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Garden Gate:  Slugs!  |
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City Chick
True Blue Farmgirl
1402 Posts
Deb
Chattanooga
TN
USA
1402 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 02 2009 : 06:43:23 AM
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I've been putting out small trays of beer for the little devils. They sure are enjoying it. I'm collecting about 20 in each tray every night. Is there anything else I can do in the garden to kill off these critters?
How many more can there possibly be? Uggh! Babies & huge ones alike!
http://www.xanga.com/My_Pondering_Place |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
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PineConeAcres
Farmgirl in Training
31 Posts
USA
31 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2009 : 11:59:03 AM
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| I've head of crushed eggshells working too. You just roast them in the oven and crush them. Throw them all around your plants and it kills them. |
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RedHoopWoman
True Blue Farmgirl
513 Posts
Kathryn
Yoder
Colorado
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2009 : 1:48:19 PM
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the eggshell works,I never roasted them in the oven,just dried them out and crushed them around the plants,you can do the same with diatomaceous earth,just sprinkle it liberally around the plants and it scratches their bodies up and causes death.
Slugs are also killed or repelled by copper,I saw a cute idea in Organic Gardening for container plants where they glued copper pennies all over pots in designs or just randomly to keep the slugs off of the container plants,they tarnished and looked kind of rustic-cute.
When I lived in Missouri I waged war on the slugs in Grandma's garden by going out in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a pair of scissors,I would see one on a leaf and just whack him apart with the scissors,gruesome,I know but you get a little thrill out of hunting them after awhile and it's a good way to entertain young kids,they're grossed out but fascinated at the same time,probably not for everybody,I know.
"Today's Mighty Oak is just Yesterday's Nut" |
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pamcook
True Blue Farmgirl
228 Posts
Pam
Chapel Hill
NC
USA
228 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2009 : 1:56:17 PM
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:)
Such a 'girly thing' to do - cutting slugs in half with scissors in the middle of the night! Why do I find that so humorous?? I think I'm slap-happy!
www.ikat.org
www.longaberger.com/pamcook |
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2009 : 3:01:03 PM
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hahaha, that's too funny. I hate earwigs, but I read in one of my gardening books that earwigs eat slugs, so I don't hate earwigs quite as much as I used to ;)
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
Planting Zone 4
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
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sharikrsna
True Blue Farmgirl
185 Posts
Shari
Carthage
Illinois
USA
185 Posts |
Posted - Jun 02 2009 : 4:49:45 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Contrary Wife
hahaha, that's too funny. I hate earwigs, but I read in one of my gardening books that earwigs eat slugs, so I don't hate earwigs quite as much as I used to ;)
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
Planting Zone 4
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama
I am just wondering what to do about earwigs! We are positively infested with them! is there a natural way to be rid of them? |
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Runbikegrrl
True Blue Farmgirl
250 Posts
MaryAnn
Waterbury Ctr
VT
USA
250 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 03:46:27 AM
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Cornmeal is a pretty cheap way to deal with them....although between a couple beers a day and a few dishes of cornmeal my slugs upped the grocery bill last summer!!!
they are really bad here in central vermont as well...not as much rain as the northwest ( where I want to move btw!) but the soil seems perfect for them!!!
"So many interests so little time!"
http://lovelifelivegrrl.blogspot.com/ |
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City Chick
True Blue Farmgirl
1402 Posts
Deb
Chattanooga
TN
USA
1402 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 04:14:03 AM
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quote:
although between a couple beers a day and a few dishes of cornmeal my slugs upped the grocery bill last summer!!!
Isn't that the truth!
We have a case of bottled beer in the basement. Neither hubby or myself drink it. We've kept it for when friends come over - mostly 1 guy who does work on our house with hubby. Last time he was here he told us the beer tasted horrid! Duh - we bought it when we started working on our house 10 YEARS AGO!  The slugs are drinking it happily now.
http://www.xanga.com/My_Pondering_Place |
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Contrary Wife
True Blue Farmgirl
2164 Posts
Teresa Sue
Tekoa
WA
USA
2164 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 06:35:14 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by sharikrsna
quote:
Originally posted by Contrary Wife
hahaha, that's too funny. I hate earwigs, but I read in one of my gardening books that earwigs eat slugs, so I don't hate earwigs quite as much as I used to ;)
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
Planting Zone 4
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama
I am just wondering what to do about earwigs! We are positively infested with them! is there a natural way to be rid of them?
I know what you mean, earwigs seem to get into everything, the only thing that I have been able to find to get rid of them is boric acid, but that's not something you want kids or pets into. You can get it at the drugstore. If you have problems with them getting into the corn, the book said to dust the silk with boric acid. Wasn't very detailed.
Teresa Sue
Farmgirl Sister #316
Planting Zone 4
"Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly." The Dalai Lama |
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sharikrsna
True Blue Farmgirl
185 Posts
Shari
Carthage
Illinois
USA
185 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 08:40:24 AM
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| Boric acid seems benign, what will it do to pets? |
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RedHoopWoman
True Blue Farmgirl
513 Posts
Kathryn
Yoder
Colorado
USA
513 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 1:17:12 PM
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I'm not sure about the safety of the boric acid and pets,some people sprinkle it on their carpets to kill fleas and other pests but I've read warnings not to do that if you're going to have kids or pets on the rugs so I don't know if that answers your question.
As far as earwigs,you can lay an old tin can with some straw in it on it's side or a bottle,they will cluster inside it and you can drown them,they're fairly benign pests but they can foul up the flower buds on your roses,sometimes I find them clustered up in my cabbage heads though they don't seem to damage them.
I don't like to use alot of even organic sprays or powders in my garden,I prefer to manually murder my pests myself,as you can tell by my "slug slaughtering" post above so I like to set little traps that get them all in one place,such as the earwig trap and to kill squash bugs I put a board amongst my squash plants,they tend to cluster underneath and then I dance across it in the early morning hours to squish them,maybe I have too much time on my hands,I don't know!
"Today's Mighty Oak is just Yesterday's Nut" |
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sharikrsna
True Blue Farmgirl
185 Posts
Shari
Carthage
Illinois
USA
185 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 1:30:19 PM
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| ROFL!!!!! |
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goneriding
True Blue Farmgirl
1599 Posts
Winona
Central Oregon
USA
1599 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2009 : 7:39:30 PM
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I know nothing, but nothing, about slugs however, after seeing ONE in our driveway a while back and not knowing what it was, hubby said I could put out salt to kill it. Something about sprinkling it with salt and it will dissolve?? At any rate, I got a short video of it...hehehe... Ugly little suckers, aren't they??
Winona :-)
To read funny stories about my cooking 'skills', please visit http://lostadventuresincooking.blogspot.com/
For uber-opinionated, pleasurable horse related reading, please visit http://horseinfoperson.blogspot.com/
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Sharon Garrity
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Sharon
Bremerton
Wa
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2009 : 3:11:37 PM
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Here in Wa we have slugs that are yellow-green in color with darker geen spots, called banana slugs, if you touch one then touch your lips or as the kids do kiss one your lips go numb. No wonder there are so many, nothing likes to eat them.
Sharon
Daddy's Baby Girl
Learning who and what I am. |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2009 : 3:35:48 PM
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I cannot even imagine kissing a slug, no matter how cute they are! Yuck and more yuck! But now I could sure see all my grandkids kissing them. They love them.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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goneriding
True Blue Farmgirl
1599 Posts
Winona
Central Oregon
USA
1599 Posts |
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Runbikegrrl
True Blue Farmgirl
250 Posts
MaryAnn
Waterbury Ctr
VT
USA
250 Posts |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2009 : 03:38:30 AM
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LOL 
That';s funny. Better 'n marrying a leech I suppose!
I'm waging war against assassian bugs in my raspberries.
Glad to know i'm not the only sista who whacks pests w/ a pair of scissors.
At least when you cut a slug they don't make a gross stink! BLECH! |
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mellaisbella
True Blue Farmgirl
1862 Posts
melanie
living on Anne of Green
Gables land
Canada
1862 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2009 : 03:56:33 AM
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get some chickens!!! My chickens clean up slugs and earwigs faster than they can reproduce...oh and flies and grubs and, well, any kind of creepy crawly!!
"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"
farmgal #150 |
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Runbikegrrl
True Blue Farmgirl
250 Posts
MaryAnn
Waterbury Ctr
VT
USA
250 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2009 : 04:26:16 AM
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Melanie - Would love to have chickens...unfortunately my Jack Russel Terror is "a menace to the flock"....so I have established this cycle similar to THE OLD WOMAN WHO SWALLOWED THE FLY!!! He eat the chickens, who would eat slugs....etc. etc
"So many interests so little time!"
http://lovelifelivegrrl.blogspot.com/ |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Jun 05 2009 : 05:36:42 AM
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This is getting grose, ya'll. Too many icky things in my head now! I do have chickens and not many slugs but TONS of flies because of all the goat and chicken poop. But at least it makes me clean the milk room out good every day.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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Garden Gate: Slugs! |
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Slugs!
