Slugs in my Strawberries!!!

UGH! I was hoping this year I'd get some strawberries. Had some wonderful ones that were just about ripe that we were watching. Well, last night Joe went out to check on them and yep, you guessed it, the slugs beat him to it. We had crushed egg shells all around them, but that didn't work. Last year we put some beer out for them, didn't work. We have some DE we're going to try. Can anyone help???? Tyler LOVES strawberries (me too) and I hate to see the slugs getting fatter on MY berries!

Katrina

I gave up on strawberries about 10 years ago. I wish I had a solution for you. Have you thought about putting an ad on Craig's List to trade home grown strawberries for eggs???? You might find someone in the area that not only grows them but will answer your questions. You can trade untill you get them going..... That is all I have to offer. Don't chickens eat slugs????

I hope it doesn't come to that. I want to raise my own. I'm sure the chickens would eat the slugs, but they would probably eat my strawberries too, which would defeat the purpose. Then my dogs would eat the chickens and I won't get eggs or strawberries.

slug spray

1 1/2 c ammonia
1 TBS murphy oil soap
1 1/2 c water Mix ans spray where you see slug activity.

slug it out tonic
1 can beer (the cheap stuff)
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp bakers yeast
mix and let sit 24 hours. Pour into cat food can contaiers. They slip in and cannot get out.

also saw dust, DE diatomaceous earth, egg shell and coffe grounds mixed together (around cabbages exspecially) if youput out hollowed out citrus peels or right side up plant pots in their stomping ground they will get into them and them pick them pit the next morning and place them in salt water.

We tried beer last year, but didn't have any luck with it. We've already tried the crushed eggs shells this year, again no luck. Now we have some DE, but we've also been getting a lot of rain, so it washes away almost as soon as I get it down. I have about 6 that were starting to ripen yesterday. Gonna go out in a little while and see if I still have them. LOL

I was reading in the back yard problem solver book about them. My four year old has his salt container and he picks them puts them in a pile and salts them for me. He is fascinated by bugs. He picks my potatoe bugs, slugs grubs, earthworms (they go to the compost pile for fishing) and anything else he can get a hold of. I bet I do not hve very many grubs left at all. We have had rain for three weeks straight but the de wiped out a few ant mounds before it set in. The coffe grounds are suppost to stop them too. I have added coffee grounds and egg shells. You could always plant hosta they love that stuff. My aunt had trouble with them in that but nothing else. The beer worked for her but she did the cheap as possible beer.

Hosta might not be a bad idea. I know we picked off some the other day and threw them to the chickens, They have a blast with them! LOL Hey, wanna loan me your 4 yr old for a few days? LOL

You couldnt feed him. He never stops eating. lol

You have never seen Tyler eat! I swear that child is gonna eat us out of house and home. Now you know the REAL reason we're learning to raise our own food! LOL

Saw in Martha Stewart Living to take a pizza shaker and put DE in it.Sprinkle it around your flower beds and such and the bugs exspecially slugs will not cross it. the DE has rough edges and it will kill them.

I put some DE out, but it rained. I have to put some more on them.

Martha said to use a kitchen shaker to do it. I am going to the dollar store to get one for all the ant hills that have popped up since the rain stopped. It did them in on my strawberries so I am trying the rest of the yard.

I go out with a cylinder of salt every night and again in the early morning. The 1st night I killed a couple of hundred (no exaggeration). Last night, I found 3.

Would salt hurt my soil or the plants? We've had so much rain lately that it's got them out by the droves. They are all over the side of my house now.

Yeah, be careful ot to use too much. Just sprinkle it on the slugs and/or snails. They dissolve with just a bit (though I don't like them to suffer, so I use enough to kill them quickly!).