Shade Gardening: What do gastropods HATE that also lives in the shade?, 0 by sempervirens

sempervirens wrote:
Since I try to have an organic garden and encourage a wide range of insects to feed the birds and snakes I used Sluggo, which is supposed to be non toxic to pets and wildlife, to reduce the amount of slugs.
I wasn't losing hosta, I was unsuccessful in every attempt at growing wood phlox, P.divaricata. They were eaten to the nubins and then expired 3 years in a row.

After 2 seasons of using the Sluggo I had reduced the population enough to succeed in shade plantings so stopped using anything chemical for the last 5 years.

I know that the larvae stage of fireflies feed on slugs when small so I didn't want to eradicate the slugs entirely since I wanted more fireflies. I believe the small brown DeKays snakes also eat them and my backyard population of them is up also by providing lots of rock borders for them to hide under.

I also tried copper strips around plants which deter slugs and the tried and try method of catching and throwing them onto the driveway for the birds to eat.


Your garden is lovely Pirl.
I am trying (hoping) to achieve something similar but I have started to limit myself to native plants that have a positive effect on the environment by being the nectar or host plant, shrub, or tree for native insects or birds.
In the photo you can see the bunches of blue flowered wood phlox that are now spreading nicely.
I have since replaced 2 of the 3 hostas with native barren strawberry and sedum ternata to go with the edging of violets and wild ginger. The white blooming Fothergilla is a little cheat since it is native to a little south of me.