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Ive found a preety decent way to get rid of slugs. Beside slug bait I just fill up little saucers with beer. Slugs and snails are attracted to it and will go in the saucers and die..it works great.
I had the most success with Es-car-go, which I ordered from the natural garden store, Gardens Alive. (Google it.)
Es-car-go is NOT a chemical deterrent. I think it's made from citrus or something. Totally safe around pets. Anyway, the slugs eat these teeny little pellets and go off and die.
That was in Colorado.
Now that I am here in northwest Florida, I am at a loss.
Last summer a lot of my stuff died, and I think it was because I was right on the beach and the salt air hurt it, along with the stiff breezes. This year we will be moving to a new house in a more protected area, about a mile and a half from the beach. I think I will still lean towards salt tolerant plants though.
Ive found a preety decent way to get rid of slugs. Beside slug bait I just fill up little saucers with beer. Slugs and snails are attracted to it and will go in the saucers and die..it works great.
Pumpkinboy, I tried that. Unfortunately my Schnoodle dog loves beer and he would drink the saucers dry oblivious to the dead slugs. Disgusting. I've tried the copper banding around the garden also. I now use a product called Sluggo. It's non organic and works pretty good. A friend of mine say she plants lettuce like plants around the edge of her garden cause she feels sorry for them. I also heard that ducks like to eat them. Not an option for me.
Wild onions!! GRRRRRRRRRRR! I have those too, and they're practically impossible to get rid of. Beeelions and beeelions of bulblets, and all it takes is one to start a population explosion.
I have some wild garlic in many areas of my lawn. I'll be reseeding section by section over the next couple of years (I have > 5 acres of lawn - baby steps!). Until then I don't mind it in my lawn, I love garlic and the smell produced when I'm mowing is quite pleasant to me
The plants are difficult to remove by hand and generally break off at the soil surface. Furthermore, garlic produces many underground bulblets that are difficult to remove when the plant is dug. A thick layer of mulch can help prevent the emergence of these plants in the garden. If you resort to herbicides, there are a few good options. Two non-selective postemergent herbicides that can be used are glyphosate (Roundup® and others) and glufosinate (Finale®). These herbicides can be used as a post-directed spray, making sure you keep spray off of desirable plants. Selective herbicides for turfgrass include metsulfuron methyl (Manor®), imazaquin (Image®), imazapic (Plateau®), and 2,4-D (Various names). These herbicides can be used safely over-the-top on most turfgrasses. All of these herbicides appear to control both wild onion and wild garlic. Be certain you read and understand the herbicide labels before applying any chemical.
It's occurred to me that it could be either raccoon or possum: Both nocturnal, which would explain the appearance of new holes literally overnight.
To rule out raccoons or possums, place some bait in a live trap (I use horse grain since I have it handy). You can either buy a live trap or you should be able to check one out from your animal control office. Leave it there near your garden a few nights and check it every morning to see what you catch. Live traps are humane and do not injure the animal. Once you catch something you can opt to bring it to animal control, relocate it or simply set it free by standing behind the live trap and lifting the lever.
I don't think a possum would leave such a small hole.I'm still betting on voles; they LOVE to eat roots. Google "apple sign test" and you'll find instructions on how to build one to confirm a vole population. You can have hundreds in a single area and they can do significant damage to plants. You don't often see vole tunnels because they're so small and don't displace alot of dirt. Moles are a different story; they're larger and displace more dirt when tunneling. Moles actually help aerate a lawn, so I leave them be. Voles I like to control. If you're comfortable with garden variety snakes you might increase your snake population. They would be more than happy to deal with a vole problem for you Down here in Boones Mill, VA, I love blacksnakes. We found a nest of blacksnake eggs in our sawdust bin (we own a horse farm) and my wife re-located them to a safer spot and 12 of them hatched. Blacksnakes help balance the food chain, and an added benefit is that they also are aggressive to other snakes. So, a healthy blacksnake population translates into a non-existant copperhead population, which is just fine with me Copperheads can really ruin your afternoon
Thanks for the great link! I'd never heard of the "apple sign test" but will definitely try it. I noticed it says to use a slightly curved shingle if you have meadow voles, and since I'm clueless on what kind of vole might be here on LI, I google'd "meadow vole". Wikipedia says they're also known as "field mouse" and "meadow mouse", and that "These animals are found in moist open areas. .... They feed on grasses, sedges and seeds, sometimes eating snails and insects."
Hmmmmmm. That makes sense, because it sounds like voles tunnel UP from underground but meadow voles/field mice dig DOWN from the surface to get their food.
Here's the thing that made me think the holes are being dug "down from above": I bought a supply of Cat-Scat protectors and put them around the base of some of my newly-planted shrubs and small trees this fall. I've seen NO holes in any of the Cat-Scat-protected areas, although I've found them around the base of the ones I didn't protect. If I had voles, wouldn't I be seeing holes under the Cat-Scat?
I also use Cat-Scat over newly planted bulbs, to protect them from being dug up by squirrels over the winter. It works great!
"It's occurred to me that it could be either raccoon or possum"
My money is on the raccoon.
They search for grubs - often junebug larvae - that are feeding on grassroots. Lots of folks think that the neighbor's cat is the culprit, but they prefer soft soil or sand.
If your fruit trees had been attacked, or your trash barrels tipped over, I would lean towards an oppossum as being the intruder.
[i]If your fruit trees had been attacked, or your trash barrels tipped over, I would lean towards an oppossum as being the intruder.
Hm, no fruit trees here or anywhere nearby, so can't use that test. As for trash cans, that does happen occasionally but in this neighborhood it's usually done by either squirrels or gulls (in the daytime) -- though there most definitely are raccoons around, according to several neighbors although I've never seen one myself.
One denizen I have seen several times is a fox. It lives in a very densely overgrown corner of my neighbor's yard. The holes are too small to be from fox paws, though, and the occasional "finger indentations" visible in them appear to be from either a raccoon- or possum-sized paw. Come to think of it, a vole or fieldmouse would be too small to leave those marks behind....
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Apple sign test
