Slugs and snails?

tfoals · Tue May 05, 2009 1:14 pm

I still don't have anything in the ground yet. Hopefully by this weekend things will dry out. The thought of squishing slugs turns my stomach. I thought about putting out beer in several strategic spots around our three acers, far away from our garden. Will it help if I start this now?

kylie77 · Tue May 05, 2009 1:17 pm

I don't know if beer is a good idea or not, but I've used it. It worked great! Attracted a million slugs, and didn't have a problem again afterwards. If we had lots of slugs I'd do it, but I'm not an expert!

Kisal · Tue May 05, 2009 2:24 pm

I have had wonderful luck using beer as bait for slugs, but for some odd reason, the snails around here don't go for it. Unfortunately, snails are what I have most of anymore.

The Helpful Gardener · Tue May 05, 2009 5:27 pm

Kept far away from the garden, it's a fine idea...

HG

kylie77 · Tue May 05, 2009 5:50 pm

Why should it be kept away from the garden? When we did it we put little containers right next to the garden. Sounds like that wasn't a great idea!

The Helpful Gardener · Tue May 05, 2009 9:47 pm

Because beer calls slugs from 300' away... why call them to your garden?

HG

hendi_alex · Tue May 05, 2009 10:05 pm

Just like with hormone traps, if you use them set the traps away from your yard, not in the middle of it!

The Helpful Gardener · Tue May 05, 2009 10:35 pm

INdeed...

HG

tfoals · Wed May 06, 2009 12:09 am

Thanks for the advice. Now I have to go buy some beer.

yuck...

RosieRenee · Wed May 06, 2009 12:33 am

We use beer to success, also, in Western Washington. We have a lot of rain, too, so to avoid diluting the beer with rain, I made some "roofs" out of liter-size plastic bottles. I cut off about 4" of the bottle and cut a length-wise strip out of it so it forms a little plastic dome, then place the dome over a container of beer. The slugs crawl right up under the dome, into the tub of beer and enjoy their last happy hour, unhindered by falling rain!

kylie77 · Wed May 06, 2009 1:07 am

lol, of course! That makes sense! When we did it last year though we didn't have a problem. The slugs definately came to the beer, but once we got rid of the lot we captured, that was it. The problem was gone! If we have a problem this year I'll keep the beer at a distance from our garden!

tfoals · Wed May 06, 2009 3:46 pm

RosieRenee, what a great idea. It rained again last night. All my containers are full of water instead of beer.