Okay, technically slugs are not insects. They are actually animals! Gastropod mollusks to be exact, but garden pests all the same. They are eating your hostas and your young vegetable starts, and all this rain is turning your garden into a slug-fest!
At night it's like Woodstock - with slugs in tie-dyed t-shirts dancing in the mud!
So how do you protect your plants and your vegetables from the damage slugs cause?
Option #1. Stay up at night guarding your plants with a flashlight and a industrial size container of table salt. When you spot a slug douse it with salt and yell, "Die, die, die!" (Warning: excess table salt will harm your plants and sleep deprivation may negatively affect your quality of life.)
Option #2: Use Coco mulch around plants you would like to protect. Slugs don't like the texture or the smell of coco mulch. This method repels them, but (in the spirit of Woodstock) does not kill them.(This option also needs a warning for dog owners: if eaten, coco mulch, just like chocolate, can make your dog sick.)
Option #3: Spread granular Sluggo around the base of all your plants. Sluggo's active ingredient is iron phosphate, which while fatal to slugs is kid-safe, pet-safe, and can be used around edible crops.
Read more about how to battle slugs here.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
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