organic snail/slug removal: Beer anyone?

1575 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by MissMommyNiceNice, Apr 16, 2009

luv-my-boys

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2009

ACK!!! We just put in our wonderful organic veggies last week and we are losing them. At first I noticed a few died which didnt alarm me as the rest were doing well and chalked it up to bad plant. Well then the others were looking sparse as in leaves missing. At first I thought it was deer as they are not afraid of people and have no problem coming onto peoples porches for wonderful goodies. But today I noticed TONS of snails/slugs eating our squash!!!! Little boogers their eating our organic veggies. I did a little research as to natural deterents and some have said to lay a shallow pan of beer. Anyone tried this? I picked as many as I could but there is no way I could possibly get them all. I need to save our plants! There are summer veggies. This is the first time I have had to deal with them. I need an organic means to get rid of them, salt is discourage because of it messing withe the soil ph and I have a small puppy and children who play in the garden and dont want chemicals.

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Rhiannon Feimorgan

· #2 · Apr 8, 2009

Yup, a pan of beer is a great slug trap. It's goss to empty in the morning though. You will probably want several pans scattered throughout your garden. Another good thing is to lay a few boards around. The slugs will crawl under them to hide during the day. You can flip the boards over and scrape the slugs off into a bucket of water.

You can also scatter crushed eggshells and coffee grounds around your seedlings after you plant them. The slugs soft bodies can't crawl over the sharp pieces.

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Tizzy

· #3 · Apr 9, 2009

Unfortunately my dog likes to go out and drink all the beer from my homemade traps

So I use Diatomaceous earth now, I sprinkle it around the base of any plants with slugs. Works like a charm.

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craftymom

· #4 · Apr 11, 2009

I have used beer--my husband is a homebrewer so I have tried fermented, not fermented, porter, hefeweizen, you name it.

I gave up on beer and use sluggo. This is the greenest thing I have found that actually works. If it weren't for sluggo, I would only have chard, carrots, green onions, and garlic!

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MissMommyNiceNice

· #5 · Apr 11, 2009

I use vinegar. I got so paranoid, after stepping on one (the GROSSEST thing EVER) that I used to go on midnight pre-bed slug patrol. I've posted it before, but it seems appropriate again. Warning, graphic!

Die Slug Die!

As you can tell, we have large slugs.

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Erinz

· #6 · Apr 11, 2009

I have the best luck with late night snail picking. My toddler loves it too

If late night doesn't work for you, early morning is good too (but not as easy to find them as night with a flashlight in my experience). It's pretty amazing at how quickly you can cut the numbers of them!

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lacysmommy

· #7 · Apr 11, 2009

Beer has never worked for me. I'm going with the eggshells this year, plus I'm putting out boards for them to hide under. I had a huge problem with slugs last year.

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Liquesce

· #8 · Apr 11, 2009

Maybe it's the kind of beer? I remember my aunt using it to great success ... but then, hers was ****** or Coors or something out of a can.

That said, I prefer copper tape.

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MamaMonica

· #9 · Apr 13, 2009

This has it's own problems- but ducks are the best slug control I've found. They go crazy for slugs!

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Tizzy

· #10 · Apr 13, 2009

Ducks also go crazy for bean plants - specifically the leaves

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notwonamesalike

· #11 · Apr 13, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissMommyNiceNice

where in the world do you live?!

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luv-my-boys

Discussion Starter · #12 · Apr 15, 2009

UPDATE: we went out and bought some cheap beer, DH is a homebrewer, but he didnt want to part with any of his *good stuff*

but apparently our snails love ****** lite!!! We put out a few pie tins with it and DH went late night snail/slug picking and we think we have it under control. We did lose our squash, watermelon,bell pepper and jalpeno plant (s)

but our topsy turvy tomatoes,strawberies and some bell peppers seem safe

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MissMommyNiceNice

· #13 · Apr 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by notwonamesalike

where in the world do you live?!

In the city. My patio is bricks with dirt & sand underneath, and I have a big retaining wall next to that. The grossest was the time I found one coming DOWN the fence. We could never understand where he came from or how it got there...

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