Thanks, @galinas , How do you get rid of slugs without using a product like Sluggo?
Chipmunks. I see them do the same to my strawberries all the time. They seem to get bolder very year, too.
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I use Sluggo. Why not to use it? It is iron…
Just too lazy to go to a store to buy it but will buy it if that’s the only thing that work. Maybe, I should drown them in a shallow container with beer.
@SMC_zone6 , hubby and daughter think chipmunks are cute. I hate them as much as I hate squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, etc.
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The nasturtium is the work of bunnies. The strawberry could be slugs or chipmunks
I think your husband is right…you are blaming the poor innocent rabbits in this case! haha. Just kidding, but I am doubtful that this is rabbits- I’ve never seen them eat berries but they might. I;d suspect mice or voles or chipmonks. I dunno…this one is less clear.
edit: I answered before reading other posts. Sounds like we’re all leaning toward chipmonks.
Easy way is to patrol at night after irrigating or a rain shower, if slugs or snails are seen, collect them in a container with just a half handful of commercial fertilizer. They instantly turn liquid and can the be applied to your compost. Earth to Earth!
After about 10-12 trips the population becomes manageable
Bunnies would eat the entire thing. Or else it was my dog. She does that! Also to the green berries just turning red, which is really annoying! A few more on the way then my season for strawberries is over. There were really good!!!
Slugs dissolve if you sprinkle salt on them, and if you burn wood a sprinkling of ash is said to make a barrier they won’t cross. I’ve tried copper wire around my raised beds and it may work. Presumably, they won’t cross the copper. Maybe it tingles?
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Damnrabbits nip off the flowering heads of my dianthus. Don’t eat them, just leave them dead on the ground.
Beer trap.
Place a shallow container full of the cheapest beer you can find in your affected area. The slugs are attracted to in and go in and drown. The beer can then be put back into the garden as fertilizer.
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Did that in the past, the beer thing. It worked.
@marknmt - not sure I’d like to put salt in soil.
Thank you everyone for chiming in. This could be a place where we could share what work against common pest slugs, pill bugs, to chipmunks, etc.
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Slugs…
Just a barely visible dusting of pickling lime will fry slugs .
As in my post…
Also I have found that coffee grounds will kill them.
I put some slugs in a jar with used coffee grounds , they were dead in a day .so I spread my grounds where needed.
No, don’t salt your soil - just go out with a salt sprinkler and hit individual slugs. Doesn’t take much.
I generally have a bad aim. I am likely to miss slugs and have a lot of salty strawberries.
@Hillbillyhort I like the idea of using ground coffee. We have Panera bread for free used, ground coffee.
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Another option is DE
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I have read somewhere that spray Epsom salt can get rid of slugs. But I have never tried this method. I figured that can’t win the battle over
the chipmunks and slugs. I just let them fight for the strawberries without intervening
At that point, why not just collect them and step on them?
I think the same is true for chipmunks as well. At least the ones I have. I’ve seen them running around with berries in their mouths…But, maybe your’s weren’t too hungry.
I see a lot of advice on getting rid of slugs, but getting rid of rabbits and chipmunks is the bigger issue for me. Last year I got a lot of chipmunks with the “wheel-o-death” (bottle with some peanut butter on it, suspended over a bucket of water on a rotating axis. They jump on for the peanut butter, it rotates and they fall into the water).
But I’ve never found any good way to eliminate rabbits. As far as I know, they’ve never gone into the havaheart cage, let alone been trapped. I tried a slingshot (with rocks- I don’t want to fill the yard with metal balls), but I’m not a good enough aim. Years ago, I got one in the behind, but it was able to walk (run) it off, though it probably stung…I’m nowhere near good enough for a kill shot.
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Not many animals (particularly bunnies like the smell of herbs. To protect strawberries in a pot I would put around it, pots of basil. I had strawberries.
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