Snails and Slugs

I've always been the kind of child fascinated with snakes and snails and lizards and all sorts of buggy animals. Slugs not so much but snails definately (though they are the same thing, snails were just much easier to pick up and play with). I've never kept a garden and so slugs have never bothered me before.

This year my mom and I planted our first vegetable garden, officially, but nothing has been coming up really except potatoes, corn, and squash.

Today I noticed a slug infestation underneath my sundial (I am making a large sundial out of a piece of tree trunk from the dead tree that was cut down on our neighbor's property, it is perfect for such a thing). I have never been bothered by slugs before and normally I would have just turned it back over and left them in peace but there were dozens of them, and I have gardens and herbs to think about now. I've seen slug trails around my sage and strawberries.

I guess I just wanted to ask the fellow spiritualists out there who keep gardens how they feel about such "pests" around their yards. Its probably not normal but I am really feeling horrible about getting rid of them but I have herbs and vegetables all over my yard (front and back) and have no where safe to put them where they would live and be away from my plants.

Most everyone tells me they're just slugs and they can be devastating to a garden but they are still otherwise virtually harmless living creatures, and I feel really embarrassed asking this but I would love someone's insight!

[knightofalbion]

The great majority of people have no compassion for slugs. Presumably because they are less aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but they are still God's creatures nevertheless.

I have a greenhouse here and they have been attacking my courgette plants.
What I do is cover the plants with a flowerpot and in the morning I check the plants. Usually 1 or 2 small slugs are inside the pot or still on top of the soil. I carefully pick them up and go and put them in a far part of the garden (I have quite a big garden) out of harm's way. No need to kill anything, no need to put down poisons...
Gradually the slug attacks diminish to nothing and the young plants grow on and up into fine, healthy and productive plants.

The greatest respect to you for your concern.

[LPC]

Tanith, there is absolutely no need to feel ambarrassed about asking the question. If only more people were asking similar questions!

My dear wife does much the same as the Noble Knight above. Later, when plants are put outside, you can put flat, wide, rings of copper around them, as slugs and snails hate crossing those. Or rings of very, very dry sand will help protect your plants, too.

[Squatchit]

Hiya Tanith

A big fan of slugs here.

I used to use vaseline on any flowerpots...slugs find it hard to slither over the grease. Or crushed eggshells - similar to the copper wire, slugs hate slithering over eggshells (who wouldn't!).

Something else I would do if in your shoes is have a quiet word with the head slug (imagination/meditation). Perhaps have a patch in your garden specifically for slugs and plant some flowers that slugs can't resist. Then explain that while you don't wish them to leave the garden, you would like them to leave your vegetables/herbs alone. And that you have created a veritable feast for them elsewhere.

It's worth a shot, even if you feel silly. I did something similar with moles a couple of years ago...and had no moles in my garden (even though there were molehills in other gardens around me).

If all else fails, you could maybe try a raised herb garden and cover the sides with vaseline. A bit icky sticky...but should deter slugs/snails.



Squatch

[knightofalbion]

Ah! A breath of fresh air! LPC and Squatchit two of the most kind-hearted people you'll ever have the privilege of meeting.

[Arcturus]

yeah i'm down with squatch (and the rest as well, all good advice) contact the overlighting slug spirit. apparently they only nibble strong healthy plants and then leave them be...but if that's all the food that's going on they might have no choice. a garden in balance will help, companion planting, plants slugs like but you don't want to eat. even letting them have the odd plant maybe (not a courgette of course as that's a bush and produces from that one all season). they know when they're disliked and so fight for survival like any other animal. they must bring something that is necessary to the soil. it may also be that a plant secretes stuff when a slug eats it, that deters the unwellcome guest and then this "immunity is passed on and may even affect taste and nutritional content, for the better.

i have heard of folk collecting slugs and putting them in water, let it break down and then pour over the ground around the plant; this apparently woirks well. not my choice but at least it's harmless chemically etc. try to have as little bare soil as you can and no night lighting as well.

[Arcturus]

yeah i'm down with squatch (and the rest as well, all good advice) contact the overlighting slug spirit. apparently they only nibble strong healthy plants and then leave them be...but if that's all the food that's going on they might have no choice. a garden in balance will help, companion planting, plants slugs like but you don't want to eat. even letting them have the odd plant maybe (not a courgette of course as that's a bush and produces from that one all season). they know when they're disliked and so fight for survival like any other animal. they must bring something that is necessary to the soil. it may also be that a plant secretes stuff when a slug eats it, that deters the unwellcome guest and then this "immunity is passed on and may even affect taste and nutritional content, for the better.

i have heard of folk collecting slugs and putting them in water, let it break down and then pour over the ground around the plant; this apparently woirks well. not my choice but at least it's harmless chemically etc. try to have as little bare soil as you can and no night lighting as well.

Hi Tanith,you sound like a friend of mine.He's very interested in animals that either swim or live under things

When I first moved to my present house (November 97),to my shame I will confess that the first year I put down slug pellets.I soon regretted this when I saw the harm they do first hand,since then slug pellets or any other poison have never been near my garden.

As has been pointed out already by Knightofalbion,they are still God's creatures and play an important role in the food chain.Blackbirds,Song and Mistle Thrushes and Hedgehogs all eat slugs and snails and would very likely suffer if their food source disappeared.

As for my plants,I find that slugs and snails only really need keeping away from very young plants.Bigger plants can take the odd nibble and still survive.Keeping them off your plants can be done in the ways already described,I tend to move them from where I don't want them and just relocate them to another part of the garden.

[knightofalbion]

Wise words, dear Hawkmoth. Thank you.

Further to your point on slug pellets. As we have established the issue can readily be tackled without resorting to killing and the use of poisons.
Using slug pellets kills the slugs - and it can also kill the birds who eat the poisoned slugs...

[Miss Hepburn]

True story:

In a class to develop psychic abilities - one person chose slugs for a project paper.

She studied them as psychics would.

What she learned was they are the most sensual and sensitive of creatures.
Laying on rocks they are so sensitive to temperature changes, sensing all movement around them, they respond internally to most everything.
They spend much of their time having sex and feeling the warmth beneath them.
Sweet little creatures God created to enjoy life through...