Kingsbury Malt Beverage, Michelob, and Budweiser attracted slugs far better than other brands.

The range of slug traps is only a few feet so you need to supply a few throughout your garden. Never, sink the containers with their rims flush with the soil level or you run the risk of drowning ground beetles, important slug controllers. The rims should be 1" above the soil's surface.

In the last couple of years, a new product has been released into the market that is receiving rave reviews from organic gardeners. Baits made from iron phosphate have been found to decrease slug populations without harming birds, small pets or humans. The baits are sold commercially under the name Ecosense ® or  Safer's Slug & Snail Bait ®.

Barriers
Aside from diverting slugs to where you want them, gardeners can also use certain barriers to keep slugs out of particular spots. A ring of abrasive material such as eggshells, sand, wood shavings, diatomaceous earth, hair or ash can be placed around susceptible plants. These materials do have to be kept dry, however, in order to work. After rains, top them up again. Cutting the tops and bottoms off of plastic containers and using them as a cylinder around young seedlings can construct a more permanent barrier.

One of the most effective barriers, however, seems to be copper tape, as it works wet or dry. When slugs and snails make contact with the copper, there is a toxic reaction, similar to an electric shock, which repels them. The minimum width for the copper barriers needs to be at least two inches; slug barriers sold in nurseries are often smaller and should be doubled or tripled when installed..

There are a number of tools that a gardener can use to combat slugs. Handpicking, traps, barriers, baits, and predators are just a few techniques. So, rather than shrugging off slug damage as inevitable, choose from the slug control menu and you'll be surprised by the results.