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Using Bt to kill slugs?
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Posted by takadi (My Page) on Sun, Apr 19, 09 at 21:58
| Will Bt work on slugs as well? Could I sprinkle some of the mosquito dunks around the base of my plants or perhaps give them a weekly spray of innoculated water? |
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RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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- Posted by jean001 z8aPortland, OR (My Page) on
Sun, Apr 19, 09 at 23:38
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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| Mosquito dunks, BTI, would be the wrong thing to use if slugs were listed as targets of the BT spores. I see nothing that tells me that BTK, which is for leaf eaters, would be a control either. |
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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- Posted by jean001 z8aPortland, OR (My Page) on
Mon, Apr 20, 09 at 11:30
| It was said "BTK, which is for leaf eaters," Yes, Btk is for leafeaters. But a specific kind of leafeater -- caterpillars. |
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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| To keep slugs out of your garden try iron phosphate (brand name Sluggo or Escargo). It is organic and the slugs prefer to eat it even more than hostas! It then kills the slugs (stops up their digestive tract). And it will not harm animals that eat those slugs (like frogs and toads). |
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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The BTK 'worm killer' is a bacteria which changes the caterpillar's stomach pH to a point where it can't digest food. Since the worm gets it's water from the food it eats, it dies from either starvation or desiccation, whichever comes first. Additionally, BT works best in the caterpillar's second instar stage because the stomach isn't fully developed in the first stage
One consideration with BTK is to remember that the stomach of a leaf eating caterpillar and the stomach of the common earth worm function in the same manner, so limit as much off-target drift as possible when applying it...it can kill earth worms... |
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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- Posted by jean001 z8aPortland, OR (My Page) on
Sun, May 31, 09 at 2:15
| It was said "The BTK 'worm killer' is a bacteria which changes the caterpillar's stomach pH to a point where it can't digest food." Not quite so. Here's part of the info from Colorado STate abaout the various forms of BT:
"Btk a"Unlike typical nerve-poison insecticides, Bt acts by producing proteins (delta-endotoxin, the "toxic crystal") that reacts with the cells of the gut lining of susceptible insects. These Bt proteins paralyze the digestive system, and the infected insect stops feeding within hours. Bt-affected insects generally die from starvation, which can take several days." The entire article is at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/Insect/05556.html. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Facts re the various forms of Bacillus thuringiensis
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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| Bury a soup can so the top is flush with the ground and fill it up half way with beer. The slugs can't resist it. I don't even buy bait anymore. |
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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| I'm not sure where this notion about Bt and pH is coming from. Bt kills insects through Cry toxins. Each type of Cry toxin affects only a limited range of insects -- hence the wide variety of targeted Bt species. They work by bonding with the cell membranes of the digestive system -- if and only if those membranes have a proper receptor -- and creating large pores in them (so-called "pore-forming toxins"). This lets the cell contents leak out and other stuff to leak in. |
RE: Using Bt to kill slugs?
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| BTK will only work on Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and will not work on anything else, sorry. |
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