Someone wrote that if you were going make a sci-fi alien creature, a slug is a good place to start. I wish I knew where I read that. For all you non-hard-core gardeners, I have probably lost you. You might even ask, “What is a slug?” A slug is a terrestrial gastropod mollusk. They can decimate garden greens such as Kale and Lettuce.
Growing up Connecticut with a huge family garden, woodchucks, squirrels, and slugs were severe enemies. Traps and my dad’s stunning accuracy with his .22 rifle pretty much took care of the groundhogs. Box traps caught the squirrels. It was not until I was in the Army that I discovered that squirrel was not a staple.
A number of the land slugs are invasive creatures. To protect our time and labor investments in the garden, my mom would have my brother and me go out early to the food plot. My sneakers would always get soaked with the heavy dew. Often, we would go barefoot. Our weapons were hand grass shears. Commonly, between the two of us, over one hundred severed corpses lie in the fringe. We would do the next day again.
In desperation to find something useful of the slugs. So my brother and I tried using them as bait for bass in the river a short distance from our home. It’s pretty sad when even a bass won’t eat you.
Time passed, and after time at the university and the Army, I had my first exclusive garden. Once I had wiped out the entire woodchuck colony with exactingly locating all the entrances and exits, smoke bombs made their tunnels their graves. Surprisingly, there were no slugs in the hollow. For decades the land lay uncultivated; dominated by Cynodon dactylon (Couch Grass). Being young and ambitious, I ripped the plants out of the loose, fertile loamy soil and made a massive compost pile. (I did not know about churning the stack or the superior strategy of many small collections.)
The project became my first organic food operation. I sold excess Chinese Cabbage and other greens to an oriental grocery store that I frequented. I was hooked.
Years later I became a high-end landscaper. Suddenly, there was the reintroduction to the dreaded slugs which ruined many shade gardens. The organic, ecology-minded part of me looked for the natural approach.
[Insert Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30] Enter the most voracious predator of food plots: Bufo bufo (the Common Toad). This amphibian relishes slugs. Their natural habitat is marshy areas. Toads will traverse dry areas but need a wet home to come back to after feasting. Ta da! These creatures are rather easy to please as long as there is ample territory for each.
We are The Unmentionables. join
I don't have slugs in my area but my tiny plot is infested by army of snails whenever rainy season hits my area. They will literally try to devour anything that is fruit based, including tiny papaya shoots!
Sometimes when I come home late from work I will try to see if there are any that tries to attack anything i plant on the ground. And sometimes I have to test my "softball pitching skills" and flung them across the road into the park among the trees.
Urgh.
However, I realised my snails tend to like paper cups (that I try to bury on the ground just to make like a barrier for my flowers) especially they once contained soda / fruit juice.
Maybe slugs like that too?
upvoted
Toads, Newts, Wood Thrust, and Hedgehogs will eat snails. With Toads, I simply do not have a slug problem. They are Numero Uno as a garden predator. Many folks have come with slug solutions including setting out trays of stale beer.
I don't see much toads in my area anymore these days.
(Must have been hunted by the Chinese people.... maybe...)
I glue copper pennies along the edges of my garden beds and that tends to help keep the snails and slugs away.
Is it because of the element (copper) or because it shines?
I believe it works with any copper, there are different theories as to why copper works and those that disagree altogether. I have had good luck with this method when Ive run into these pests in the garden. Some people use copper tape.
Nooooooooooooooooooooo! My kids used to be scared of the slugs on path on the way to school, so I made up a story on how a wicked wizard turned fairies into slugs and if you say I love you to a slug, it will change back into a fairy when its dark and nobody is looking.
Like these? Oh no, Mister Bill, it's Sluggo and the Slug Faeries. Oh nooooooo!
I didn't know there was such a thing a slug faerie. But when I finally write the childrens book, they will be pretty fairies :P
Better get a beautiful wizard; in my world, wicked wizards who change faeries into slugs that can be changed back when it's dark will produce a dark faerie. I suggest having tea at noon and then change the slug. However, my toads will encircle you begging for a kiss.
Now I can't get Mister Bill skits out of my mind. Oh nooooooo!
I once had the displeasure of watching a slug eat. I am traumatized for life.
I keep waiting for my nightmares to come true and they make a low budget film about these creepy things, three stories tall and a football field long, consuming everything in their path...
I have a soft spot for ALL living things. All. Except for child predators, fleas, and slugs. These things are a waste of oxygen.
LOL Then you appreciate my lead in. At any rate, I'm highly impressed with toads. The one that took up residence in the home in the video was fairly young. I didn't even have to go down at night into the swampy meadow and hunt for a couple. It's like The Field of Dreams, "If you build it they will come."
Right!
Cheers Mate!
I really hate stepping on a slug with my bare feet because I wasn't watching my step and love to be barefoot all year long... and we get some huge ones here in Georgia! Ick!
It's the shears method for me. Out with a torch in the evening. I don't think it's wet enough for toads here.
Sci-fi alien is about right. They really make me squirm!
Toads are very adaptable as long as you prepare the right mini-environment for them in advance. The home that I built in the video is quite sufficient. The size is only limited by the size of an available flat rock for the roof. An old wash basin or something that size will be ample water. Toads like water, but do not have a need to be submerged. Go out at night to a marshy area with a five-gallon bucket and a flashlight. Listen for that telltale trill. Toads are far easier to catch than frogs. Only one per home and space those homes out as they are very territorial. Remember to dig down a hole next to the home and fill it with bark for them to overwinter. One toad could stay in a home for ten years.
A special thank you to @blocktrades I hope that I always live up to the expectations of the Steemit community.
I remember the first time I saw a slug, I thought it was a snail that lost its shell. Slugs are scarce in my country so i never had the pleasure of killing them. Bush rats and snakes on the other hand, those i have had the pleasure of killing.
If you are in a savannah, then yes: slugs and snails would be a rarity. BTW, many people in these regions deforest and remove grasses. I understand the desire to not give place for rodents which would attract snakes. However, ground covers should be in place. Each region has its flora.
Ok... pardon the dumb city folk talking here. But are slugs not the ones who dissolve when you pour salt on them? We had some in our yard when I was a kid, but not many.
I have a few snails in my yard now and then here in Tennessee, but not many, and don't see them often. And I haven't seen a slug since we moved here.
@aedroberts I need a landscapers opinion on what grass can be put down to stop erosion. Are you into that sort of thing? Basically all the soil my builder put down for the back yard has eroded down under our fence due to losing half our grass in the drought we had last summer compounded by our lab puppy running all over it.
Any suggestions? I've been trying to get some bermuda to start with limited success.
Shoot me a picture or two or three of the area. Grass is just type of ground cover.