I have slugs????

[OakdaleFMR]

Hundreds of them shredding our hostas. They are 2 1/2 to 3 inches long. How do you get rid of them?? I have an older dog so I want to be careful of chemicals....Thanks for your help.

[LwnmwnMan2]

This late in the year I wouldn't worry about it too much. The slugs are just eating the top vegetation, not going to do too much damage to the plant structure underground.

Another 3-4 weeks and the Hostas are going to be dying off anyway.

Next year there are chemicals that you can use, and unless your dog eats the Hostas too, you won't have to worry.

[OakdaleFMR]

Thank you!

[Steve Foss]

Slugs are attracted to beer. As an alternative to chemicals, a longtime and effective slug killing method is to put stale beer out in shallow bowls. The slugs crawl up into the beerfest and drown. You can also plunge jars or bowls into the ground so the tops are level with the soil and fill them half way with beer. Easier for the slugs to crawl in. I'm a hosta fan big time, and I've used this method successfully for years (learned it from my grandma).

As long as your dog isn't a fan of stale beer you'll be good to go.

You can also use grape juice or tea made from yeast, honey and water.

[fdizzle]

Slugs have been decimating our Hostas for years now and this year I finally decided to battle them. The easiest weapon I found was to use diluted ammonia (about 20% Ammonia to water) and directly spray the slugs when they come out at night. I did this for about 10 days in a row before we got the recent cold weather and I'm hoping this will lessen the population going into next year. When they start coming out in the spring I will begin spraying them nightly again.

[crothmeier]

i have them bad as well. is there any way to completely rid of them? i've done the beer thing, but they are still around, just in smaller numbers.

[RainyEye]

I've tried the Ortho granules, but that didn't have much of an effect on them.

Beer does work pretty well, but when I did that a few years ago I couldn't get all of them either.

[OakdaleFMR]

Okay so how do you figure the first guy learned the beer trick??? Keg party gone wrong.....LOL - but it works. Hundreds of them this morning. I almost cried wasting beer though... Thanks for the replies. Hoping to knock down their numbers so it will be a smaller number to deal with next spring.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Okay so how do you figure the first guy learned the beer trick??? Keg party gone wrong.....LOL - but it works. Hundreds of them this morning. I almost cried wasting beer though... Thanks for the replies. Hoping to knock down their numbers so it will be a smaller number to deal with next spring.

Have you ever seen the Hostas around Frat houses??? AMAZING!!!!

[OakdaleFMR]

I went to Arizona State so there was cactus, but no hostas or any slugs :-)

[harvey lee]

My wife has a slug issues also--ME.

[Steve Foss]

Nothing will totally get rid of slugs. Pick the control method that suits you and stick with it. You'll need to do it every season. Since most of us drink beer at all seasons, seems like a no brainer to me.

[crothmeier]

i used leftover milwaukee's best light for my slugs, no tears shed wasting that !

[Steve Bakken]

Have you ever seen the Hostas around Frat houses??? AMAZING!!!!

[OakdaleFMR]

They don't like Bud Select....Turn brown and die. I bet I have "recycled" 5000 or more of my slug buddies. I am going to cut the hostas down tomorrow. Thanks for the advice. I think this site is awesome. I hope everyone has a great weekend.