The Drunken Slug

The Drunken DOG Slug

Those tell-tale little silvery line tracks that show up in the garden beds, across the decks and walks,

up and down the trees and bushes, like some sort of miniature super highway, are a definite sign of slug activity and lots of it.

( The little kids think Mother Nature just made them race tracks for their HotWheels! )  

When I started noticing my beloved plants were being munched on, I didn't know what it was 

except it ain't that dang rabbit or the mice.

I got a little educated about what it was and what to do.

Slimy Little Buggers! 

Well, I'm here to tell ya that I am a cheap lazy gardener and there are lots of remedies out there for this problem. They all seem to work pretty well, But.....they have different degrees of effort as well, at the expense of ... yep, yours truely, the gardener!

We don't keep beer around as we generally only drink sociably, but it does get left here by friends and relatives. So, I figured it was fair game for killing slugs. Yep, I tried it and really didn't like the results (not in my case anyway) Here's how it went:

I dug a few cup sized holes(2) and put half way filled cups of beer into each hole. I pushed the dirt back around the cups edges (didn't need a dry moate around them) Then I waited until the next afternoon to check them. Well, I sure didn't find any drunk slugs! What I found was dead slugs in the cups and no beer. I figured they drank themselves to death. ~ LOL ~  I already knew that we had alot of slugs and that this remedy worked pretty good, soooo.... I dug about 10 holes all around the house and repeated the process, except that I filled the cups almost full of beer. I figured I would have killed more slugs if there would have been more beer. The beer was free! Again, I waited until the next afternoon to check the results. Low and behold, same as before ... dead slugs in the cups and No Beer!   Whew!  There weren't that many slugs in the cups to have consumed all that beer so maybe just maybe there were some drunk slugs making a slow get away and I could cut 'em off at the pass!  Nope, I didn't find any that were readily visible, but I did find the dogs frisbee. Our dog, Miss Bee, lives for that frisbee. She would drop a fresh steak for a chance to catch that frisbee. I knew she would be so excited to see it.....  Wrong!

When I finally found "B", she sort of crawled to me wagging her tail as she saw the frisbee and she put her head down in a submissive manner like she was in trouble.  Oh, she must have been a bad dog...  She was sorry for whatever it was and that was enough for me... I had finally found the frisbee. I assured her it was okay to play and tossed the frisbee for her.  Now it was clear what the bad dog did!   She drank the beer!   Short end of a long story... No more beer in the garden!

(she is supposed to stay out of the garden beds)

Here are some fairly cheap remedies:

• Coffee grounds and eggshells_ use like a mulch around the base of a plant about 3" wide
• Cornmeal/oatmeal_ dry, they eat it up and it swells killing them
• Yeast_this what makes the beer so attractive. 1c. water,1tsp. sugar and 1/4tsp. yeast. use it like the beer to drown them.
• Banana peels_ leave them inside part down in the garden overnight and in the morning toss the peels with slugs clinging to bottom into a bucket of soapy water or a bag tied afterward to go into the trash. 
• Board or flat rock_ they will hide under this cool damp trap. Check it ever so often and scape of the slugs into soapy water to drown, then replace the board or rock.
• Diatomaceous Earth (DE)_ it is razor sharp skeletal remains of microscopic organisms millions of years old. It cuts the slugs bodies, dehydrating them. It feels like talc powder and is harmless to you, your pets and birds. Bad for insects. DE has many garden pest uses but more on that later. Moisture renders it useless, until it dries out.
• Copper_ it has an electrostatic reaction with the slime and causes them to dry up. Not cheap and seems a hassle. you can probably use the copper out of old wiring and twist it lightly around the base of plant.  Obviously won't work for hosta but you get the idea.
• Ammonia_ this a seek and destroy method for sure! 1 part ammonia to 6 parts water( this mix won't burn the plants) Spritz it on a slug, come back in 5 min. and the slug will be dissolved.

 Obviously some of these remedies will attract ants, etc... DE works on all these insects!

So, you can try to use it along with any of the other suggestions as long as it is dry.

Good Luck!