Slug Bait

I have just purchased my favourite hosta (low growing) for a new house in this slug ridden area...and a box of safer's slug bait. Does the bait work?

Good old Sluggo works great. Along with egg shell around the plant too.
Carol

I like Sluggo too because it's nontoxic to pets. Don't know the Safer product, but please be careful if animals will have access to it until you check the label.

Ditto on poochella and daisyruffles. Sluggo is only way to go to protect the kitties and dogs. We have learned the hard way.

I like to take tuna cans and put beer in them and set them around and under most everything. It works great and get earwigs too! Then I know I'm not going kill anything I don't want dead. Birds, dogs,etc.
Debbie

One trick I learned with Sluggo is to have a regular schedule of application. Once a week in the early to mid spring. When the population is, kind of, under control I go to once every two weeks. Being consistent really pays off.

jb

I have tried the beer can method and didn't like it at all. Didn't catch much at all.
I have been more regular this spring on like jb says and it seems to be helping get those dang slugs and snails (which I have never had or dealt with before and they seem to eat 10x more than the slugs do!)
Carol

For our Beans and Peas this year, I'm thinking about whizzing some eggshells in the food processor - I mean like "pulsing two or three times" to use around the seedlings. I don't know I might have to pulse more, but I want tiny tiny pieces I can "dust" around the seedlings. Maybe get more 'razor edges' that way? The slugs always seem to get to those first.

I also recommend Sluggo. Great product.

I read a letter in Fine Gardening from someone in Woodburn, Oregon. It said to cut the top of a plastic bottle, invert the neck and partially fill with slug bait. I commandeered a bunch of small plastic water bottles from my son and have them cut and ready to put under different foliage. This keeps the worms, birds etc from getting into the bait. I can pick the bottles up and throw the nasty little creatures in the garbage . I also always use all my egg shell around plant to get rid of slugs.

that's a new method on me Rosy, but it sounds quite workable. I guess I never worried about the birds before, even though I enjoy their visits.

I agree, the beer in a shallow dish thing has never worked well for me.

And Sue, I read to bake the egg shells for a while, moderate oven- maybe 300 degrees to make them sharper. the food processor idea is good- more sharp edges which is what keeps the slimy mollusks at bay.

Another thing I've used is diatomaceous earth-DE for short. It has very sharp edges to discourage slugs and snails, but it also requires caution from breathing the fine dust it produces when handling. A mask is advised.

Costco is not selling Sluggo this year! They are selling the other brand, Corys I think..........

If you have a Cenex (Wilco) farm supply there in WA, they have Sluggo for a good deal. Is 10# for $35.
Carol

Eggshells! What an awesome idea! And here I am making devilled eggs and thinking about my strawberries and seedlings . . .
I WAS going to put them on the compost pile, but NO LONGER!
I love using copper, but that gets expensive.

Metaldehyde is the worst poision to dogs and cats that is out there. I as a veterinarian have seen it KILL SO MANY DOGS AND CATS that I hate slugs for that reason. Please look to see that you are not using Metaldehyde!

Thank You soferdig, I could not think of that word, My vet told me about it and said it is in most all baits, thats why I stick with the beer. It seems when I drink one I only drink about 1/4 to 1/2 and the rest goes in my tuna cans. Not much on beer, but my sister msantigue got me started on slipperynipples. Nuff said.
Debbie

Ditto what the vet said: we had a near miss when our old dog 'ran right over and lapped up the slug bait' with metaldehyde as contained in the Corry's brand, from our neighbors house. (No, we don't keep our dogs in our yards in the country here. No one does.) But did they warn us or tell us what she had done? No. I never liked those neighbors much.... even less after that event.

Our dog was saved with Ipecac and a quick trip to the Emergency Hospital when it was obvious she was terribly afflicted by something. She threw up the flakes of slug bait for a quick diagnosis.

I say, go with a non toxic product just to be safe.

I lived in the Pacific NW. Bellevue. and had a horrible time with slugs and used Metaldehyde under a large slate rock over 3 ft in diameter and that kept the cats and dogs away from it. I kept it off the ground with a rock on all four corners and the corry's in the middle. BUT I CHECKED IT EVERY DAY FOR THE SLATE MOVING.

I have used both 'Sluggo' and 'Worryfree Slug and Snail' which contain iron phosphate. The packages say they are safe for pets and wildlife. I certainly hope this is true. If they are at all dangerous I would immediately discontinue use.

I can attest the iron phosphate is safe. Last spring I was going along sprinkling it around vulnerable plants and when I glanced back to my horror I saw my very finicky cat daintily following behind eating the pellets. No ill effects but she sure scared me!

Since we started using the Dutch beer (cheap!!!) in white cans from Trader Joe's we have much better success with the beer traps. They love that beer, and aren't interested in Bud or others we have tried. I use plastic food trays and only a little corner needs to have the beer in it. They don't even mind if the rain dilutes it a bit. But I like the tuna can idea and will try it.

Anybody know if Cory's is safe for pets? I bought it by accident and have been using is sparingly just in case my cats try to eat it. So far so good, but I'd like to put more down.

jburesh

jburesh, please check the ingrediants. I don't trust anything that isn't iron phosphate. There are several brands now besides Sluggo but be SURE to read the label.

Hi Mesmerel, I'm glad to hear someone else has good luck with the beer. I think the tuna cans work well and it's easy enough to hid them. I did find that light beers don't work. I guess slugs go for the gusto.LOL! I save many of them, (tuna cans) and stick them everywhere I can hide them. we do not have the terriable huge slugs like over there, but lots of little ones. Since it is so hot over here you rarly see them tell dark, unless your digging in a cool spot.Witch is hard to find over here after May.
Debbie

http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/Metaldeh.htm

You might want to google your own particular Corry's product. There is wide variation in the concentration of the toxic ingredients, it seems. I would go to great lengths to keep my pets away from it.

Pooch, I am in total agreement with you. I'll just stick with my beer, and where there are no plants like under my ornamental wood I drag home salt. I even put salt under my dogs dish as they like to stay under it and come out in the evening and get her food. Oh Yuck! I hate them.
Debbie

Last year when I visited a 'Made In Oregon' store, I saw them for sale....canned for human consumption. YUCK!!!!!

I agree with Daisy Ruffles re: beer not working. I also have tried eggshells to no avail. I find a salt shaker and a flashlight work wonders, hehehehe. I have also sprinkled a (light amount) ring of rock salt around plants.

I have also found that if you make a "house" for your slug bait, it tends to keep the animals out. Slugs check in, but they dont check out! Wonder if I can get in trouble for using that line, OOPS!! Put four rocks down, about an inch or so in height, put a chunk of 2 x 6 or a walkway stepping stone, or a 12" square tile, or something similar on top of the rocks, put your bait out in the center of the rocks, place the wood, stone, tile, similar over it resting on the rocks. The bait stays dry, the pets stay out, and the slugs crawl in under the "roof" and eat themselves silly.

Anyone like my slug house idea??

Regards;
bluelytes

Mgh- not SLUGS canned for human consumption! Is that right? What kind of sick people do you harbor down there in Oregon? LOL! Please tell me if I read that wrong.... Please tell me THAT I read that wrong!

Some day, when you've all got empty stomachs, I'll tell you the grossest slug destruction tale ever. I'm just too queasy to tell it now LOL ~~~~~~~~~~< ~~~~~~< ~~~~~<

I like your slug house idea bluelytes- you can call it the 'bluelyte special" LOL! I used to use a brick with holes in or a whole brick tipped up on edge with a rockone one end and put the grey slug killing liquid under it; it worked fairly well, but big dogs could easily tromp through and knock over a little brick. The Bluelyte special, more heavily weighted thing, sounds better.

Yes, Annie, you read that right! Next time I'm in there I'll look for them again and take a pic of a can.

I have a tip for anyone that likes to hunt the slugs down and put salt on them. Instead of the salt, mix equal parts ammonia and water, and put it in a spray bottle. It does the same thing to the slugs as the salt, but the ammonia isn't harmful to plants like the salt is. It actually fertilizes. But you have to find them and spritz em. I doubt they would crawl into a bowl of it like they will the beer. (I got this tip from Marianne Binetti) :0)

I use ammonia in a spray bottle, too! One spritz in the hole and they suffocate. Easy and fairly clean method. The only drawback:

you have to find 'em to spritz 'em!

-tif :-)

Shune;
Unless you got like a jazillion slugs, or are using like a pound of salt per slug, lol, I cant see there being a problem. But Marianne does know MUCH more than me. Maybe its just the QUICK satisfaction of watching your enemy melt like the Wicked Witch of the North before your eyes!! hehehehehe

Tiffanya;
"In the hole"?? Would that be the slugs pie hole?? lol. Or are you thinking of moles re: hole?? I have found that the ideal time to get the little slimy critters is just before sunrise. However, not being a morning person, , I find that around midnight is good time to look also. Its AMAZING what a FEW GRAINS of salt will do.

Hi all... and I don't know about all of you, but I think it's going to be a particularly bad year for slugs & snails. With the nearly record-breaking rainfall we've had here, it's bad.... I usually have mostly the dang banana slugs, but this year, so far, I have seen more snails than usual. It will be a never ending battle I'm sure. All of the above ideas are great! And okay, I'm going to sound really goulish here, but sometimes when I'm out doing my garden walk after work, I take "an implement" with me.... and I "skewer" them.... (slugs). There is this deep down satisfaction that is so hard to explain :o) Oh, and then there's the anvil pruners! Okay, I know I'm sick.

Sanna

I think it's in the pest forum but they had a thread on slugs and someone posted how to make a little trap using pvc and you could put the real poisonous stuff in it as other animals and children couldn't get in. It seemed like a great thing for people that have no luck with other more friendly methods. I personally do not like walking around outside at midnight looking for slugs!

Gwen

Sannajane, LOL! now I don't feel so bad. I go out to the tomato patch armed with my nippers as we have tuns of great horned worms and I prune what ever seems to be there I don't want. Be it worm or branch of plant. I know that satisfaction feeling as I say, " eat this"

Sanna, you are not only purely evil but, from the sounds of it, an excellent gardener willing to go to great lengths to protect her treasures! I keep a couple huge nails, and something like a skinny railroad spike stuck in my gardens so I have a handy dandy slug skewer. I got over the 'ick' factor long ago.

So the grossest thing I've ever seen, in or out of slugdom was the year my nieces and nephews came out to visit. The nephew, age 8 or so, had to be busy outdoors so I promised him a new Nintendo game if he could capture 300 slugs in a 5 gallon bucket. The venture became quite a task for all 3 kids. A real whirlwind of activity for them all! Darn their souls, they were back to the house with a bucket full of rowdy slugs in all colors and sizes in less than 2 hours! "They keep trying to escape!" came the cry.

Indeed slugs were all over in that bucket, some industrious climbers relentlessly sliming up the bucket sidewalls They got a mild salting to set 'em back a few paces. Eww. Immediate Ick factor. Picture a 5 gallon bucket with semi-salted mollusks foaming before our eyes atop a couple hundred others trying to escape a similar fate. We had to stop them. We had to capitalize on the fruits of the child labor!

The little Morton girl in the cylindrical blue box emerged from the spice cupboard..... ( hear "Jaws" music here...LOL)
Now, picture a 5 gallon bucket, jam-packed with slugs, slime and add about 2 cups of salt. It wasn't long before that poor bucket contained the foulest slurry of slimey slug carcasses ever gathered in my lifetime, I hope and pray. The ICK factor was in play, big time.

The novelty of the slime and coup of cleansing the gardens from such a scourge in a couple hours wore off and we all headed inside. I'd deal with the bucket of muck tomorrow, so it remained in the driveway- a foul warning to flee from the yard if you travelled on mucous and possessed two antennae.

Our garage doors are old solid wood slabs. So old that they open up and out in one piece, not folding up in sections like modern ones. Imagine, try to imagine, my abject horror when I hit the opener the next morning..... it dutifully creaked into action..... just as it always does.... up and straight out... perfectly aimed for knocking over the 5 gallon bucket of horror which promptly cascaded its foul contents everywhere. The ICK factor flew off the scale.

I hold my head high to relay that I did not vomit or pass out while spending a very somber hour cleaning up the grossest, hands down, the grossest thing I've ever seen.
Hope no one suffers from reading this- May I recommend Tums or Pepto Bismol?

Quite a story! You are a great writer.

Oh Annie, I can see it now.... what a hoot! (Except I'm sorry you had to clean it up.) Yeah, I got over the ick factor long ago. This is one time I will freely use the "hate" word.

Yuck! That is a large and nasty yuck factor!

After using many techniques and war strategy to battle these guys, I am chiming in w/juniorballon when I say that the best strategy involves heavy application of sluggo very early in the spring, and a couple of times a week. This jives with the advice I got from someone in the iris society last year. He starts the first week in march and applies slug bait under everything in his yard because, as he says that's when they are breeding and when eggs start hatching. This keeps him ahead of the game and it appears to be working for me, as my hostas do not looks 'lacey' this year. Hurray!
Another tip I think useful is to apply the sluggo down into the plant, even though the label says not to. I have found so many baby slugs down inside the crowns of plants,especially my beloved hostas. They live there. Why should they travel to get bait when they can sit at home and chomp away?