There is an article on one hosta website (I forget where) documenting dog poisoning by sluggo. Likely did the geese no good.

tj

The good news is that hopefully the geese fertilized your hosta garden in the process...and the Sluggo will be deposited in your garden again once it makes it through their digestive system...

That's a good one don. The main problem with geese is they fertilize everything. Somehow I don't think the sluggo will be too effective now.

Tj, I don't think it hurt them one bit. They ate a lot of it, and two days later they seem pretty darn happy. It was a half a jug of sluggo. Still can't believe it.

They really ate it? I wonder why they would do that.

.....After I asked myself that question, I googled and found the article about iron phosphate on the Hosta Library. The article states that iron phosphate is, "mostly a food-based pellet that smells strongly like cereal to attract the slugs from a distance." So that's what must have attracted the geese.

Distressing to me because I use Sluggo and I have quails and other birds in my yard that I don't want eating this stuff. :-( It seems like it might turn out to be more harmful than originally stated by manufacturers of this product.

jamie81, I would love to find out that you're right and that it didn't hurt the geese one bit. If they stay around your yard a while, keep us posted.

The OP says that the geese came after a couple days. Sluggo works right away if the slugs/snails are out. I do believe the geese were after the slugs on the ground, not the bait. And unless the bait was piled up by the cupfull, they won't suffer. The bait disappears in a few days after rain or watering. I have been using it for years all year around as we have no freezes here.

The dogs that had problems with Sluggo got into the BAGS of Iron sulfate not when it was sprinkled on the ground. The devil is in the details.

OR you can just let your hostas get holes....not me.

-Babka

Well, the lethal dose is about 1lb for a 20 lb dog, but it would do liver and kidney damage before the lethal dose is reached.

tj

Babka, the geese were out there the next morning. I would like to believe they were eating slugs, but I don't have that many. They were definitely eating the sluggo. It was like I had spread corn. It hadn't washed away at all, I could see it all around the plants in the other garden I have fenced in.

It really was amazing. They just gobbled it up.

Unfortunately, the geese will be in my yard until next fall when they leave for the winter. They were running around in my yard this afternoon as happy as can be. Whats really amazing is the quantity they ate. I am talking a family of two adults and six goslings.

I am surprised it could hurt a dog. I had it down thicker than normal, and its all gone. Every stinking bit!

You need to put obstructions into the landing and flyoff path of your geese, then they will not come. A few less geese would help ducks which are rather rare in my areas nowadays.
Bernd

Bernd, your advice made me laugh, just because that is a very popular topic of conversation in my neighborhood. How to get rid of geese. It is impossible. We have built fences, sprayed things on the lawn, used mylar tape, fishing line, you name it. They are very determined. We are on a pond, so they are just a fact of life. We have very liberal goose hunting seasons, just because the cities are trying to control the population.

Fortunately, we also have some beautiful ducks. They are outnumbered by the geese though. Geese are very good parents. Their survival rate is very high compared to ducks.