Slug-O-Rama

         Spring is the time for slugs.  These mollusks are shell-less but, like their snail cousins, they do a lot of damage.  Slugs eat their way around your garden all night long and can destroy plant starts and seedlings overnight. Their telltale damage is marked by slime trails as well as holes in your vegetation.  If you see slug damage, there is more than one way to lessen their numbers and thus the damage to your crops.

1.  Put out some cozy spaces for your slugs, upturned melon rinds, cardboard, plywood boards, any dark and moist places will attract your slugs.  Once you overturn the melon rinds, plywood, and cardboard, you can discreetly or NOT dispose of your slugs.

2.  Beer traps-When the beer is used for trapping and drowning slugs, it is legally a pesticide.  Beer contains yeast and slugs love yeast. They will follow the aroma of beer, drink it, then drown in it.  Refill your beer trap often and make sure to use the type with a top, so the beer does not get diluted when it rains.  The only downfall to beer traps is the slime that may collect in them.  Blech.....

3.  Make a barrier between your plants and your slugs, eggshells, copper barriers, and more. The scratchier the ground, the more likely they will stay away from your succulent starts.

When all else fails...

4.  Use Sluggo, it is also known as iron phosphate.  OMRI certified, it is a pesticide that kills slugs when they eat the bait.  It turns super mushy when it rains and must often be reapplied to keep the slugs at bay.  Another caution, do not apply the product to the leaves of your plants.  Since this is an iron product, it may blacken the leaves of your greens.

Communing with nature at the garden often involves creepy crawlies. We hope these tips help you manage your slug families in the most productive way!