Slugs & grubs

Has anyone ever heard of this or tried it?

Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

I wonder if this works on ants, too?

I would love to know if it works. I have been trying to protect my green bean plants from birds but they are still getting eaten even though under bird netting. Now I'm thinking it might be slugs doing the damage that I just haven't seen on the bean plants because I found some on my winter squash plants (right behind the bean plants) and they have been destroyed. I need a tried and proven remedy. I've heard of putting beer out there - now you say cucumber slices in an aluminum pan. Who can tell me what they KNOW works. I want this problem under control before I do any re-planting. I've spent WAY too much money on my gardens to have them destroyed by slugs or anything else. I'm quite discouraged right now.

Bec

I've never tried cucumber slices but I have put beer out in a shallow dish and the slugs go right in and drown. Sounds like the cucumbers might stave off other pests too? But who has room for a pie tin!?!

Thanks Bonnie. I'll put beer out in several places tonight and see what happens. I won't do any planting until I feel confident the plants will survive. I just spent the weekend filling new boxes with MM too. I'll do the same for them just to play it safe before planting there. That was another area of discouragement. I didn't have enough MM to go around. Now I'll just have to prioritize what gets planted and what doesn't. Gardening this year (for different reasons than last year) is becoming a real test of perseverance.

Bec

I think I have figured out the problem with slugs in and around my garden. I have a large portion of my garden out in my yard, which are not being bothered with slugs, and a small portion (two 2x6 boxes) in front of my house next to my deck. I've put beer out, which has been working, but still lots of slugs. Yesterday I put cardboard around part of the outside perimeter of the boxes on the ground. This morning I counted 73 slugs clinging to the bottom side of the cardboards pieces! Yuck! I couldn't figure out why there were so many slugs there, yet the other gardens further from the house weren't being bothered at all. Then, this morning, I had an A-HA! moment. The boxes that were being bothered by slugs were up next to the deck. I'm thinking - no - I'm sure - that the slugs are living under the deck in the daytime where it's cool and dark! So the first chance I get, which will be Saturday, I'm moving those boxes out into the yard with the rest of the garden. It's too bad because I liked having them where I'd pass by them whenever I went in or out of the house - but apparently that's not going to happen. So happy I've figured it out though.

Have any of you tried diatomaceous earth? It's got tiny little sharp crystals that murder the little things when they crawl across it. (Apparently it works for fleas too, for those of you with outside animals!)

I use the DE. It works very well, most bugs die but you will have to reapply after rains. There are a few things it dosn't kill, not sure what they are yet. I use and old small hole seive and dust all my plants. Works well, makes the garden look a little messy with white powder all over it. It helped control the cabbage worm population. But in Kansas you can't kill off all bugs, just to many of them. The DE won't hurt you and is actually good for the soil. Give it a try. Just don't apply it when it is windy.

Little Thumb

I haven't heard of that. I'll look for it. It's been raining just about every day lately so I'd probably have to apply it every day but whether or not I move those boxes I'd like to get rid of the slug population around here. Thanks.