Pests: Calling all slug experts! (Not for the faint of heart)

I don't need to go overboard this year. It's been too dry here for snails. I'm sure there are millions of eggs underground, just waiting for the rainy season.

So far the toads are taking care of the slugs and I have seen 3 garter snakes around the pond. We had a fairly wet winter...I am pleased for that because it keeps the Lubber grasshopper population down....most of the larva drown in wet winters. last year we killed over 300 of them...cost me big time cuz I bribed my Grandson into helping...10 cents a carcass...picked up $30 just hanging around outside around dusk...

Slugs are rampant in Mobile, AL...our rain fall usually surpasses every region in the country, even Seattle! Seattle has more rainy days but they rarely have more inches of rain than we do (: Anyway, makes for one wet garden that I have an angel trumpet tree in along with some hostas. The slugs never bother the tree untill i planted the dern hostas (:...They seem to like the AT tree better than the hostas and dishwashing liquid diluted with water seems to have run them off the hostas, but not my angel trumpet tree. I read sevin dust wont phase snails....I am planning to do a beer trap using the beer left in the bottom of the can that i dont finish (I love beer). I was wondering if i use a plastic coke bottle and cut windows in it about 4 inches up, then fill with 3 inches of beer or so, and set it right side up with top on to preent escape, if that would work? Or should i bury it top down and cut some windows? Ideas are welcome

We don't get many slugs here, but when I lived in Hamburg, they seemed to just appear from nowhere.
I found an excellent way to keep the population down and that was to cut them in two.
Take one end and place it about 4-5 metres away and do some other work.
Go back to your slugs about one hour later and you'll have quite a collection as they are cannibalistic and love their dead friends for lunch.
Just start cutting them in two and placing them around the area and hey presto, you've got a party. Keep repeating the process and you'll be a very lucky gardener within a week or two.
barry

This message was edited Jan 3, 2018 10:37 PM

That's very interesting. but better not let PETA find out where you live! :)

just a thought

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/survivalist/2013/09/survival-food-5-ways-eat-snails-and-slugs

Never eaten slugs (have you), but savor the giant escargot of France. Belgium has big, good ones too. I spend more time in Spain and am nuts about their caracoles, which are a smaller and different species altogether. Takes some work to dig out of the shells, and nutty-flavored. Must eat a few buckets as soon as I get there. They are as popular as America's bar nuts. I've been tempted to try an in-home recipe though our snails are a completely different species and the purging regimen seems a lot of work. If an American version was available in restaurants, I'd definitely be up to trying it and then attempt to make them at home. Snail fare is similar to clams, mussels, welks, etc.. What's the deal?