Time to Slug. It. Out!

2/4/23

It's February and they're back -- not that they ever left after digging in for the winter. As our greenhouses warm up, so does the ground and the slugs begin their spring migration into our planters and seedling trays looking for snacks.

What's a grower to do?  Barbara Tusting  at the Grange Garden went high class this year and is trying out the green slug bar (top left photo). After the beer is poured into the frame the top goes on to keep the rain out and then set on top of the ground. She has tried the mixtures of bait (sugar/yeast/salt/water), but she insists that beer works best for drawing in our most pervasive pest. Get something cheap. Slugs don't care if it's Budweiser, they'll belly up to the bar anyway and then die wishing that their last sip was of something better.

Traps work best when you have a lot of them and that can get expensive; instead use leftover yogurt containers to keep the price down.  See how to to it via this 2 minute video. 

Other (less vegan) ways of handling the matter gets physical by cutting them in half, stomping on them, or spreading the old-time favorite -- Sluggo -- around the base of plants. Sluggo is effective, but again, expensive. You can also put on your slug cape, night vision glasses, and pick them off your plants when they are patrolling your produce. Put them in a jar and let them loose across the road from the garden. If they make it back past the traffic, they deserve to live.