Seriously, my obsession with slugs and how to eradicate them is taking over my life. Yesterday, I crossed the line and did something I said I would never do: I grabbed a flashlight and went slug hunting in the dark of night. In the rain, no less. To make it even worse, the neighbors came outside for some reason....I can only imagine what they thought the crazy lady next door was up to. I did kill a bunch, but I felt so ridiculous to have been caught nurturing my obsession. I literally spent hours this weekend in the rain, with the ammonia bottle.
It's been so incredibly damp and rainy for most of the last week...all I can think of is how many slugs must be out there, chewing away. For every ten I kill there must be a hundred minions to take their place. Holes are appearing on even some of the thickest leaves, like Lakeside Beach Captain. It's just disheartening. I don't know why I care so much, but I do. I wait all year for those things to come up and look pretty. I buy 99.9% "slug resistant" ones, and still they get hit.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not some super anal retentive person that has to have everything immaculate. Believe me, my house is mess and I'm fine with that. When would I have time to clean when I'm too busy fighting slugs?! I am virtually convinced now that Sluggo is worthless in my yard. I have it sprinkled everywhere, at all times, and still they find the hosta more appealing. At least the ones I have don't seem attracted to Sluggo. My slugs are an obnoxious shade of golden brown...maybe they are just extra vigorous, I don't know. I think I am going to move to phase two and try a couple new things to trap them overnight, so that I can dispose of them in the morning.
But I feel like it's a losing battle...I feel like I've tried everything and it's still not good enough or is just too much work. If anyone knows where I can move to that has no slugs, no hurricanes tornadoes, mudslides, earthquakes, I'm all ears.. Also no snakes, mountain lions, alligators, or poisonous spiders...and has to have a great climate for growing hosta, of course.
I'm obsessed.
Have you ever tried pine needles for mulch? I've been told that slugs don't like them, and I don't have a big problem with slugs. But, that may be the area that I live in, too.
Not exactly...not even sure where you could buy that mulch around here, as I've never seen it used or for sale. I know that's what a lot of people in the south use. However, one of my beds is directly under the canopy of two enormous pines that mulch it naturally with their needles, and the slugs don't seem to mind it in the least.
Yeah, I've heard that about IL and lack of slugs, Rose...you should count your blessings!!!
I just went out and did another round..got a lot more. They seem to like my annuals in containers as much as hosta at this point. One negative on the ammonia spray is that is seems to kill the worms, too, which I'm not crazy about doing. So I'm mostly spot spraying the slugs as opposed to doing a full soil douse.
Maybe when you're out there with your flashlight you could call out your dog's name so the neighbors won't think you are losing your mind! If it makes you feel any better, I smashed a few snails today while I was out gardening. The pictures that you post here of your beds are so beautiful. Sorry you have so much trouble with slimey things destroying your pretty things.
Rose
Maybe it's time to hit the beer and try sharing some with the slugs too. At least you might feel temporarily better.
Beer is another thing I've tried and had no luck with, though. I'm sure my slugs are perfectly capable of swimming right out of it. I'm having a glass of wine now after finishing my night round. Gotta say, they really do come out after dark, and are almost easier to spot with the flashlight in the dark...so I think I'll keep up with that and see how it goes. Until I run into the garter snake(s), I'm sure, and that will be the end of that.
Rose, thanks for the compliment. I think all the rocks I use in my garden beds make perfect homes for slugs...I noticed many of the ones I killed tonight were on the rocks, so I am going to put some ammonia in the garden sprayer and try to douse those now and then. The 1:20 ratio is working well.
One thing I'm going to try this year is sprinkling some stone dust/rock dust under the hostas. I've read a couple of sources that claim that it repels the slugs. We have a stock pile that we used for our paths this year, so it will be painless to try it. I'd been meaning to do that last week but you know how it goes :-)
Sandy
Noreaster - I'm with you hunting like a maniac late at night. I look like a coo-kee freak, but really don't really care.
My neighbor said last week they saw the flash light shimmering, as I was walking up & down in the yards. She figured it was me for some reason or another. lol
I start about an hour after dark. I fill up a large plastic (disposable) cup with salt - about 3/4 full, grab a plastic fork and the flashlight. I have found some of the spotted ones as big as a small snake. No joke. It's ridiculous. I scoop them up & plot them in the cup, cover them up with the salt & move on to my next victim.
They climb the fences, trees, house, you name it & I have found them there. I realize I am fighting a losing battle but I guess I figure if I get the bigger ones, maybe - just maybe the less babies I will have.
I have even found them all over my rock garden. I was told they 'won't climb on lava rock' because it irritates and cutes their bellies, but WRONG!! They will & as a matter of fact, they live in the little holes!
I seriously think they have just adapted here & there & seem to thrive no matter what we try to do.
Good luck & let me know if & when you find a 'cure'. I will continue my hunting ritual every evening until then. ;)
Noreaster. Don't think that Illinois has no slugs because I raise the darn things here. Have you ever thought that cut worms coud be some of your problem. I have had a lot of leaves ruined by them in the last two yrs. Here is their damage. BEV
Dragonfly raises a good question. I've also done the late night prowl with flashlight in hand and all I found was hostas loaded with earwigs - another munchy pest.
Yeah and the last two yrs have found lots of rolly pollies, Those little gray things that roll up in a ball. I don't know if they eat anything tho. BEV
What do earwigs look like. Guess I could go to bug files huh!!!
I did look them up but have never seen them here.
I'm afraid they will get to you eventually. Before 1976 when I spent a year in Europe, I had never seen them. Must have been the early 80's that they hit us with a vengeance. On the plus side, they DO eat slug eggs.
Ann is correct, earwigs are far more destructive in my gardens than slugs. I don't have a problem in the beds themselves, but anything potted and waiting to go into the ground seems to be fair game to them. Really wet weather doesn't help either. Good luck!
Earwigs are so disgusting...I hate the way the hide in the centers of daylilies. Imagine a if slugs had the speed of earwigs..*shiver*. Bev, I do have a leaf on Parhelion that was munched on by a worm or caterpillar, but most of my issues are with the slugs.
I went out again this morning on yet another damp, gray day, and killed a bunch more. Man, we need some sun and warmth, badly. They are just all over the place. It does kind of make me feel like I am doing something proactive, by hunting them. These conditions are just ideal for them, I guess. I am going to try the hollowed out grapefruit halves soon to see how many I can catch with that.
Alright, I'm going to try the beer traps one more time and see if that works...I will be going out tonight and checking to see if anyone flocking to the "bars" I set up. I've got to worry about my dogs catching the scent, though, since they also love the smell of beer . I also will try laying out leaves of lettuce and see if that attracts them, as it's supposed to. My goal is to lure and then try to kill them. They are really doing a number on many of my hosta and it's so early in the season...grrr.
LOL - the first time I read your message I read BEAR traps and thought that might be a bit extreme.
LOL Ann, I did too! I stopped with my chin in my hand and thought "yup, obsessed!"
It might come to that, Ann! Just went out and checked, and found many slugs on or approaching hosta...but not one anywhere near the beer traps! None on the lettuce leaves either.
Ok, not one slug captured in any of the beer traps last night...nada. I don't know why so many sites swear by that, cause it sure doesn't work here, at all. However, I'm very encouraged by the lettuce method. Saw quite a few holes this morning, and when I turned the leaves over I found several small slugs still on there. So I think lettuce over beer is the way to go. Plus, I can add that to the compost pile so it doesn't feel like a total waste.
I don't have much slug damage, but I do have lots of beer (my hubby made a batch of some strong stuff that makes Guinness look light). I think I'm going to put a few traps out tonight to see if it works. My 'City Lights' is not looking so great, which is odd since it has thick leaves.
Elizabeth
No problem adding beer to the compost pile. It's all organic stuff in it. But if lettuce works, go for it. There was one summer awhile back that I hand collected about 1500 slug from my garden - I counted. I went around with a jar of salty water. Picked the slugs off my plants and dropped them in the jar and watched them wrythe. Actually, I don't think they've been such a problem since.
Elizabeth, let me know if that darker beer works. I read that some guys did a study at the U. of CO and determined that slugs preferred Budweiser, so that's what I used. I did officially catch two small ones in the beer traps.
But lemme tell you, I'm catching and killing hundreds with the lettuce (I'm using romaine). And I'm getting tons of exercise, walking around, checking the lettuce, lol. See, obsessed, I tell you! They really, really, really love the lettuce. Now I know that I will never grow the stuff, even if I could. I don't think I turned over one lettuce leaf that didn't have slugs under it. They don't even seem to care if the lettuce is a little wilted from sitting out for a few days. It's a lot of work, but I'm psyched because I have a glimmer of hope that I may actually be onto something that will keep my hosta in better shape.
Oh, one other interesting thing...I decided to give coffee grounds another shot. I've tried and failed with that in the past, but that was with using my own grounds. This time, I picked up the free ones at Starbucks which smell a lot more pungent than what I brew at home. So I put some around the outer edge of the pot I keep Pandora's Box in. Last night, I saw a big, fat slug sitting right at the edge of the pot and seemed reluctant to cross those grounds! I couldn't wait around to see if it would keep him out, but I thought that was encouraging too. But, does anyone know how often you can reapply the coffee grounds? Can you harm the hosta by using too much, too frequently?
I've been away for a while. Boy do I have a lot of reading to do to catch up! I found my first slug yesterday - it was a BIG one (it's been raining here for a week). Noreaster, I am heading to the grocery store today for some lettuce! Do you check your lettuce more than once a night? I wouldn't want to be giving them an all you can eat buffett if I can only check it a few times each night. How long after you put it down do you find the little slimes?
I am interested to see what others have to say about the coffee grounds. I am going to get some little rubbermaid tubs to put next to the coffee machines at work! (I work in a big office building and my floor has 2). My closest Starbucks is really lazy about putting out their grounds - I keep asking and they say they do it when they have time. I have only gotten lucky once. I don't drink coffee, so I haven't tried this.
Betsy
I tried coffee grounds a couple of years ago and they looked nice, but I didn't sense that they controlled the slugs at all.
Betsy, keep in mind that I am obsessed, so I've been checking the lettuce twice at night- once about an hour after sunset, and once before bed. Last night I only did one and a half rounds, because I smelled skunk! I'll probably ease up and go to once a night. I had major score last night- not only slugs, but a cutworm, too. Woo hoo! I looked this morning and saw two pieces of lettuce with cutworm type damage- I hope that I got the one responsible and that there weren't more hanging around. How can such a small creature eat so much?
I'm not seeing any more noticeable damage on my hosta...before, I could walk out and notice new holes every day. I wish I had thought of this sooner, and really wish I had done the ammonia soil drench when the eyes first broke ground. But I think it's my rock walls around my beds that are harboring the majority of my slug population.
Now I'm sure the neighbors are gonna wonder why I'm walking around my yard with a head of lettuce.
Ann, I'll keep an eye on Pandora's Box, because that one has always been a magnet for them. So far, it has not one hole...so if it continues that way I may conclude that the Starbucks grounds work. They are very finely ground, so I know it's not the texture they object to...I'm thinking it must be the odor, and that can wear off, I imagine. Right now I can walk out there and actually catch a whiff of those grounds in certain areas.
The lettuce trick sounds great, I'm going to have to try that on Friday night. I have not noticed any change when I put down coffee grounds, I save mine (I drink liquid lightening, generally the darkest blends I can find) and apply them when the bowl gets full. It currently is full, but I'm thinking of applying this round near my new bamboo hedge. I planted 7 clumps last weekend - it is supposed to be the non-invasive clumping kind, the most cold hardy available. We'll see. It is to block off the neighbor I don't like.
I have not yet tried the beer because it has been raining every day and night. This weather is supposed to continue, so it might be the weekend before I can put out some of the homebrew for the sluggies.
Elizabeth
Damp and miserable forecasted until the middle of next week- ugh. They are gonna be out in droves again so I'm going to be out there twice a night again. I am so sick of all this rain...everything just seems moldy. I thought I could live in the Pacific Northwest, but perhaps not.
Saw this today at a nursery...I think I have to have it.
Here's mine.... lol
Noreaster, what does that cutworm look like? I've seen some tiny black millipedes (the ones that coil up) around the hostas and have suspected that they are chomping a bit. Supposedly they only eat decaying matter, but I'm not so sure about that...
Sandy
I like that one too, Sandy!
The cutworm looked just like a green caterpillar, but a dull brown. I googled it this morning to make sure that's what it was. It was the first one I've ever caught. I've seen caterpillars do the same sort of catastrophic damage, so they are interchangeable to me...I think the only difference is that I can usually find the caterpillars during the day, and I think the cutworms only come out at night. I don't have a big problem with them, but once or twice a year they take a nice chunk out of something. Sluggo plus is supposed to work on them, I think...but I've seriously lost all faith in that company and want to write them a letter. Unless I mulch with it, I couldn't possibly use anymore than I do, and they still are bypassing it for the plants.
LOL on the slug ornaments.
don't cutworms usually hide just under the surface of the soil near the plants they are munching? I've not had very many.
Yeah, that's what I've heard, Ann. They say to catch them, go out at night, like with slugs/snails. Or there are some poisons you can put down, but with my dogs I don't want to use anything.
I'm not real crazy about all the half melted slug carcasses I'm leaving everywhere when I'm done spraying them with the diluted ammonia. I don't want my dogs eating those, either. Oh, and I do have what I think is some damage from directly spraying on leaves, so I try to avoid that now. I spray the lettuce, and the soil under the lettuce. And I spray the petioles if I find them there...that seems to be ok.
If you are spraying slugs you've already found, why not use salty water? Or better yet, just carry around a bucket of salty water, pick up the lettuce leaves with the slugs and drop them in. I don't spray and I don't apply the ammonia to the leaves at all.
The advantage of spraying leaves is that you can squirt one from quite a distance, or one that is way down in there and hard to reach, as I sometimes see them on Regal Splendor. But you're right, salty water in a spray bottle would seem to work just as well...unless it's bad to spray on the soil? (I spray the slugs that are hiding on the ground underneath the lettuce.) I don't pick up the leaves, I spray whatever slugs I find there, and put the lettuce back down to collect more. The ammonia does not seem to affect the lettuce, but I saw a few spots on a couple hosta leaves I'm suspicious of. I'll dispose of whatever leaves are left after a few days...otherwise I'd really have to buy a lot of lettuce, if I was throwing each piece away after I check for slugs.
I wonder which is a quicker death for them- salty water or ammonia water? I do still feel kinda bad for the little slimeballs.
"little slimeballs"
Don't you think that's a wee bit derogatory, Noreaster?
.... I mean, some of them are quite large ... (keehee)
I feel the same hate for them that Noreaster does. I wish I knew they served some great purpose aside from dinner for the nasty earwigs. Resorting to ducks just doesn't sound like a good answer here. With my luck the ducks would be on slug free diets.
LOL @ Pirl !
Pirl, that cartoon is funny. Chopping them in half is actually my preferred method of killing them, but unfortunately I can't get em all that way! A lot of the ones I'm killing are quite small...I dearly hope I'm putting a small dent in the population of the future. This is war.
When I kill them I view it as possibly killing a thousand since they have no problems with reproducing. If you haven't heard what they do (or how they do it) it's a lesson you will never ever forget no matter how hard you try.
I've killed the tiniest ones imaginable this year. Some so tiny that when they were on a blade of grass the blade didn't even bend over.
Edited to say the cartoon is courtesy of Jazzpunkin who made it for me years ago, knowing my hatred of the slugs.
This message was edited Jun 18, 2009 9:06 PM
I've gotten away from smashing bugs, as much fun as it is. The list time I found a grub while digging I pinched it with my gloves. It squirted into my eye. THAT was gross! Happened about 3 years ago, when I lived in my last house and I've NEVER squished a bug since then. I cut them and I drown them, but I will not squish them with gloves ever again.