I spread about 5 LBs of Sluggo across my property today to counter the huge population of young mollusks emerging after last week’s rains.
Also works to spray them with strong salt water or sprinkle with salt; I haven’t tried it but I think they also dislike lines of sand and ash.
There’s no way I’m putting sodium chloride on my soil !!
Sluggo is a pelletized mixture of oatmeal and iron phosphate. The latter is a “vitamin” for most lifeforms on the planet – except land mollusks. If you’d prefer to avoid iron phosphate, then I recommend you avoid raw sea salt too 
Good point- but If a person does choose to use salt it wouldn’t be very much, so it might not be an issue.
I’ve not had much of a problem with slugs for quite a while, but I did attack them with a salt shaker at one point.
Southern California is the feral snail capital of the world! In order to ship plants from here to most anywhere, a licensed nursery needs to also have a snail-free certificate !!
Seriously, there are easily several hundred baby snails in my yard right now. It’s pretty much intractable to go about shaking salt on each and every one. 
I use slug bait and they disappear. I used salt once on a giant slug and it melted!
It’s a little gruesome to watch. I usually don’t have much problem- have to feel for Richard!
Yup! doesn’t bother me at all. Dad was a heart surgeon!
Snail and slug bait, beer bait, served to chickens as appetizers, snail numbers never seem to go down for me. 
My yard just provides too much habitat for them. I doubt if I’ll ever make a meaningful reduction in their numbers.
1 Like
Sluggo also has EDTA in it - makes it more toxic to mollusks.
I’m using the LeafLife brand of Sluggo sold by Crop Production Services in 50 LB bags for Organic Production. There is no EDTA listed on the label.
yup - it’s not listed on the label. But it’s there in the 99% inert ingredients.
Being very familiar with the licensing of products by the CDFA and CDPR for “Organic Production”, I’d say that’s very unlikely. It could be true that EDTA is present in retail versions of the product.
I used to have an army of slugs and snails come out every spring. Then I got rid of the ivy and low hanging bushes. Now I rarely see them. Or maybe it was the drought.
Going outside with a flashlight in early night time to
see what is slithering up on garden pots and plants
will reveal how much of a snail/slug problem a garden may have. After months of moist Spring weather the population can be pretty big. If the population is an issue I sometimes go out with a 1/2" thick, 2" wide, 3 foot long pc. of oak wood trim to smash them then, as well as after a good rain when they come out of hiding seeking higher ground. Thousands have been killed this way, and gradually there are fewer seen at night. After a big rain I have smashed more than 100 at a time, and sometimes at night I had smashed more than 50 several nights in a row. They are “everywhere” around here, so the resupply line never dries up, salt or not. Drought is very effective, but how do you start a localized drought surrounding your property?
That’s what I originally thought myself. Here’s a link to an USDA petition to remove Iron Phosphate from the NOP approved list. That petition failed.
It contains such goodies as:
it appears that all of the ferric phosphate slug and snail baits currently marketed in the U.S. contain EDTA in their formulations.
for iron phosphate they let EDTA fall under NOP §205.601(m)(1) EPA List 4—Inerts of Minimal Concern. That’s why it doesn’t show up on the label or MSDS.
PS: I still use sluggo. It works, and it’s safe for my dog.
1 Like
Very interesting. I’ll send a sample to Beckman Coulter for analysis.
While this abstract doesn’t list quantities consumed i would still be cautious with your pup.
My guy is a big goof and recently gave me a scare, maybe your dog has a stronger sense of self preservation!
1 Like
Sorry about reopening this thread but we are having serious problems with slugs. I have the Slug and Snail Bait from Garden Safe (Fe phosphate) & read the package, etc.
It says best applied when ground is wet (haha most the time here this year) but my question is: Do I need to reapply after a rain? I keep waiting to apply after it rains, but another rain is coming now tonight. Should I wait? Is its effectiveness reduced after its rained on? Please advise.
1 Like
It will partially dissolve into the soil surface and become invisible to you but slugs passing over it will still perish. Depending upon the amount of weekly rain you have I would think applying it every 2 to 4 weeks would be plenty. Take note of the application instructions, it is far less quantity per square yard than most people use. The product contains an attractant. Avoid putting it directly on plants or at their immediate base.
1 Like