Slugs! Be gone!

Ok for those of you who missed the other posting...
Place sand all around your hostas. Egg shell crumbled up work well too. The slugs can not stand the rough surfaces that cuts their soft bodies. Works better than the bait for me.

Good for strawberries too!!

Thanks for reminding me. I've got a bag of crushed egg shells out in my mud room. I spent a better part of this am picking slugs and baiting. It take for ever to get that slim washed off your hands. Yuck!

I've had good luck running my egg shells through my food processor before sprinkling them around. They still work as a good barrier and aren't as unsightly. Also if you have restaurant close they may be happy to collect them for you as long as you pick them up on a regular basis.
:)

I didn't realize that sand would work. We don't eat enough eggs in this house to scare off one slug, much less the zillions that love this humidity and rain.

I just bought some Spectracide slug and snail zapper, so I guess I'll be using that until I learn to fix/eat more eggs. :)

I thought I'd heard of every slug killer known to man...but then I read about making "collars" out of sand paper to put around the base of each hosta. Granted, it's quite a bit of work, but I have a couple of hostas that seem to be nothing but slugbait, and I'm going to try it on them next spring.

Some hostas attract slugs more than others. Which of your hostas have the most slug holes?

(*~*)

Hands down my worst slug salad bar is Stiletto! Of course the Undulata's are running a close 2nd ;)

elf, what do you use to secure the sandpaper in place?

Emerald Tiara looks like a lace doily about now in my garden. I've used about 3 cartons of sluggo, and that seemed to work very well. I just did not keep it up long enough. I did start very early, and I think that made a big difference. I got rid of alot befor they really multiplied.

Pupper, I wonder if one couldn't just work the collar down into the soil a bit?

Pupper - I haven't tried it yet. Am planning to make a few collars next spring to put around a couple of the "most eaten." I'm hoping a few small rocks will do -- or I have some of those wire thingies that look like big hairpins. Do they have a name?? In the article I read about using sandpaper, it said to take large sheets and cut a hole in the middle to place around the hosta. I'm going to try to use the smaller (used) sheets that I already have.

Peggy, with the winds we have here on the Kansas plains, working them into the soil would not work!

Will probably resort to beer in a pie tin.

I have tried everything, even buying 50 pounds of crushed oyster shells, but fine Cygon works best. It is put out by HiYield and I am satisfied with it. Of course my plants are so full of holes one can hardly tell if another slug bites again.

Yep, the daily winds here on the Nebraska plains would play havoc with sandpaper rings too unless they were secured to withstand 25-45 mph winds. I can see our winds ripping the collars. will have to ponder this over winter.

I did have good results from using the Murphy Oil Soap mixture. I'll be anxious to see how it works next year since I will use it from the git go.

I found that Safer's New Slug and snail bait worked well for me..and it's organic
Tried the beer trick..no luck with that..

Good Mornin Starzz'Pupper,know what ya mean
with winds,here on the Kansas Prairie'Been
reading these posts and I won't mess with
collars,bait and don't even mulch. I gave up
counting my hostas and won't work that hard with
any plant' What works best for me is just
plain old sand around my hostas,no slugs either'
With mulch the bugs and slugs hide and eat
at will. With the sand the grit keeps them away'
Tried the beer trick before deciding to use
sand,waste of my time of which,I have little
with a home business'This year the hoppers
did a number on some but with a little munching
doesnt bother me any,I don't show plants,just
enjoy them,lol'' See ya Sis'

I've been growing hostas for years, and thanks to a very wet spring I'm seeing my first signs of slug damage. i would like to try the sand trick or egg shells. Maybe both. What kind of sand, how thick, and any other advice you can give me.