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Slug Season…again…still?
It’s that time of the year again… well, it’s been that time of the year for a while… actually, is it ever not that time of the year? Slugs and snails seem to be the gardener’s constant enemy combattant. These invertabrates may be small and slow, but they are rampant eaters, and can lay waste to delicate sprouts in no time.
This slug thinks that all the leaves in the garden are for him.
Slugs and snails can be found in any cool, damp environment - under leaves, rocks, boards, etc. If you are in the habit of using wood chips as paths in your garden, it’s a good idea to put a layer of egg shells under the chips to prevent slugs from making a home. Prevention is obviously the best method of slug and snail management - simply don’t give them an opportunity to move in. But they are sneaky, and persistent.
There are no shortage of products on the market, available from your local garden or hardware store that profess to be the cure all, but what are you to do if you don’t want to load up your garden with chemical pesticides? Here are a couple “home-made” options that we’ve come up with that seem to help with the ongoing battle.
Beer Traps - Highly effective, and relatively inexpensive. It’s an excellent use for your old yogurt and cream cheese containers. Clean the containers thoroughlly, then bury up to near the top of the container in the soil near to young plants. Fill the containers with cheap beer (why use the good stuff for slugs?) and wait. Every morning, go to the garden, and you will likely find it filled with slugs who have gone into the cup for a little drink, and wound up drowning. Empty out the container of the dead slugs, rinse it out, and as evening comes, add more beer and repeat.
Egg Shells - For slugs, it’s like walking on broken glass. And they certainly want no part of it. The best preparation that we’ve found for getting egg shells ready for use in the garden is a simple one. Collect egg shells throughout the week in an aluminum pie tin (or something similar) leave them out, and exposed to air. They won’t develop odor unless they’re kept in an airtight container. They will begin to dry, and let go of some scents that are appetizing to unwelcome mammals. Once your pie tin is relatively full, sprinkle the shells liberally with a couple tablespoons of salt. Put them in the oven at around 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until all of the residual membranes inside the shell crack when you touch it. The point of baking is to make the shells more brittle, and to dry out the albumen inside. When the membranes inside are still soft, they still have a strong enough smell to be appealing to raccoons and possums and other animals more destructive to your veggie patch than the slugs.
Shells ready for use!
Once the shells are baked, and cooled. Put them in a freezer bag, and wrap the bag with a dish towel. Now, squeeze the bag, and crush the shells into small shards. Sprinkle these shards liberally around the base of your plants. Slugs and snails will not be interested in coming anywhere near your plants with these razor sharp deterrants guarding your plants.I know that there are many other methods employed to clear away these pests - I’d love to hear your home-made remedies for slugs. Please feel free to add them to the comments section!
Tags:beer eggs pests remedy slugs trap wood chipsPosted by Les on April 3rd, 2007 under Pests
2 Responses to “Slug Season…again…still?”
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April 3rd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Escargot anyone? If you really want to know what to do with your snails, check out this article!!
Delicious - Chef B
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2003/05/05/urbananimal.DTL
April 7th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Escargot!!! yummie