I’m constantly reminded of one of our resident creatures by our local gardeners. They consider the creature a pest. Like most everything that grows here, it is a pest if you don’t want it. The particular creature that I allude to is the Washington Slug. I ran across an article written by one of my co-workers in King County, George Pinyuh. Perhaps you’ve seen George on television. He is, what I consider, WSU’s counterpart to Ed Hume.

George captured the essence of the slug in his article and I thought it was well worth sharing.The slug could easily be designated the official animal of Western Washington. I doubt very much that there is any other non-domesticated animal in our part of the state that accounts for so much protein on the hoof. If only some entrepreneur would come up with a definitive method for de-sliming these beasts, they might begin to be looked on an asset rather than a liability. Unfortunately, until this happens, we must do everything in our power to ruthlessly exterminate them for our gardens’ sake.There are probably more than twenty kinds of these shell-like gastropods in the Northwest, and they range in size from the teeniest little ones to the great big ten-inch fellows. They seem also to come in all colors and patterns: gray ones, milky ones, black ones and chocolate-colored varieties. Some are striped, others are spotted and many in solids. It’s really mind-boggling.

Slugs usually live at least a year, and the larger ones may have a lifespan of three years. During its lifetime, each slug may lay over a thousand eggs. Many of them mate and lay eggs in late summer and fall, so obviously a considerable number of the little ones consuming your garden now are the result of last season’s liaisons.In most animal species on earth it’s only the females that get pregnant and have young. Not slugs. Each slug is both male and female, so each time a mating occurs, two sets of eggs are fertilized. Marvelous!

Most slugs feed at night, although in cloudy, overcast weather they can operate all day long. During a normal summer day, though, they hide and this may be a partial key to trying to control them. Either eliminate all potential hiding places to drive them away, or check these hiding places every morning and collect all the slugs you can find. Dispatch them in whatever way gives you the most pleasure. Dropping those you find in a pail of salty water is most satisfying.Cans of beer sunk halfway into the soil will trap an awful lot of slugs. They are attracted to it an fall in and drown (they do not drink themselves to death). By the way, a couple of inches of beer is all that’s necessary. No need to waste too much beer. If you can’t stand the idea of wasting any good beer, you can probably achieve the same result with a little molasses mixed in water. Be careful to set the beer so that you are not also trapping your beneficial black beetles. Two chemicals, metaldehyde and mesurol, are registered for slug control. The latter can’t be used in and around the vegetable garden. Mesurol is only to be used in areas where there no edibles being grown. Normally these come as ingredients of grain baits, but they can also be gotten as part of a gooey material which is squeezed out of a bottle or tube. No matter which form the chemicals come in, they are attractive to slugs and when they eat, they’re usually finished. These materials can be fatal to pets or children, so it’s wise to cover them in some way.Some folks report success in keeping slugs from their plants by surrounding the plants with broken glass, lime, ashes, sawdust, peat moss and even sand. None of these have ever been scientifically substantiated as effective controls. In fact, a test in Oregon a few years ago indicated that none of these things could stop a hungry slug.There are some natural controls on slugs. Garter snakes seem to relish them, but I know of no one who has figured out a way to keep snakes around. Toads eat them too, but I don’t believe there are any toads in Western Washington. This leaves chickens, ducks and geese. If you can stand having these animals in your yard, they should keep your slug population in check.Well, there you have it. If you want a one-page publication we have one called, “Slug Control”. It is available at our WSU-Island County Cooperative Extension office in Coupeville, or call 679-7327 or 321-5111, ext. 327.




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