Hello Hellena, Your English is just fine! And welcome to the GardenWeb, we are glad to hear from you.

If you go to the bottom of the forum page, you'll find a box marked 'search' and you can write in "slugs". There have been a great many postings on the subject -- there are more than a couple gardeners who despise the critters. What kills slugs also deters and usually kills snails.

Meanwhile, there are a couple things you can do. Right now, go through the garden and check *under* every possible hiding place, including under stepping stones, boards, pots, benches, etc. You will likely find more than a few slugs that think they are hidden. Slugs will hide under loose leaves, so pick up and compost dead leaves as soon as possible. Once, I found dozens of slugs that had slithered inside a hollow plastic edging -yuk! Drop the slugs into a container that has ammonia mixed into water (about a cup [1/4 liter] of ammonia into 1 quart [1 liter] of water). The ammonia kills the slugs quickly. You can pour the slug-filled ammonia-water onto your compost pile or - in the spring and summer- dilute with another liter of water and pour around a perennial; the slug-bodies will decompose quickly. Plants like ammonia and think they are getting a treat, but it does encourage growth so don't give plants ammonia-water in the fall or winter. Every slug you find now will be one less slsug eating in your garden next spring.

In the spring and during the growing season, you can drench the plants slugs like best with very strong coffee. Make the coffee about 3 times stronger than you would want to drink, let it cool and then put it into a sprayer. I use the bottle sprayer that originally held window cleaner. Spray the plant both on top and beneath each leaf until the coffee runs in dribbles. The coffee grounds should be mixed with a bit of soil and then put around the base of any plant that prefers slightly acidic soil. The problem with coffee -besides the expense- is that it has to be re-applied after every rain.

You should also get into the habit of carrying a spray bottle every time you go into the garden. Fill it with equal parts ammonia and water -or even only ammonia, and spray any slug you see, including the ones on the plants. You may never completely get rid of ALL the slugs, but you can certainly get rid of most of them!

BTW, I don't think stepping on slugs is cruel. But I do think the damage slugs cause by eating my plants is just plain mean, so I don't mind killing slugs. I hate to touch them, so I wear disposible gloves.

If you have the space, and like to experiment, try edging the garden with a border of heliotrope. I've found that while heliotrope plants never seem to be bothered by slugs, the new leaves can be cut into tiny pieces; steeped overnight in water; and then poured onto plants that slugs normally eat. It doesn't seem to kill the slugs, be apparently slugs don't like the smell and stay away.

If you are desperate, a 3" to 4" [75-100mm]-wide edging of thin copper flashing, laid flat around the bed, will deter snails. Copper flashing is used by folks building or repairing roofs; it's very expensive (but much cheaper than the copper edging sold by garden stores), but you might be able to find a craftsman who will sell you the scraps at a low cost.

Hi Hellena,

I don't have anything to add to Meldy's great advice about slugs, but I just wanted to add my own welcome to GW and say that I think your English is very good!

The battle with slugs is an endless one, so don't give up, and---

Happy gardening,
Skybird

Thank you, Meldy and Skybird! On weekend I try looking for slugs like you say -- and it was incredibble, I find so MANY! We have many pieces of old wood in garden by woodshed and under them, I find (I mean FOUND)maybe sixty slugs and also several snails. Before I go 'looking' I asked Mum to buy ammonia at drugstore (we say 'drogeria') but when she comes back to cottage from shopping, she says, "Oh, the ammonia!"

So I get rid of these nasty things in my usual way and step on them all -- IK!they make such HORRIBLE squash sounds! (But Mum helped me so it was not so bad). But NEXT time, we will have ammonia, so no more squashing :)

Thank you VERY much for kind help,

Hellena

An alternative to ammonia is plain salted water - the sort of brine you make for pickling vegetables.

Where my mother lives is remarkable for the numbers of slugs and snails. Nothing as spectacular as yours, I'm happy to say, but all are hungry.

We found that feeding the soil with a lot of compost each year has changed the conditions and the plants have more health so there aren't as many slugs and snails as there were before we did this.

It can be very interesting on a damp night in spring to go out in the garden with a torch and a bucket of salt water to collect slugs and snails 'out for their dinners'...

For small single plants, if you take a clear plastic bottle, cut off the top, you can put the bottom part of the bottle over the plant, push it into the ground a little way and that will give both extra warmth plus protection. For complete rows you might want to use a 'gro-tunnel' with its edges buried in the soil so the slugs can't get in.

If the plant under the bottle still gets eaten - suspect wireworms or something else living directly in the soil.

Just keep in mind that the salt-water is not good for the soil -- which is why I didn't mention it. Although using salt-water in the drowning pail is an excellent idea as long as the water is not dumped in the garden.

A twist on the plastic bottles is to use zig-zag scissors to cut the tops off... I promise no snail can possibly make its way over those sharp edges (humans should wear sturdy leather gloves when putting zig-zag bottles into the soil).