This has been the year of the slug in our garden. Never have I killed so many slugs in one season. In fact, I don't think I have killed this many slugs even in a five-year period! It's been unbelievable.

Franeli, have you had a lot of slugs in your garden?

We have even attracted more toads to the garden this year to help control them, but they're still in abundance!

So, 2006, I dub thee "The Year of the Slug" (and the year that we discovered the luscious German Striped tomato).

This is a big slug year!
I just harvested beets with fat, round, pale colored slugs...such slimy creatures.
I also have tiny black ones that hide everywhere. I never knew there was such variety in slug-dom.
After the first two years here without many slugs, it has taken me by surprise...must be all the mulch and all the rain in May/June.
I don't think I had one plant without riddled holes; I had to laugh that I would never be a good market gardener.
Even my lovely shade ornamentals, the purple+silver heucheras planted with spotted pulmonarias were shredded and looked a fright.
Egads. I have tons of birds and lots of toads, but 'twas too much for them too!
I'll have to use a deterent next year on those heucheras for sure.

Ducks are dynamite on slugs.

No more than usual, in fact fewer. But of course with no rain for 6 months slugs tend to disappear. They'll be in evidence when the rains start, maybe next month.

I had far more slugs this year than last. Snails also. I used iron phosphate (Sluggo, Slug Magic, etc) with good success in finally getting them under control but should have gotten it early and used it at the first signs of them.

Live and learn.

Wayne

It has been a super wet year here. But I think having the ducks up until Feb and chickens until June helped a lot. Because prior to Ducks.. the slugs were a huge problem.

I have an abundance of frogs, salamanders & Terrapins so... maybe that has helped (Plus ducks).

How many slugs, or any other garden pest, you have depends on the environment you create. If what you create is heaven for them there will be lots, but the more you have the more apt you will be to attract the controls needed to keep them in check, provided you dont do things that will drive the predators out. Mulches do tend to create an environment that is more conducive to slug population explosion, but it also creates an environment that is attractive to those thingys, toads, snakes, etc. that dine on the slugs and help keep them in check.
While your soil is gettin gback into balance, ie. early in making the switch from an environmentally unsound garden to one that is more environmentally sound can create the conditions that allow pests to thrive, but once a balance is attained the predators will be enough to control the pests without much effort on your part.
Use common sense in approaching pest control, doing what is necessary, and starting with the least toxic means of control so you are not killing off the predators also, to keep your crops from destruction but do not fizate on having all your plants damage free because to keep the predators you need some pests.

Good points, Kimm.

So far, in cultivating our current garden for four years, we have managed to avoid any toxic controls. When the slug problem became evident we introduced some toads to the garden from a small wetlands area in our yard. It was still early in the season and we were using row-covers, so the environment was ideal for the toads, and the food supply (slugs) was plentiful.

From what we could tell the toads stayed around for the summer and didn't hop back to the wetlands. But the slug population appeared unabated. We also have a lot of songbirds and I don't know whether they eat slugs, but the Pine Siskels especially spent a lot of time in the garden (as they always do) over the summer.

It takes time. Keep in mind that even the seed eating birds will look for insects when raising young. You may need to give the natural controls some help with materials that will not harm the natural controls such as cold caffienated coffee sprayed on susceptible plant foliage, but I find today that as long as the mulch under and around the plants is sufficient the slugs do not munch on live plant tissue.

Slugs are also more active at night - when the songbirds are snoozing. Try using cedar flakes and/or hot pepper flakes around the bases of affected plants. Sandy soil seems to be less bothered by them than our heavy black clay soil down here. My mom in WA could package them for bait - hey, there's an idea Mom! Sluggo is a wonderful product, saw someone else mention it - no reason to go chemical with slugs with great stuff like that out.

Not sure if ya'll ever heard of him, but on his website, we have some great forums, too you may want to check out for some other organic ideas on insect control. Dirtdoctor.com. It isn't free to add to the forums, but you can browse all you want for free. Information is power!

Eden's Garden, as a newby you would not know there have been several references to "DirtDoctor" and while some here think he is great, others think he is a charlatan, another self styled America's Master Gardener, someone to stay away from.

Thanks for the tip - I hope to become some help here with the knowledge I do have, and absorb some from those of ya'll who surely have more experience than I do. I'm a transplant from the Midwest and the soil down here is not conducive to growth as it is up there. We have to do some serious amending. Sorry to hear about the charlatan image Howard's got. He is a bit overwhelming sometimes, but I think anyone in the DFW area involved in organics would be hard pressed not to admit that he is the majority of the reason we have all the availability and stores that we have here - and the living many of us make in the industry. He has almost single-handedly built up the organic industry here in Dallas through the radio show and many other endeavors. I've been up here since 92 and he got started in organics just a few years prior on the radio so I have seen the growth. He's the mouthpiece and I think he practices what he preaches, too. I think he is well intentioned. He really does want us to have a safer place to live via organics.

The forums on his website are made up of many great, sincere folks like I am sure are here on this one. Regardless of one's position on Howard, (and I'm not saying that I agree 100% with everything he says), the forums are quite full of info that I think are very reliable and helpful. Granted, we have different soils and climates, but a lot of it is basics.