Slug killing experiment

[bowdonkey]

I was going to wait before I actually tried this but decided to post my latest hairbrain idea. Alot has been discussed in the past about controlling these varmints. Most methods either didn't work or were way to time consuming. The older I get the more I hate weeding so I'm doing more and more mulching in the garden. Which brings out the slugs by the bucket load . Enter Sluggo and Bug geta. Great stuff. Ez to use, organic and deadly. And affordable! I put the stuff out after every rain or rainy period. I use a wide mouth plastic container with a half inch hole drilled in the lid to use to sprinkle the stuff with careless abandon. I use a combination of  Milorganite, blood meal and sluggo. The other stuff gives a little bit of protection from deer. In other words if they have something more desirable to graze they will stick to that. If it's towards Fall, then they'll see the repellent more like a seasoning. Nothing is 100% for deer where I'm at. You might not want to put this stuff on salad greens to close to harvest time. Anyway, Slug Protection. All of these slug killers use cornmeal ( I think) and either iron phosphate or sulfur as the actual poison. 100 parts meal to 1 part whatever. So as an experiment I will be taking some corn flakes, maybe try Cheerios to, crush them up, put em in cool whip container or some such thing with the appropriate amount of sulfur, maybe have to spritz lightly with water. Shake it up and spread in the garden. As with most things like this it will probably be more trouble than just using the real thing. I have 3 different bags of the stuff out in the garage. All are similar in ingredients,  all work,  all are cheap. Less than $10 per 3.5 to 4# bag. A bag lasts all garden season and i have a pretty big garden. Thought I might post this in case you might want to try it. Post your results, good or bad.

[Maura]

I hate slugs too. Used ducks. Slugs and snails are their favorite food.

I think you might want to use cornmeal in your mixture. I know it kills ants.

[Woodpecker]

When we had a large garden we put cans, size of a tuna can and fill about an inch with beer. Evidently slugs are alcoholics.😂 They would always crawl up the side, drink a little and then die, lots didn’t make it out of the cans. They will die though from drinking it.

Only problem with this idea is you’d need a lot of tuna size cans of beer, every 2’ to 3’ apart....so depending how big your garden is you’d need many cans of beer scattered in your garden.

Of course you could always find a slug, poor salt on the slug and they sorta dissolve, then die. The kids loved doing that! 🐌

[mogal]

Woodpecker, since I divide a can of cat food among our cats every day, we have plenty of that size can available. You can't buy a single can of beer here and since we don't drink anyway, I've used thin sourdough starter in place of beer and it worked fine.

[bowdonkey]

I sometimes wish we had those giant banana slugs they have in the PNW. What a blast it would be hunting them with a BB gun!

[mogal]

I know nothing about those banana slugs except what a neighbor who used to live in the PNW told me. She may have been "pulling my leg." Anyway, the story was that her family had gone on a camping trip when the slugs were particularly active. Her younger brother opted to sleep in the open rather than in the tent and the next morning, he had a slime trail across his forehead. EEEWWW.

[backwoodsman]

When I was a kid I found that firecrackers were quite effective against slugs, and also provides a class of entertainment that's particularly satisfying to the average jr. high school boy. I also found that one wants to be farther away than one might think necessary, before it goes off.

[snoozy]

I can't have a garden at all if I don't have ducks to decimate the slugs. I have four great ducks right now, who spend their days sailing the yard trawling for slugs. They've done such a great job, they now range into the woods ferreting out slugs there.

Banana slugs actually do not eat living plants -- they consume dead and decaying plant matter. So they are part of the life cycle of the forest, and I do not worry about them.

[bowdonkey]

Not sure if this worked this year. It's been so dry I've seen no slugs in the garden. They were in the woods and lawn though. I did use a little in the spring about every week, but there really was no call for it. The Milorganite and blood meal mix kept the deer away. Used it after every rain shower or as the spirt moved me. Did get some immediate deer damage when I wasn't on top of it. I also found a half ounce of Odorban in a couple gallons of water really offended them. Dampen the foliage with that and then a light dusting of Milorganite and blood meal and problem solved till the next rain washes it away. Cheap and easy. But I think the 8 foot fence my son and I are working on will be easier still. I hope.

[countrymom22]

I've used the beer in tuna cans method with great success. But I don't put them that close together. and I also make a shallow hole to put them in so they are closer to ground level. My son sends me any old beer that he and his friends don't drink or like. His buddy works in a brewery and gets lots of free beer.

Free is good!

[bowdonkey]

Hey gang, I found a better way short of giving up gardening. Every now and then I buy some layer crumble for the hens. Looks like it might work for slug bait. Chick starter also looks similar.  So I put some some on a baking pan, spritzed it with water and poured about a third into an empty plastic container added some Sulphur and shook it up to disperse it. I did it in stages to get the sulfur mixed in somewhat evenly. Kind of a pain in the rear compared to the convenience of just buying a box of the stuff. But this stuff is getting pricey around here. Wally has a 1# box of Corrys slug killer for 10 bucks. You can order the same brand off of Amazon for about the same price but you get 3- 5#.  At that price it's hard to justify making your own. But what the heck, I like using materials I have laying around anyway. Chicken feed and soil acidifyer. And it's just plain fun trying to figure out how to outwit slugs. I feel like a scientist at the Wuhan lab working on some mad experiment.  The year is shaping up to be a good year for the garden and slugs. Regular rains and the whole garden is covered in mulch. I Ruth Stouted the whole thing because I hate weeding. Especially this year, we also have record mosquito populations. I'll let you know if it works, I may end up going back to the drawing board. Which is probably what will happen.