Spring has sprung and so has
Along with spring will come slugs and snails, sliming their way in during darkness to munch on your seedlings and precious plants. I am loathe to place anything toxic like slug bait in my food-growing zones, so here are some steps I take.
Hunt and kill
Catching slugs and snails is rewarding. An evening slughunting with a torch is much more fun than watching TV, especially with kids to help. Since squashing slugs is quite tricky, I use an old jam jar with a lid and simply place them inside to be fed to the chickens or binned the following morning.
Capture
There are numerous traps you can place around your garden. Go for anything moist, cool, smooth and dark, such as old plastic containers, that slugs and snails will crawl into to sleep away the day and which can be emptied at your leisure.
Trap
You can buy or make traps that slugs will crawl into of their own accord and perish. They need regular maintenance.
Cut horizontal slits in the side of a plastic container large enough for slugs to crawl into. Bury in the garden so the slits are at ground level. Fill the bottom of the container with bait and put on the lid to keep out rain. Slugs are attracted to yeast, so an easy bait is beer. Some warm water and a teaspoon each of sugar, flour and yeast will attract them, too.
Poison
If I do use bait, I use an iron chelate pelleted slug bait – sold as Quash and Multiguard. It stays effective as it breaks down, ending up as an essential element in the soil.
Poultry
Ducks and chicken eat slugs and I have had ducks free-ranging in my orchard for that purpose for 10 years. Chickens did too much damage to be worthwhile. The ducks have reduced the numbers of slugs and snails considerably,