Pet Safe slug killer????

HELP! I have newly planted marigolds and newly sprouted sunflowers and they and been severly munched by slugs! GRRRRRR. Can someone recommend a good, fast and pet safe slug killer? Will these plants bounce back after being munched on?

Reply to
GoldLexus
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Careful, limited use of diatomaceous earth around the base of plants being attacked works for me.   Don't inhale the dust and don't broadcast, as it also kills beneficial insects and earthworms.    Doesn't harm pets, even if they were to eat some.    

Reply to
Blues Ma

Sluggo,

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is non-toxic to people and pets.

Reply to
Bob Provencher

Sluggo, iron sulfate, is supposed to be pet safe. Beer traps are pet safe. Putting down a board for them to hide under, then scraping them off in the morning is a way to get rid of them.

The marigolds should come back fine, I don't know about the sunflowers.

Reply to
Charles

Sluggo is iron phosphate (not iron sulfate). Anyway, it doubles as a fertilizer and won't harm people or pets.

Reply to
Phisherman

Place a couple of bowls filled with stale beer left over from your last barbecue party near the affected plants. The slugs love beer and will crawl in and drown in the beer... it works.

Bad Bob

"Cook him till he's blue, and smother him in onions."

Reply to
Bad Bob

As others have indicated, an Iron Phosphate slug killer is pet and wildlife safe. I think to get a handle on the situation you may want to try multiple approaches if your infestation is significant. Put out the slug bate. Use some traps with beer or a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water. Finally, in the evening or early morning, go out and pick the slugs off the plants. This should quickly reduce their population.

Reply to
Vox Humana

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

Reply to
dr-solo

Several years ago, when I was living in Vancouver BC I saw the most ingenious slug solution. I had completely given up on lettuce because the slugs ate more than I did.

An engineer friend who had small kids and pets had this luxuriant lettuce field in his back yard. What he had done (typical engineer) was frame his bed in 4x4's. He then ran out two parallel wires, about 1/4 inch apart, fixed to the 4x4, and connected the end of each to a the terminals of a small battery (sorry don't recall the voltage maybe 6 volt). When the slugs crawled across they completed the circuit and zap! no more slug.

Reply to
Sue

I have heard that they don't like to come into contact with copper wire because there is an galvanic reaction. It may not be necessary to electrify the wire. I would be interested in any thoughts. This may be a myth.

Reply to
Vox Humana

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List

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the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make.

Reply to
dr-solo

I could never grow delphiniums or marigolds or anything else that slugs perfer but on a gardening show on HGTV, they said that coffee was being investigated as a deterent for slugs and I tried it and it appears to be working. I just dump the coffee grounds in a bucket with some water and then dump them around the plants and the plants are doing fine even though it has been ideal slug conditions this year, cool and damp. I used the copper wire on a few plants to check that out and it really works well also.

Reply to
concreteangel

empty tuna fish cans work great ...sink it into the ground to almost level ...to get fancy, take a larger can top (ie large coffee can ), put a crease in it to act like a tent above the beer to keep out rain

Stew Corman

Reply to
Stew Corman

The beer works, as does a bread yeast and sugar mixture, but after two weeks of running an open bar for slugs I got sick of it. We collected about 80 each night and the next day there were 80 more.

I got a good deal on the pet safe killer and have been using it this week. So far, so good, but since the caterpillars have moved in to finish off what the slugs left, it's hard to know if it's working.

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Reply to
Jenny

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