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  • From: "Lorraine Ballato" <ladygardener@msn.com>
  • To: "gardenwriters-on-gardening" <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Am I dreaming?
  • Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 13:44:33 -0700

I'm a little late getting into this discussion  (I've been consumed with rabbit patrol, etc.!)
 
Nancy is indeed correct. The slugs are just dormant and waiting for wet conditions to make their entrance.  You can test this by patrolling areas where you may have been spot watering new plantings, etc.  Slug traps in those areas will usually yield a nice catch.  Ditto for control methods within 24 hours of a good soaker (we had about 2" about 3 weeks ago and sure enough, they showed up the next day).  If you still have some plants in nursery pots and cellpacks and are watering them regularly until you get a chance to put them into the ground, the undersides will have loads of those slimy critters clinging for dear life. 
 
The other result of this dry weather is much fewer weeds.  They simply don't germinate without the moisture.
 
This is a repeat of our summers of 2002 and 2003 when it was extremely dry after a wet, cool spring.
 
If I had to choose hot and dry versus wet, I would take the wet and cool conditions.  I find it much easier to trap slugs than to haul the hose around to ensure prize plants and new plantings are sufficiently watered, not to mention having ample water in our well for domestic uses (laundry, bathing, etc.).  And since I need to weed regularly anyway even in a dry year, what's a few hundred more weeds to hoe and pull?
 
 
Lorraine Ballato
Brookfield, CT
----- Original Message -----
From: nancy szerlag
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 2:04 PM
To: gardenwriters-on-gardening
Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Am I dreaming?
 
I hate to burst your bubble guys, but according to my research in time of
drought, slug eggs remain dormant till the proper moisture level returns.
Two years ago we went almost 12 weeks without rain and the slugs
disappeared. They reappeared the following spring and multiplied like crazy
in the cool wet weather that extended into June.  So don't get too sassy and
toss out the Escargo.

A great slug trap- soak a section of newspaper in a pale of water and form
it into a mound and place it next to the plants that are turning to  Swiss
cheese. Check under the mush mountain the next morning and you will probably
find a dozen or more slugs. The following is rather gross so if you have a
weak stomach stop here. Having read that slugs were cannibalistic, I
squashed the suckers with a trowel and left the mess as bait.  Using this
method I took out dozens of slugs last year. Stopped counting  a hundred.
Just don't let the mountain dry out. Probably would work even better if you
soaked it in beer.
Nancy Szerlag - Michigan


> Nancy,
>
> Your slugs have not taken the LIE out here to the island because I've been
> noticing the same thing this week. I'm guessing it's due to extremely dry
> conditions here.
>
> Melanie Vassallo
> Long Island NY
> melaniev@optonline.net
>
> _______________________________________________
> gwl-g mailing list
> gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org
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