Slugs

Leaf miners, moths, slugs, etc.
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Karen MacB
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Joined: Tue 28-Dec-2021, 22:33

I like to bring lots of leaves onto my property for mulching my gardens/conditioning the soil later after they break down and the neighbours love it when I rake the leaves & take them away. The thing I’ve noticed is that I seem to be bringing a lot of slug stowaways with the leaves. Now what? There’s too many slugs to handpick, although I do “take care of” them whenever I see them. Do slugs or snails offer any benefit to my garden? Is there a good way to get rid of them or at least decrease the population?
Trina
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The method I’m aware of is sinking a beer traps ground level to attract them to the beer and they drown. I had a terrible slug invasion in 2020 with 6 weeks of spring rain. I used the beer trap method but they seemed to become wise to it after a while…so squished everyone I could and told them to tell their friends while I did the deed ;)
This year was dry and no slugs…but I added leaves to my beds for winter cover after a cover crop that was invasive all summer - so let’s see what happens this year.
PeasIntheRain
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Slugs are important in that they eat decomposing material, and they are food for some garden friends. I tell myself this, calmly.

That said, one of my biggest shocks in Samoa and my move to WA was how destructive slugs can be. As in, they even eat baby trees. It's been stunning. We got ducks. :lol: (Be warned: ducks will eat or crush baby plants no matter what the internet says; ducks will want to go hang out in other parts of the yard rather than the ideal slug-control zone; ducks have no loyalty and will wander off to eat the slugs from your [now very happy] neighbours, returning in the evening only to make a mess and sleep in the coop...)

I've tried several different things as natural prevention or control. The beer trap thing wasn't enough for us. Laying out boards or other shelter does make physical control easier: the slugs hide there during the day so you can go get 'em; but that wasn't enough. Salt is bad; physical barriers like eggshells don't work.

Consistent mulch everywhere just gave them habitat. What is helping the most where I am is to leave a barrier of mostly bare ground and/or very short grass by the edge of the garden. That bare barrier pains me, but the slugs are less likely to cross it.

So it's possible to garden even with slugs, just hardening your heart and preparing more seeds/seedlings than you expect to mature. The benefits of getting the leaves from your neighbours for mulch far outweighs having to deal with a few slug imports.

Transplanting when possible also helps: here, it means that slug-prone plants go into the garden space when it's drier and the slugs are less active.

It sounds weird at first, but leaving tall grass, or a pile of stones or dead branches, will help if your spot is connected to land where snakes might live: you'll create a nice spot for garter snakes, which are harmless and eat slugs.

...But once slugs get in, it's brutal. Things were going so well last year with the barrier thing, and then an extensive rainy period had them move in. I found 6 slugs burrowed into the earth at the base of a kale plant. Oy. Other suggestions very welcome!
Cliffsidegardens
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Joined: Mon 27-Dec-2021, 19:09
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Slugs were decimating my dahlias last year, threatening to eat every shoot they put up and destroy every tuber I had planted. I was panicking. I finally got some copper barrier mesh from Lee Valley and put that up around the whole garden, mowed the grass and beat back all the encroaching bushes around the garden to reduce habitat, and put out sluggo around the dahlias. It did the trick to MASSIVELY reduce the population by June, Allowed the dahlias to get started so they got big enough to not mind any further nibbles, and the heat wave I think took care of the rest.

I just heard a tip today: take bramble branches/blackberry vines, cut them into 30inch strips and lay them 2 sticks thick around susceptible young crops. It won't totally cure the problem I imagine, but seems likely to be quite helpful. Might be worth a try
ladyshanny
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I had to remove the straw and leaf mulch that I put in my greens bed last year because it was a frenzy for slugs - and the amount of baby slugs nearly invisible to the eye was nuts! It was my only garden that ended up not having mulch all season but once that was removed it was mostly quite manageable.

Wondering this year if instead of doing a "salad" bed I should interplant my greens among my other crops so that one bed isn't just a slug-buffet!
PeasIntheRain
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ladyshanny wrote: Wed 19-Jan-2022, 08:21 Wondering this year if instead of doing a "salad" bed I should interplant my greens among my other crops so that one bed isn't just a slug-buffet!
I'm reading the book Farming While Black (by Leah Penniman) and, like you guessed, she suggests broadcasting lettuces as a cover under slower, more deeply rooted crops like brassicas (kale, broccoli, etc.). I'm going to try that this year! I did have success last year in a scattered sowing of lettuces in a raised bed with only a thin layer of mulch. The slugs shared some :)
TomF
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Joined: Wed 05-Jan-2022, 20:33
Location: North Vancouver
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I have had some slug issues and have a fair bit if habitat for them with leaf mulch on my beds and wood chip paths. My biggest hits have been sowing seeds when the young shoots come up but I am moving to doing my own starts to give them a head start as well as buy time for better succession planting. That said, I have a ton of bird action, mostly Robins in my garden at present and they are tossing my leaf mulch all over the place so I don't know if they are happily eating the slugs or not. Maybe that is wishful thinking but I'll pay attention.

Slugs only seem to be an issue with the small plants and once things get to a certain point it is a non issue. Still a bit of a neophyte at this so will be more aware of them and try some traps. If I do the morning slug purge, should I put them onto my compost piles, which are well away from the garden, or huck them into my neighbours fish pond?
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