Slugs

[Erin]

Hi all,
Been a while since I said much but I'm getting back into the swing of my garden - tis the season, now that it's warm enough in my area and I have a bit more time. My strawberries are really flourishing this year, but I noticed they all have slugs on them! The plants seem alright but I know eventually this will affect them, plus the slugs are eating the berries. I'm gonna put some mulch around them cause currently it's just that weed blocking cover stuff and I'd much prefer mulch. With that in mind, any ideas on how to get rid of slugs? I read that diatomaceous earth might help.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Pearl]

Hi Erin, good to see you around! I've used DE and Sevin Dust too for slugs.

 

[Haertig]

diatomaceous earth

You mentioned that, and it made me think about my aquariums. Diatom powder is very fine and it is used in external power filters to clean aquariums. Then that made me think about my saltwater aquariums that use crushed coral on the bottom of the tank as a substrate. That stuff is kind of sharp-edged. I wonder if you could spread it on the ground around your plants to slice the slugs into oblivion as they tried to crawl across it. A slug looks like a bag of slime, and I'm thinking they wouldn't have much resistance to sharp things. Crushed glass would probably work well too, but may not be the best thing to be spreading around your garden!

Hey, wait ... what about really rough grit sandpaper? Cut a slit from one side to the center of a piece of it, and then slide that slit around your plant's stem so that you end up with a sandpaper plate surrounding your plant stem. Kind of like those fabric skirts that you can put around your Christmas tree base. I can't imagine the slugs would like crawling across super gritty sandpaper.

This might work for individual plants, but strawberries really spread out and touch the ground in other places than their stems. So for strawberries this may be a no-go technique. But covering them with a fine mesh - like window screen - might keep slugs out. As well as birds.

 

[backlash]

Put a dish of beer out. Maybe several shallow dishes.
It works pretty good.

 

[Neb]

Nematodes

Ben

 

[Pearl]

Put a dish of beer out. Maybe several shallow dishes.
It works pretty good.

That way Pearl will come to your home and put DE on the slugs while drinking the beer!!

 

[Supervisor42]

Put a dish of beer out. Maybe several shallow dishes.
It works pretty good.

I knew that Bud Light had to be good for something.

Oh BTW, every time I see this thread title, I think...
Slugs:
https://www.targetbarn.com/broad-side/sabot-slugs-vs-rifled-slugs/