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Morning cup of coffee in hand, you stroll out to your garden and find your hostas riddled with holes. The few intact areas are covered by silvery, slimy trails.
Slugs are insatiable plant-chewing mollusks that live on land. Anatomically one large foot with a mouth, a slug and a snail are the same animal except the snail carries a visible shell. The mucus they secrete helps them to move, mate, and defend themselves.
Adding a water feature, such as a small pond, creates a welcome environment for the slug's natural predators: ground beetles, snakes, toads, salamanders, and turtles. Ducks love slugs.
Slugs live and lay their eggs in warm, wet, dark places, so remove boards, bricks, and other damp debris on the ground. Go out at night, when they are most active, and drown them in a container of soapy water. If touching them is distasteful, wear rubber gloves or pick them up with chopsticks or tweezers. Slugs love the yeast in beer and, like frat boys at a party, willingly throw themselves into it. Beer traps only attract slugs within a few feet, however, and are labor intensive. Another option is to use baits containing nontoxic ferrous phosphate. Copper strips jolt slugs with an electrical charge.
If all else fails, throw that morning cup of coffee on them. New research from the USDA shows that a 2 percent solution of caffeine kills slugs, while a weaker solution takes away their appetite.
