Hair raising slugs

Have not heard of this method, but rather intrigued ..... where do you get that amount of human hair?

Being bald this is not a choice I wish to make. Nose and ear hair are very painful sacrifices.

My own take is a no. Ground ginger is another organic method.

Diatomaceous earth a maybe. Birdhouses to attract a thrush that lives in the U.K. a possibility.

Spraying with a diluted ammonia water is a possibility. I like the lemon scented ones.

After that there are the more organic sluggos. Iron based products. For the cost I would go out there with a slug staff and collect them early in the morn.

Metaldyhide products are poisons, but they do work. So does the liquid product that squeezes out of a bottle. Deadline.

One customer of mine was such a vigilant slug hunter, going out every morning with his knife. He would spear those creatures with a vengeance.

He would also not hesitate to take that same knife to core and quarter an apple for me to taste. His wife refused to partake, knowig where it had been.

With regard to the hosta slug deterant. I saw a gardening programme at the start of this season featuring one of the largest Hosta growers in the country, she was asked how she battled with the slugs? her answer was, that she had no problem as she always sprayed with garlic. The recipie was boil a garlic bulb in water, then liquidise it, put it through a strainer and use the garlic tea as a spray, I tried it to my pour lacy leaved garlics and mine were trouble free for the rest of the season. The only problem I found was the sprayer kept blocking up I had obviously not done a good enough job of straining the garlic particles off. So take care with that part of it.

Yes to Telme8. I shall have to get back to the garlic thing. Also, all garlic species are not the same. Some art ten times as potent as others ... and are often used as bug spray deterants.

The ammonia/water spray is what one local Hosta grower swears by. It not only deters young slugs but fertilizes the plants.

Do a google on ammonia as plant spray or something.
I think you will find something. If not get back to me.

One little point here, there are approximately 25 slug species in Britain of which only (Hah!) 5 are herbivores, the rest are carnivores, they eat other slugs. It may well be that in killing slugs you are increasing the problem by removing predators. Most of the damage done to Hostas (and other plants) is actually done by snails, especially the ones imported by the Romans as a food source, ie the common garden snail.
Having said that, the various methods of mollusc control also work on snails.

Thank you Owdoggy. That was a thought. I think we only have three slugs on the Olympic Penninsula, WA. I believe that one was an import.Many snail species, most of which are imports as well. Slugs, also are the prime mover of mushroom spawn.

One answer to the Hosta problem. Buy new ones from ME!
:-) There are many new varieties out that are very snail and slug resistant. Check with your local nurseryperson,

Hi, haven't tried human hair but Sophie, my cavalier k.c has lots to spare so after her grooming sessions in the summer I mixed her unwanted hair with sharp sand and put in a circle around anything snails/slugs seemed to love. Worked with some.

I am finding the copper rings now for sale are effective (although not cheap if you have got a lot of plants to protect). A slug patrol with some salt is VERY satisfying!

agree on the salt thing Andrewr! Take the kids with you and have some real fun. More useful than them slaughtering each other on Wii computer games etc. LOL

Weeding,

You are on the right track, but didn't go far enough. I invited the neighorhid kids to catch slugs for a penny ea.

They were happy and so was I. Some of the parents were less so. True story. Cheap, effective and GREEN!

Thanks everyone for answering my slug question problem. By the way I got the human hair from my hairdresser.

Skyline, wot State is WA? I'll probably kick myself when you tell me. Can't be Wissouri or Walifornia... Is it the state of Washington?