Need advice about vegetable gardening

[Hollybaby]

So...I've got a vegetable garden. I just started it this summer, and I'm growing lots of broccoli, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, mint, basil, sage, peppers, and carrots.

My problem is ...SLUGS!

They've really been after the broccoli, although it's doing ok now that it's bigger. The carrots, however, are a lost cause I think. Maybe next year.

I've been trying different ways to get rid of them. I bought a slug trap which they were supposed to crawl into and eat some poison and die. But they didn't go into it. I tried putting copper around the plants, but that didn't stop them. I've put sand all around the edge of the garden, and that seems to have slowed them down, but hasn't stopped them completely. And this past week I've tried putting out beer in little containers. This has worked pretty well so far, they crawl into it and drown, but there are still lots that ignore it and head straight for the plants.

So what do I do?? Have I tried everything, or is there some magical trick that I don't know about? Any help is appreciated

 

[rickoshadows]

Spread Diatomic Earth, avaialble at any garden center around your plants.

 

[aznboi9]

I was going to suggest the beer thing until I read further down. There seems to be some useful info on wikipedia. Maybe you need to employ an attack strategy with many fronts and use a variety of methods.

Good luck.

 

[Randy Whorewald]

If you have a slug problem then get a hedgehog. That's the answer. Hedgehogs eat slugs - the slugs that would otherwise eat your plants. Problem solved.

You can't buy hedgehogs in the Garden Centres of course, but what you can buy is hedging plants - hedging plants that will grow into fine hedges and provide just the right sort of environment for passing hedgehogs.

 

[Hollybaby]

If you have a slug problem then get a hedgehog. That's the answer. Hedgehogs eat slugs - the slugs that would otherwise eat your plants. Problem solved.

You can't buy hedgehogs in the Garden Centres of course, but what you can buy is hedging plants - hedging plants that will grow into fine hedges and provide just the right sort of environment for passing hedgehogs.

Lol. Someone else suggested hedgehogs to me. The only place I'd know where to get one is a pet store, and I don't think a tame hedgehog could survive out there. Too bad this isn't England. Apparently, there are lots of wild hedgehogs in English gardens.

 

[Randy Whorewald]

Lol. Someone else suggested hedgehogs to me. The only place I'd know where to get one is a pet store, and I don't think a tame hedgehog could survive out there. Too bad this isn't England. Apparently, there are lots of wild hedgehogs in English gardens.

We may need to look at smuggling some hedghogs into this area to get things started. lol.

If you have a particular plant in the garden that's a cherished one, then sprinkle a handful of salt or some grit around it as a slug barrier. Slugs don't like this. Slugs like to glide over smooth surfaces, not sharp or salty ones.

But the best method of all, the guaranteed 'one hundred per cent' method of eradicating slugs, is to buy a torch, go slug hunting at night and then pick them off by hand. Simple as that. A fun activity, and an activity that will surely enrich your personal life.

 

[Randy Whorewald]

Szabina - next time you go home to Hungary, can you bring a few back in your luggage. I just know there's a market here for them.

 

[Hollybaby]

But the best method of all, the guaranteed 'one hundred per cent' method of eradicating slugs, is to buy a torch, go slug hunting at night and then pick them off by hand. Simple as that. A fun activity, and an activity that will surely enrich your personal life.

Sadly, this is what I've been reduced to. Every night for the past week, me or my roommate going out at midnight and hunting slugs. Kind of a lame way to spend the night..

 

[sirlickheralot]

Ducks eat slugs to, lot easier to find than hedgehogs. Get some ducklings, chop up the slugs you find and feed them to the ducklings. Once they develop a taste for them they'll hunt them on their own. Its also pretty entertaining watching the ducks marching around the yard searching for slugs.

 

[aznboi9]

So many in Hungary. I cought this cutie last year in my dad's yard at night time when we were talking.

They r so so cute!

You just picked him up? He didn't try to run away? (Not that I blame him; I wouldn't run away if you picked me up and smooched me either)

 

[Kev]

So many in Hungary. I cought this cutie last year in my dad's yard at night time when we were talking.

They r so so cute!

If ya didn't hold me so tight i would have spun around and kissed ya back. What are they feeding these amazonion women these days....man there strong. Wish i had Squirrel to guide me.............alas the perbertian jungle has consumed him. Poor little guy.

AM I NEXT?

 

[INFORAPENNY]

Just go to your local garden centre and buy a box of slug bait, and use it to make a border around your plants and vegetables. It will be a lot less work than having to clean up after the ducks and not waste of perfectly good beer. Howerver if Szabina wants to import a few of those hedgehogs I would be more than happy to pick her up at the airport....OH and the hedgehogs to.

 

[sdw]

So...I've got a vegetable garden. I just started it this summer, and I'm growing lots of broccoli, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, mint, basil, sage, peppers, and carrots.

My problem is ...SLUGS!

They've really been after the broccoli, although it's doing ok now that it's bigger. The carrots, however, are a lost cause I think. Maybe next year.

I've been trying different ways to get rid of them. I bought a slug trap which they were supposed to crawl into and eat some poison and die. But they didn't go into it. I tried putting copper around the plants, but that didn't stop them. I've put sand all around the edge of the garden, and that seems to have slowed them down, but hasn't stopped them completely. And this past week I've tried putting out beer in little containers. This has worked pretty well so far, they crawl into it and drown, but there are still lots that ignore it and head straight for the plants.

So what do I do?? Have I tried everything, or is there some magical trick that I don't know about? Any help is appreciated

Hmm, stopped reading when I read the word Broccoli

Seriously tho

I raised my planting beds. This raises the bed away from slugs and also makes it so I don't have to bend my old body down when I weed.

 

[LonelyGhost]

Hmm, stopped reading when I read the word Broccoli

Seriously tho

I raised my planting beds. This raises the bed away from slugs and also makes it so I don't have to bend my old body down when I weed.

LOL ... I once found a slug on the front door of my second floor apartment! i could follow the slime trail of this thing up the steps, over the patio and up the flippin door ...

raising the planting beds isn't going to stop a determined slug!

best thing is to avoid the stuff they like (typically lettuce) and plant it in containers and hang them up ... lettuce will grow in pots and the other plants are not as appealing to slugs.

ps, its also a lot easier to surround a pot with salt or beer or slug bait if it is sitting in a lid or saucer.

 

[summerbreeze]

raised plant bed and the walls stuccoed with broken glass, the people who make the concrete planters with the broken glass on the outside make them that way for a reason, no slugs

bit of work but works like a charm

 

[FuZzYknUckLeS]

Diatomaceous earth should work, but it isn't as efffective when it's wet. Which in Van is often. Try using seaweed. Spread about a 3" perimeter around the plants. The natural salt in seaweed is a great deterrant. Salt will melt the little fuckers instantly. Try sprinkling a few grains on one when you go out to yer garden at night. Don't put actual salt on the soil around the plants though. It may sound like a good idea, but it's very toxic to the soil.

 

[john23]

Drastic suggestion

I know this isn't conventional advice for dealing with this problem but ...
slugs like moisture and are usually wet so they are probably pretty conductive.

Why not make a sort of "electric fence" using a small alarm system battery (available from The Source electronics store)? I'd guess that what you'd want to do is put boards around your garden and staple 2 wires about 1/2 - 1 cm apart and then connect them to each terminal on the battery.

I think a car battery would definitely be overkill in this application but that's what they use for electric fences around bee hives. A car battery is good enough to scare cows away but not enough for bears.

Just putting boards around the garden should be somewhat of a deterent as slugs don't survive well in dry surroundings. Also it makes it easier to use diatomacious earth, salt etc as you aren't applying it directly to the soil.

Note that there may be problems if it starts raining. However, I don't think that's likely at this time of year.

This would probably work better if the boards were vertical with or without the juice. Basically just build a wall around the bed.

 

[LonelyGhost]

I know this isn't conventional advice for dealing with this problem but ...
slugs like moisture and are usually wet so they are probably pretty conductive.

Why not make a sort of "electric fence" using a small alarm system battery (available from The Source electronics store)?

actually don't need the battery ... i heard (second hand so excuse the errors) that someone tried putting copper wire around their beds and hanging some zinc plate on it? it supposedly creates a bit of an electric field that the slugs don't like.

 

[Big Trapper]

Lee Valley Tools sells a slug trap that works on beer as bait. They say it works well, and charge the usual Lee Valley price for it.

 

[Cock Throppled]

DON'T just go buy slug bait and put it down. it is very toxic to any animal that might eat it and can kill them. If you must use slug bait cut a hole in some plastic containers and put it in there with a secure lid.
Beer does work, but it's a waste of beer. Try making your own bait:

Powdered Brewer's yeast - 2 tablespoons mixed with one teaspoon of sugar and a cup of water. Stir well and the slugs will be racing to get to it. With the drier weather the problem gets lessened anyway, but this does work.

Your carrots probably aren't being eaten by slugs - most likely there are cut worms in the soil. Bait for them can be purchased and mixed into the soil.