13 July 2016
Welcome to the 2016 Summer Slugfest.
The slugs are eating my hostas so this week I decided to kill them with kindness. I served them beer.
Slugs love beer so much that when they get drunk they drown in it. It’s the organic way to kill them.
On Sunday afternoon I collected my tools: small cat food cans, a trowel, garden gloves, and beer. I don’t believe in wasting good beer on slugs so I used a stash of old bottles. The expiration on this one is December 2008 — 8 years ago! Beer at room temperature lasts 6-9 months after the expiry so this one is fit only for slugs.
For each can I dug a hole to place the rim at dirt level. I set one can under the most-eaten hosta and the other in a central location. Then I poured beer to the rims.
The next morning there were 13 dead slugs in my two beer traps. Great attendance!
I’ve added two more cans and am now offering vintage brew in four locations.
The 2016 Summer Slugfest is very successful. I’m gonna run out of beer. 😉
(photos by Kate St. John)
UPDATE ON JULY 15: The slugfest ended almost as quickly as it began. On the third day there were no slugs in the traps, none to catch.
You write with such cleverness and humor. I’m off to the store to buy beer and canned catfood (my cat only likes dry food & I don’t have any old beer). Does it matter to the slugs if the beer goes flat?
Libby, the slugs don’t care. I think they’re attracted to the yeasty smell. Good luck!
p.s. Any small can will do. Even an empty bottle placed on its side.
many years ago, I had slugs and a small dog. put the beer out in saucers for the slugs, which worked for awhile, then the beer started disappearing at an alarming rate; not slugs, but the dog discovered the beer and had quite a taste for it!!!! still have both dogs and slugs but no saucers of beer!
Great story Anne
My hosta provide food and sustenance for a number of species: deer, groundhogs and slugs. Of the three mentioned, the slugs eat far, far less than the deer, so I prefer them. The hosta don’t seem to mind, they always grow back the next spring! I think I’ll just save the beer for myself while I’m sitting on my porch watching the wildlife in my urban forest.
We have found that putting hair around particularly tasty plants helps keep them from being nibbled by rabbits, deer, etc. Our hostas were chewed to the stems by some hungry critter recently. We get hair from the local hair salon (their clippings that they would just throw out anyway). Seems to help.
I remember watching a gardening show and the host told of a way to repel slugs. It works well with potted plants or in a smallish garden with some sort of barrier/edging. Apparently, slugs don’t like copper. Copper tape was sold at the location where the host had the show and he said to wrap the pot’s rim with the tape. When the slug comes into contact with it, the copper tape shocks the slug and off it goes. Never actually tried it since I don’t have a slug problem, and my garden is way too big to line edging or the wall with the tape. Always wanted to hear from others if this really works!
My sister says she’s had luck sprinkling diatomaceous earth around the garden. DE is ground-up silica — slugs don’t like the feel of crawling over ground glass! Has anyone tried DE? Do you have to reapply after a rain? Looked it up on google — it’s non-toxic. There is food grade and pool grade. I don’t want to eat it, just kill slugs with it.
Libby, I’m not much of a gardener so I don’t know anything about DE.
DE is what a lot of us in CA use, as we have it for our pool filters anyway. Couldn’t say about the rain, though. Sigh.
Just was thinking that slugs probably benefit the environment as well? Every creature seems to even the one’s we consider pests. They almost seem alien-like and mysterious. Oh well, I’m probably anthropomorphizing, but yeah I just find them fascinating.
As with any species, including humans, they have their pros and cons. Here’s a lot of information about slugs: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slug