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I was digging in the garden today, getting ready the soil ready for planting (yea!) when I couldn't help but notice how many slugs there were. Is there anything that will get rid of the slugs that is as natural and organic as possible?
Beer. Put some beer in a shallow can, bury it ground level, tomorrow they''ll all have gotten drunk and died. You can't get amy more organic than that. They'll die happy too.
Ducks love slugs and there is the added bonus of eggs (duck eggs are great in baking).
If you're concerned about the quacking if you have close neighbors, Muscovies don't quack. They do fly pretty well, though - the drakes eventually get too big to get too high up off the ground - so clipping a wing might be a good idea if you, again, if you have close neighbors.
And if you don't want to get a couple of personable and friendly Muscovies, oyster shell (available at your local feed store) is somewhat effective. You spread the shells around your plants and the slugs get cut up trying to cross them. There always seem to be a few tough ones who manage to cross the oyster shell barrier unscathed, but it does help.
I have also used beer. When I was married, my ex was really bad about leaving half-finished bottles of beer around so I would pour that into freezer containers all year long and then I would have beer during the gardening season that I could thaw out.
Thanks for the tips, we don't drink, but might go out of my way and buy a can to lure and kill the slugs. As for the muscovy ducks, I'm pretty sure our townhouse wouldn't allow them.
Everyone can see into everyone's yard, there's no hiding animals or anything for that matter plus our yard is very small
Too bad. I was going to offer to send you some.
Well, then, beer or oyster shells.
Hey, I just remembered something that I saw some years ago - some kind of cable or tubing that they won't cross. Copper maybe? I'll have to check and see if I can find out anything about it - it's been some time ago and I just remembered and my memory is fuzzy at the moment.
Might be a good alternative to ducks.
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