Answers To Slug Nightmares!!

[Moonwillow]

OK here it is:

* 100% safe to the environment, pets, birds, squirrels, etc.

* Does NOT need to be re-applied after it rains - it needs to be dampened upon application

* Does NOT make your garden look like Winter in the middle of Summer (other powder products)

* IT WORKS

* Easy and fast to apply

The local nurseries here even use it to keep their stock looking prime, it really does work .

The product is called SAFERS Slug and Snail Bait available at nurseries, home depot, wallmart, etc.
They are pellets that are placed under rocks, in slug pots (there are some really beautiful ones with leaf imprints available in most nurseries). Place them all over the garden, especially around slug loving plants ie. Hostas, Violas, Rockcress, Phlox, Campanula, etc. (they do not care for Astilbe or Coral Bells (Heuchera)). I use a small plastic teaspoon and dole out little spoonfuls all over the garden. I have a 25' x 25' spot that I hand picked over 350 slugs (yyyuuuckkk!!) out of, last Spring, before I found this stuff. :uzi:

I also recommend a small amount of aluminum sulphate around the really susceptable plants (ie. Hostas) early in the Spring (only ONCE as it acidifies the soil, which not all plants require). This helps kill them off before they get really bad.

The egg shells also work well, the shells actually slice the underside of the belly and it kills them, morbid but effective all the same. It's good for the soil too.

I do NOT recommend any type of barriers as the barriers tend to keep just as many in as they do out and the suckers multiply faster than Bugs - both bunny and crawly!

I DEFINITELY agree with whoever said do not pour soap and salt onto the ground. This causes a very large and unhealthy imbalance in the secondary nutrients in the soil thus causing your plants great stress, thereby making them susceptable to attack of insects and disease.....and so on.....

If all else fails, I'll see you out there with your flashlight and bucket of hot, soapy water!! LOL LOL ;)

[Lavender]

I'm gonna have to check this Safer out at the garden centre tomorrow. Just nipped outside with my slug-death stick & flashlight. UGGHHH!!

Moonwillow, do you have any suggestions for whiteflies? I've been spraying them with a natural pyretherum & soap spray but there's too many of them.

-Wildchild

[Moonwillow]

Hi Wildchild!

Aren't slugs the most slimy, repulsive, sticky, disgusting, #@&*^%%&, sticky, slimy, did I mention slimy, .......

It's still to cold here, so I haven't had the pleasure, nor do I wish to this year!! We're supposed to have a dry Spring. That would really help!!!

Anyway, whiteflies... try dormant oil. You have to spray the underside of the leaves (very important) that's where they like to hang, especially once they reach the stage they are at now. Every 4-6 days. It would be better if you could wipe down the leaves, yeah I know, a monumental job... Is this an indoor or outdoor plant?

Is it possible to hose it off with a hard jet of water first?

Dormant oil is disgusting, it smells like a cross between rotten eggs and sulphur, mmmmm, yummy, huh?
So if your doing this outside, DON'T do it on a windy day! Been there, done that, tasted that....Need I say more?

There is a product called NEEM, but it is really, really strong, not sure if available on market or not? Best to try the oil first, it is environment friendly. :)

Good luck!

[Lavender]

The most disgusting thing I ever did was to squish a slug with my hands. I couldn't get to a sink fast enough! EWWWW! That was the last time I pull any weeds out with my bare hands.

The plants are outside. Last year the infestation was so bad, I had to give up. Whiteflies - 10000000, me - 0.

I did try spraying the plants with the hose. They just flew away & came back later. The problem is that they seem to be mostly on my plants with little tiny leaves - my scented pelargoniums & sweet grass. I ended up cutting the plants way back & threw out the cuttings. I think I waited to long before spraying. This year, I'm spraying now & will try the oil on the larger plants. Thanks a bunch!

- Wildchild

[ruthie]

Beer in a saucer is what my father and grandmother used. They swear by it. Apparently the slug is attracted to the scent of the beer, crawls in and drowns. Oh well, it's a slug, cann't be helped!

[Lavender]

Tried the beer in saucer trick...it works well except for the dog drinking the beer. I'm not even gonna think about if there were slugs in it or not.

- Wildchild

[ruthie]

That is not a thought I want to dwell on. Eewww!

[rantnraven]

Those are the worst. We had them really bad one year and they stink.

I actually had the maintenance guy crawling under the house searching for a dead rat or something - it smelled that bad. Then one day, I walked around the corner and the stench was so grand I almost threw up. That was when I notice all of the stringy stuff in the Hibiscus. I leaned toward then and sniffed. Yep, that was the smell and, YEP, I hurled.

Ripped all of the Hibiscus out the next day. Poof, be gone, bye-bye.

RnR

[Yvonne Belisle]

*bump*