Subject: Re: Slugs

From: [email-masked] (Tom Rudnick)
Date: 28 Feb 1995 20:23:48 GMT

Walter Vose Jeffries ([email-masked]) writes:
> I have found a method that works to control the slugs in our greenhouse
> (I go out at 2 am and snip them with sissors - it's a nice(?) break
> from programming. :) ) but I am curious... I have heard people
> use Diematrius (sp?) earth. I have sprinkled about two pounds

Diatomacious from those little animals called "diatoms" with glass
bodies.

> of it on our beds and walk ways over the past several months but
> it doesn't seem to have _any_ affect on the slugs at all. I bought
> it at Gardens Alive who claims it does wonders at killing slugs. So...
> What am I doing wrong with it that my local slugs don't seem to
> be affected by it? Any ideas? Does it work for you? Does it no?
> How do you use it?

You may need thicker bands of the stuff. If it is sprinkled too
lightly, the slugs may not be affected by it. If they have to crawl
over an inch barrier of it, the glass slivers will cut their cuticles
and they loose moisture and (hopefully) die.

I haven't tried it yet, but that's how I understand it. It is used
for control of lots of crawling insects, including roaches. Since
the effect is a mechanical one, rather than a chemical one, insects
cannot build up a tolerance to it.

-Tom
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Tom Rudnick     | Compu$erve is like taking a Taxi         _/~\_      
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From: [email-masked] (Don Burns)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 13:19:17 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] wrote:

> it doesn't seem to have _any_ affect on the slugs at all.

Just lightly sprinkle table salt on the floor around the perimeter of the
planting area.  Ever see what happens to a slug that comes in contact with
salt?

-- 
Don Burns                         | Motorola E-Mail: epur01
Motorola Inc.                     |     Internet:[email-masked]
North American Radio Systems Divn |          Voice: 305-723-5518
Plantation, FL  U.S.A.            |            Fax: 305-723-4343
            
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From: [email-masked] (tony j. podrasky)
Date: 1 Mar 1995 16:53:29 GMT

How 'bout a nice duckie or chickie?

Environmentally friendly, fun to watch, and good eggs, too. 

This is, after all, misc.rural.

	:-) 
--
    Tony J. Podrasky      - When I die, I'd like to go peacefully.
     San Diego , Ca            In my sleep.   Like my grandfather.
    [email-masked]        Not screaming. 
QSL? QRU? QRZ? QLZ? QFA?           Like the passengers in his car.

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From: [email-masked] (Jeff Freeman)
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 14:39:26 -0400

>from programming. :) ) but I am curious... I have heard people

Sounds a bit like me going out to the front of the store at 1 am and using the 
wet/dry vac. to suck up flying bugs whizzing arround the light. We need some 
bats.

Jeff

Jeff Freeman                 1-800-GO-PORCH Toll-Free    VISA/Mastercard
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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 1995 07:59:52 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Walter Vose Jeffries) writes:
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>BlackLightning, Riddle Pond Rd, West Topsham, Vermont 05086  USA
>Sales: 1-800-252-2599 x01 or (802) 439-6462   Fax:(802) 439-6463
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>subject:INDEX,TRANSFER TONER,FLASH MAGAZINE to:[email-masked]

I've heard that leaving out a bowl of beer or open can of beer works
wonders....I'm serious!  The slugs get so drunk that they drown.

BTW has anyone ever fished for catfish with ivory soap?  My brother does that
with no ill effects.

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From: [email-masked] (Marina C. Blomberg)
Date: 1 Mar 1995 22:04:28 GMT

Sorry to take up space here, but will contact you later about our ideas 
about slugs.  I am just trying to figure out how this post thingy works..

Talk to you later.

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From: [email-masked] (Greg Montez)
Date: 5 Mar 1995 02:09:50 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] says...
>>be affected by it? Any ideas? Does it work for you? Does it no?

Seems to me, the diatomaceous earth would have to be dry
in order to disturb a slug.  It is composed of what amounts
to really tiny pieces of crushed glass (diatom shells) which
in insects gets lodged between segments and does really nasty
things (much more humane to just spray the bugs and have done).
For a slug, dry diatomaceous earth would be complete Hades but
when damp I imagine it could just glide on over without much problem.
The best way to control slugs on a small scale is to countersink
a pie pan into the soil and fill with cheap beer (Coors works great).
Slugs and snails will blaze a trail to it, fall in and drown (enjoying
every minute).  It's also fun to watch birds eat the now pickled slugs
and go bobbing back to the nest with beer breath.

-- 
Gregory Montez
Citrus Entomology Lab
University of California
Kearney Agricultural Center

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From: [email-masked]@cruzio.com Maura O'Neill
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 06:47:23 GMT

In <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (S.Meric) writes:
>In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Walter 
>Vose Jeffries) writes: 
>
>>
>It's "diatomaceous" earth.  Remains of little sea critters from long 
>ago.  I heard it's best used when sprinkled fairly thickly in a ring 
>around individual plants. Slugs don't like to crawl over the stuff; its 
>sharp edges hurts their bellies.  
>
	
I just got my first bag to try, (I have been using the ash from wood stove 
AROUND the edges of raised beds, since my soil is acidic naturally, and those
are the plants I grow mostly, but won't have ash when summer comes)
 Anyways what I read was to mix it with water
and spray on the plants, then when the slugs eat it it dries them out inside
I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried this
Maura in Boulder Creek, CA (n. of santa cruz)

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From: [email-masked] (Michael E. Matthews)
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 19:18:43 GMT

cut
 I have heard people
> >>be affected by it? Any ideas? Does it work for you? Does it no?
cut
> >sharp edges hurts their bellies.  
cut 	
> I would be interested to hear from anyone who has tried this
cut

I used diatomaceous earth (DE) last year, and it was moderately
effective.  A light dusting where slugs will crawl does cut
them up and make them dry out and die. I just sprinkled the
powder on the ground like talcum powder when there was little
liklihood of rain for several days. It is no longer effective
after a rain washes it down into the soil, so best to apply it
when there's good weather ahead.  I also used tuna cans of
beer, which would get a lot of slugs for a couple of days then
need to be replaced too. My best treatment was flashlight and
stick--no need for salt or ammonia, etc.--just smash the snails
with the stick.  But make sure you don't hold the used end of
the stick the next time. :( Disgusting.

Using the stick method consistently and the beer and DE
sporadically, I did not find myself withour snails at any time,
but I had much less snail damage to my garden. More will always
come, but few stayed around long enough to eat all my flowers
and vegetables. I can put up with the occasional loss.

BTW, one pest book I read standing up at the garden center said
a snail can crawl a mile a day.

Michael in central VA, two daffodils in bloom.

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From: helen ruth etters <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 Mar 1995 15:01:24 -0500

Hi - we've just bought the lot next to ours, and it's almost an acre
of woods.  I'm wondering, instead of buying mulch every year
for my flower gardens, whether I might buy a mulcher and mulch the
fallen tree limbs.  We live in city--is there such a thing as a
relatively small mulcher for a city-dweller, reasonably priced? We
pay about $100 for truck-load of mulch every spring.  Thanks.

    @     @                                                 @     @     @  
 @  |  @  |  @                                           @  |  @  |  @  |  @
\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/             Helen Etters                \|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
			       Zone 7

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From: [email-masked] (Richard S. Fee)
Date: 9 Mar 1995 03:10:44 GMT

*BTW, one pest book I read standing up at the garden center said
*a snail can crawl a mile a day.

I believe it. I am sprouting some seeds (California natives) in peat
pots some 10-12 feet from my garden across a concrete patio area. 
The snails and slugs have found the seedlings anyhow. Do they leave
chemical trails like ants? How did the first one get there?

Regards
Richard Fee