Tuesday, June 26, 2012

How to kill Garden Slugs:


An unidentified slug in Vancouver, British Columbia
Photo by Magnus Mansk


The garden slug a mighty fellow is he; if you’re not careful he’ll eat your whole garden.  Yet getting rid of these pests is easy to accomplish.  All they really are is a snail without a shell.  There are many different ways to attack these varmints that are organic and safe.

One of the most effective ways to get these critters is with nothing more simple then a saltshaker.  You can go slug hunting after it gets dark with a flashlight in one hand and a salt shaker in the other.  Slugs will immediately dissolve into nothing when a little salt is sprinkled upon them.  Try it and see!

Another way to get rid of these pests is to get them drunk on beer.  Use the twist-off lid from a jar and place it in your garden where slugs are feeding.  The beer acts as an attraction for slugs.  When they crawl into the lid full of beer the action of the alcohol in the beer also causes the slugs to dissolve.  The next morning if you don’t find the lid full of dead slugs or you will find you have a drunken raccoon on your hands.  A drunken raccoon can be pretty amusing in their own right. 

The watermelon way of getting rid of slugs can also be used and is quite effective.  This is especially so if you want to catch as many slugs as you can without exerting yourself.  After eating out the melon you are left with the rind.  Place the rind face down on the ground in your garden.  During the night the slugs will come for a feast, and the next morning they will all be on the face down melon rind.  Then you can catch them and dispose of them at your leisure.  Sometimes your friendly local raccoon will get to the slugs before you do having a fine breakfast of slugs.  This takes the execution of the slugs from your hands.

Instead of throwing away the dirty dishwater you can also use this waste product as another effective way to deal with slugs.  It seems that a weak solution of soapy water will also do these pests in by causing them to once again dissolve.

Kitty Litter is another way to get rid of these pests.  All Kitty Litter really is, is diatomaceous earth.  If you sprinkle this around in your garden it will also suck the water from the body of the slug the same way that salt does.

Another friendly animal that feeds on slugs is your friendly local snake.  Just don’t expect results if the poor fellow is plum tuckered out from supplying bites to people who only drink when they have suffered snakebite.

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