Page 10 - AUGUST 11, 2016 - mArTenSville meSSenGer
GARDENING
Slugs: Slimy, Shiny, Slippery, Slithery And Just Plain Gross
-Erl Svendsen-
I have a brick mowing
edge between my lawn and
my wood-mulched shrub/
perennial beds. Recently,
I’ve wondered why the
birds insist on digging
through the mulch and
scattering it over the brick
and into the lawn. This
weekend, I discovered why
as I was pruning back my
Wilton juniper: they’re on
the hunt for the multitude
of juicy slugs that have
invaded my garden.
Slugs are gastropods not
insects, related to snails
and clams rather than to
flies and beetles. They are
nocturnal creatures and the
most telling clue that you
have slugs in your garden
aside from the damage is
the silvery trails they leave
behind. And their preferred
habitat is damp which
unfortunately describes a
lot of territory.
Growing up on the West
Coast where slugs come
in many shapes, sizes and
colours, I particularly
remember the banana slug
named for its resemblance
to said fruit in colour AND
size. Thankfully in most
Saskatchewan
gardens,
you’ll
typically
only
encounter the diminutive
grey
garden
slug
(Deroceras reticulatum):
small, 1 - 2 cm long,
dark to light grey, shiny
and, of course slimy.
Don’t let their size fool
you. What they lack for
in size, they can rapidly
make up in number,
laying 200 – 300 eggs at a
time. And in numbers they
are voracious, decimating
leafy plants and most other
garden plants including
root crops like potatoes
and carrots (unfortunately
not dandelions in my
experience). Slugs and
their tiny eggs can move
in from the neighbour’s
yard, on plants from the
nursery or your friends,
on borrowed tools and
even on the bottom of
your shoes.
There are ways to fight
back. Start by making your
garden less hospitable
by removing daytime
hiding places like wooden
boards, bricks, stones, and
garden gnomes. Remove
all decaying vegetation
throughout the season, the
fall especially.
Trapping slugs is a
good next option. They
are attracted to yeasty,
fermenting odors. But
don’t waste your beer: add
a package of bread yeast to
a cup of water sweetened
with sugar, stir and set
aside to bubble away for
a couple of hours. Add an
inch of the yeast solution
to any shallow container
(e.g. empty cat-food or
tuna tins). Place several
in the garden in the early
evening, about 10 feet
apart. Next morning,
empty the containers
(hopefully filled with
drowned slugs) and repeat.
Another option is to place
short boards in the garden.
In the morning, just scrape
any cowering slugs off the
bottom-sides into a bucket
of soapy water. Repeat.
Another effective trap is
an upside down rind of a
half grapefruit. Slugs can’t
help themselves and will
be found munching away
in the morning on the
inside. Simply dispose of
rind, slugs and all. Re peat.
control DE products (e.g.
Safer’s Insectigone). Do not
use pool-grade DE. Wear a
facemask to avoid breathing
in the fine particles when
sprinkling around the garden.
Reapply after heavy rains.
There are a number of
control options, most
of which are safe to
use around your home,
children and pets. Slugs
are said to avoid wood
ash and coffee grounds
(some coffee shops give
bags of grounds away for
free). If nothing else, these
will enrich your soil. To a
slug, crushed baked eggs
shells sprinkled around the
garden act like razor wire,
as does diatomaceous earth
(DE), a powdery substance
composed
of
sharp
fossilized
microscopic
hard-shelled algae or
diatoms. There are several
registered insect and slug
Gardens are made up
of many things. They
can be filled with fruits,
vegetables, flowers and
sometimes
ceramic
gnomes. Gardens can be
also be used to attract birds
and butterflies, but how
about attracting something
a little different? How
about attracting bats to
your garden? These little
guys get a bad rap and are
experts at insect control.
Read on, you may want
bats to become a part of
your landscape.
After a meal of iron
phosphate (registered slug
control product; is safe
around children and pets
when applied according to
label instructions), slugs
stop eating and die. As a
last resort, there are several
registered metaldehyde slug
control products. While very
effective, metaldehyde is
poisonous to slugs, people and
their pets alike and should be
used with care.
ABOVE: Grey garden slug hanging upside (Joseph Berger)
A Batty idea
First, bats are wild animals
and should not be caught
or handled. The risk of
getting rabies from a bat
bite is minimal, but it does
exist. Bats are not naturally
aggressive, but like any
wild animal, they will bite
if they feel threatened.
With that said, bats can
be fascinating creatures to
observe and as mentioned
above, they are a natural
insect disposal system.
That is to say that they eat
insects, a lot of insects. A
small brown bat can eat
more than 1,000 insects an
hour. Now imagine what a
colony of bats can do. You
would never have to buy
insect repellent again.
decide which layout is best
for you.
If you are building your
own bat house, there are a
few things to keep in mind.
Bats need warmth. They
like temperatures between
85 and 100 F. This means
your bat house needs to be
painted with dark colors,
preferably black or dark
gray. The color will absorb
the sun and make the house
warmer. The house should
have a chamber at least 14
inches wide and a couple
of feet tall. The landing
area, or entrance, should be
rough to aid in traction for
the little bug-eaters. The
house should also be waterproof.
Placement of your bat
house is crucial. Because
heat is so important to bats,
the house should be placed
somewhere that gets a lot
of sunlight, all day long if
possible. It should be off the
ground at least 12 feet. This
will put it at a good landing
height and also keep ground
predators away. Mounting
the house on a pole is a
great idea. They can be
mounted to your house, but
consider the bat droppings.
If you do want to mount it
to a structure, see if you
can find a barn or another
out of the way building.
Trees seem like a good
idea, but they are not.
Trees make the bat house
too vulnerable to predators
like owls, birds of prey,
snakes and other creatures
that might enjoy a nice batsnack.
When placing your bat
house, it should be close to
a water source like a pond,
creek or garden pond. Try
to get the structure within a
mile of water.
Other than making sure
the house stays in good
condition, the only real
maintenance is cleaning up
the bat guano (bat poop).
But there is an upside
to guano, it makes great
fertilizer. Again, remember
that these are wild animals
and should be observed
and not caught, played with
or touched. So, is being a
landlord to bats for you? It
may not be for everyone,
but for insect control and
just plain coolness, bats
can’t be beat.
Attracting bats requires a
bat house. You can a buy
a bat house or build your
own. Many plans exist on
the Internet for building
your own bat house. If
you are a do-it-yourselfer,
do some homework and
just THINK..
Had this been your ad,
people would have noticed it.
Call the Martensville Messenger and ask about our affordable advertising
Ph: 306-668-1093