Faye, I missed that post. What are "ground beetles" if you don't mind. I could use some, but if they are in New England and Canada, what chance do I have on the Gulf Coast?

I do the best I can to leave the assassin bug nymphs to their business, which is eating plant predators too. But I don't think they like slugs any more than I do.

Mocc, you can Google for them. I just did, and there it is, they can become house pests. Steve's ground beetles are probably more friendly ones. Bernd

Here is a link that might be useful: Ground beetles can run really fast!

This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Fri, May 2, 14 at 20:00

Okay, I guess we have them. Glad to know they can consume stuff like slugs and snails and their eggs. Of course, my wild bird population picks the pots for cutworms fairly well. In a pot with some damage, I look for those destructive creatures and never find a one, which I believe is due to the large population of home grown Carolina wrens. It seems they nest here every year and never leave. Why should they....a reliable source of food, water, shelter, and bird friendly skies.

We have plenty of ground beetles running around...I'm happy to let them have at it!

I also come across land planarians a lot. Weird critters, those. They are also snail predators...yay! On the other hand, they also snack on earthworms, but I think our huge worm population can handle them.

My three kids are still my best organic slug control. They gather those uglies by the cupful. (Dixie cups, with ammonia water, which are then thrown away, of course!)

Here is a link that might be useful: Land Planarians

beetles/http://yourorganicgardeningblog.com/garden-pest-control-fight-slugs-with-ground-beetles/
I am not sure how to get the site Steve was nice enough to post properly for me but it is on "Mulch Ideas ? " I tried to copy paste but didn't work for me :, Bernd are those cockroaches that are house pests? Must be damp .Certainly are quite ugly but if they eat those nasty slugs I will not stomp them anymore

Jadie, thank you for bringing the land planarian to my attention. We have those here, and while I've never bothered them, I did not know they were so good in the garden. I have enough earth worms that losing a few won't matter. They are everywhere!

Faye, no way are cockroaches beneficial. There are things we call cockroaches, and things we call PALMETTO BUGS, which are the ones can fly 100 feet non stop, they live in leaf litter of oaks and magnolias especially, and they are HUGE.

One year the Houston radio morning talk show had a contest for the largest roach, and the winning roach was something unbelievably long. I wish I could recall just HOW long....seems almost 3 inches and that wasn't counting the antenna. I'm going to stomp those come what may, to heck with the benefits to organic anything, they make my skin crawl.

Note about the links. I only put live links at the Optional Link URL box below the typing box for the Message, and then type in a short name of the link below that. Sometimes it doesn't work because there might be an extra letter in the Optional Link URL box before you begin typing. Clear it out entirely and start again, Faye.

Fireflies eat slug eggs. That's a much better choice than ground beetles, if I get to choose.

bl