In the wake of all of the ant help, I come to you with another plea: A green solution for slugs.
You're ready to say, "Let them be!" or "Bring out the beer that slugs love!" but read on.
Bee has such a bad slug infestation in her yard that she's got dead areas of grass that are practically filled with inch-long slugs. The flooding last month gave them extra moisture and they're going crazy at night.
The poor woman can't walk in flip-flops in her own yard because her toes get slugs wedged in. She needs help.
But toddlers play in her yard. And her dog will eat anything left out in the yard.
Some of the traditional people-safe options (like copper) aren't practical for a whole yard.
More info in case it helps: The sod is just over a year old, and there aren't any other plants in the backyard, where its the worst.
So we need suggestions (and success stories if you've got them) on ways to evict the slugs without burning the dogs' feet or turning the kids into tipsy toddlers.
Let the slugfest begin
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Julie Todd
Julie Todd is the night editor at The Herald News in Joliet. She and her
husband are looking to cut the chemicals and get back to basics -- minus the
granola and hemp clothing. They live in a home they bought last year in
Plainfield, where they're making changes to create their own little patch of
utopia.
Insects and the like have no tolerance for nicotine. Try boiling chewing tobacco and spraying the resulting liquid in the effected areas. Existing slugs will be killed almost on contact, and slugs entering the treated area will also die. Add a small amount of dish soap to the juice before spraying to help ensure coverage. The spray will wash away harmlessly in the rain.
Chewing tobacco only or would the smoking kind do as well? I am going to have to try this.
I wonder how much tobacco I'd need for the whole yard, say 65'X45'?
It's worth a try.
Very cool. I knew there was stuff we wouldn't have thought of.
Thanks, Beney!
Bee:
Beney's given you a lead and I've been nosing around. It looks like coffee, garlic and copper are good, too.
One site says the percentages work out the a very strong batch of coffee in a spray bottle should kill them. I'd think you could do a lot of yard on the cheap that way.
As for garlic, the most cited brand of garlic spray (it needs to be a spray to cover the yard) is sold in England. But there are mosquito-repellent sprays that use garlic that some folks seem to think should work. Might be something to consider.
And, while copper isn't practical for a whole yard, this sounds like fun to feel better about the situation. Apparently, if you scoop up one of those slugs and drop it into a jar of water that has a penny in it, it's supposed to spark. I don't know if it's true, but I'm kind of sickly excited about it.
I'm laughing and cringing at the idea of a sparking slug! I'd have to get a fish net to get the slug. I don't even want to think of touching it.