permaculture

["Janet Wyllie" <jwyllie@dcsi.net.au>]

I am in Vic, Australia, temperatures over 40C in summer and often snow in 
the winter. Rainfall normally over 40 inches but also drought conditions in 
summer.  There are 2 types of slugs.  The larger - up to 3 inches we call a 
leopard slug and it is a meat eater, as in eats other slugs and snails, 
therefore highly prized.  The smaller only grows to 1/2 inch is a light 
brown color with a white underbelly.  It is a voracious vegetative eater. 
Even the skin off the pumpkins will be eaten if I don't move them.  I have 
been vigilant in removing them, not relocating but stomping or feeding to 
the chooks, for many years.  After a summer rain, I can spend several hours 
walking the boundary of my garden, just treading on them as they swarm in 
from the paddock.  In the end, I just get sick of it.  One old building near 
my place has the same problem, but neighbours only a few hundred metres away 
have no slugs at all.
cheers
Janet