Spring brings out the slugs

It’s not too early to put out slug bait, folks. They were already eyeing my ligularia this week, just waiting for me to clear a path to their first meal of the spring.

Our wet, mild winter wasn’t much of a challenge for them. They will soon be feasting on hostas, delphiniums, ligularias, lettuce, tomatoes and strawberries, to name only a few of their favorites.

Their 27,000 little rasping teeth can shred a plant or a whole row of seedlings in one night’s feeding. They can literally eat twice their weight a night.

Slugs are active from early spring until the fall frosts. In our climate, they can grow to be upward of six inches long and can live for five or more years. They can be gray, black, yellow or brown in color.

Slugs locate their food by smell and then glide to it by secreting mucus from their “foot,” leaving behind the familiar shiny ribbon of slime. They can actually move at about .007 mph or approximately 37 feet per hour.

Slugs aren’t all evil, because they help break down organic material and also act as food for ground beetles, birds, ducks and other animals. They are an important part of garden ecology

So why can’t they just stay away from the strawberries? Unfortunately, slugs like many of the garden plants we do, and they don’t just look at them. So what’s a gardener to do?

First, remove places and things they can use to hide in or under and cultivate the soil around favored plants to disturb any eggs.

Trim up low hanging branches and leaves to increase air circulation and allow drying sunlight to reach the ground.

Once your vegetable plants begin to bear fruit, stake them up to keep the fruit off the ground and out of the hungry mouths of slugs.

Next, trap them. Put out flat pieces of wood or rocks, melon and grapefruit rinds to give slugs a place to hide after a long night of feeding. In the morning, pick the slugs off the bottom of the material. You can also hunt them at night with a flashlight and a pair of chopsticks for picking. You may want to tell your neighbors what you are doing to avoid any confused calls to authorities.

Here’s another great trap: Cut slots in the rim of a cottage cheese carton; bury it a third of its height in the ground and fill it with beer or potato slices, lettuce leaves or yeast. Put the lid on the carton to keep other animals out of it. Empty the trap daily, and if you use beer, change the beer every few days.

Copper tape can be used around some plants or containers to prevent slugs from moving in. The copper reacts with the slug mucus and gives the animal a small jolt of electricity when it comes into contact with it.

As a last resort, use iron phosphate-based commercial baits. This is a naturally occurring compound and is not harmful to other animals. Some of the trade names include Sluggo, Escar-Go and Schultz Slug and Snail Bait.

Do not use table salt to kill slugs. The salt will do the job but can be quite detrimental to plants.