How to deal with slugs in the garden: 10 simple ways

Slug or slug is the common name for some gastropods, or, more simply, snails. Slugs differ from snails by the absence of a shell. Like snails, slugs are found primarily in damp places. Slugs can eat a wide variety of foods. Slugs also have a lot of enemies, and due to their weak defenses, slugs themselves often become food for various predators.

Description of the slug. The slug's body has an elongated shape and can easily change its shape due to muscle contraction. Their slug bodies secrete a large amount of mucus. This secreted mucus helps improve the body's gliding when moving, which greatly facilitates the movement of the slug. Mucus also helps maintain moisture in the slug's body and prevents it from drying out. To some extent, the mucus also serves to scare away predators, since the slug has no other defense abilities, but has a lot of enemies. Slugs move slowly and are very vulnerable. There are tentacles on the slug's head, one or two pairs of which contain the slug's eyes and sensory organs. Slugs can live for several years.

About slugs. Slugs are a widespread pest of many crops, vegetables, fruits and berries. Some types of slugs can cause significant damage to crops, sometimes completely destroying the entire crop. Slug infestations can occur in rainy years. Slugs serve as reservoirs and carriers for many parasites and various worms. Slugs reproduce quickly; several generations of slugs can grow in a season.

Who eats slugs? Although slugs have many enemies, among them there are none that feed mainly on slugs. Many birds, jackdaws, crows, rooks, starlings, and some species of gulls feed on slugs. Slugs and poultry, chickens and ducks, are also eaten. Snakes, lizards, salamanders, toads and frogs like to hunt slugs. Some mammals, such as moles, shrews, hedgehogs and mouse-like rodents, also readily eat slugs. Some types of insects can also eat slugs.

Slugs as pests. Slugs live in a variety of places, including the ability to live comfortably in dachas and vegetable gardens. From such a neighborhood, summer residents may experience a significant reduction in harvest. Slugs love almost everything: fruits, vegetables, berries, salads. Not only do slugs destroy crops, but they also spread many infections, all kinds of parasites, and spread fungal and viral diseases. All these diseases have a detrimental effect on the health of plants, animals and people. All this taken together can reduce all the efforts of the summer resident to zero. Therefore, slugs need to be dealt with, preventing them from reproducing. And slugs reproduce very quickly, especially in rainy and humid weather.

Measures to combat slugs. How to deal with slugs? Slugs love moisture and damp places, but slugs do not like heat. If possible, you should regularly drain places where water and moisture accumulate on the site. It is necessary to collect slugs in a timely and regular manner, preventing them from breeding and multiplying, and slugs reproduce very quickly. In order to collect more slugs on the site as simply and quickly as possible, you can make special artificial baits and slug traps for this on the site. To create such baits, you need to lay out the rinds of watermelons, melons, pumpkins on the garden bed, or you can simply use pieces of cellophane or jars of liquid in which slugs will collect. Early in the morning you will need to assemble these slug traps and destroy any slugs caught in them. Poultry, chickens and ducks can eat slugs, but you probably shouldn't feed them slugs, because slugs are the source and carriers of various diseases. To catch slugs, you can make shelters in the area from small boards, cellophane, or pieces of roofing felt. Under these shelters, slugs will regularly gather to safely wait out the heat of the day, which slugs cannot tolerate. Slug control should be carried out regularly.

Below on the website you can view and download large and beautiful photos of slugs.

Photos of slugs and slugs:

Slugs are gastropods. They live on land. These animals do not have a shell. But, despite the lack of protection, slugs cause a lot of damage in the garden. Therefore, it is simply necessary to fight them.

What do slugs look like: photo

Slugs: photo.

Characteristics of representatives

Large roadside is the most common species in the garden. It is large in size. Sometimes it is called leopard print. Its color is gray-spotted.

The blue slug is often called the Carpathian slug. This is due to the fact that it is found only in the region of these mountains. It is large in size and brightly colored. Prefers coniferous and deciduous forests of Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Its diet includes russula, which is what gives the giant blue slug its amazing color. The accumulation of this species will be a tip to the mushroom picker. This means that there is a mushroom clearing nearby somewhere.

The naked slug is the most famous species in Russia. This annoying pest not only lives in the garden, but also loves greenhouses and greenhouses. Leaves large holes on fruits and leaves.

The black type of mollusk is the largest. Some individuals are up to 30 centimeters long. Mushrooms are what slugs of this species eat. He also loves root vegetables.

Another large representative is the banana slug. It is not found in banana plantations and will not look like a banana, but is a bright yellow color. It feeds on lichen, mushrooms and rotten leaves.

Small species include the field slug. Its dimensions do not exceed 5−6 centimeters. It lives in valleys and on the edges of forests. Young shoots and wild berries make up its diet. Comes in all shades of brown.

In moss thickets you can find whole groups of reticulated slugs. This species loves loose soil and rotten leaves. He is one of the smallest representatives. Its dimensions do not exceed 3 centimeters. Very often has a spotted color.

Description of slugs

Name: Slug Lat.:
Arion lusitanicus

Class: Gastropoda - Gastropoda

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Slugs or slugs are a number of gastropods. But, unlike the snails familiar to many, they have no or modified shell.

Body structure

The body is long, elongated, bilaterally symmetrical. Due to muscle contractions, they can change their shape. Consists of head, legs and visceral mass.

Sense organs

On the head there are a pair or two tentacles that receive information and transmit it for processing. Body cells are phytosensitive, with microvilli. Nerves run along the entire body and control movement.

Slime

There are two types of mucus produced by mollusks: liquid and thick. Both species play important roles: helping to hold and move on vertical surfaces, maintaining moisture and protecting from predators.

Chemical methods

If the gastropod population is too large and other methods do not work, chemicals are used. Shellfish are sensitive to metaldehyde. Several drugs have been developed based on it. The most commonly used is “Slug Eater”, which comes in the form of powder and small granules. The smell of the product attracts shellfish. After eating it for a short time, the pests die.

Lime traps

To kill snails (slugs), sprinkle the surface of the soil with freshly slaked lime powder. Sprinkling the soil with lime is carried out in 2 steps within an interval of 10-15 minutes. During the first sprinkling, the snail protects itself from lime by secreting mucus, but with the second sprinkling, the snail is no longer able to secrete mucus, turns black and dies. By sprinkling the soil with lime in this way for two days in a row, in the morning, you can completely destroy all the snails.

Lifestyle of slugs

The average lifespan of mollusks is 12-18 years, but depending on the species, the numbers can be much longer.

Reproduction

Slugs reproduce sexually, but there are several different variations of this process.

1. Connection of the genitals of different individuals, and there may not be a pair of them, but even 4.
2. Apophalation. The male genitals are bitten off and the females envelop them.
3. Throwing. Some species use a different method - males throw sperm towards the genitals.

After fertilization, about 30 eggs are laid in the ground or litter. After a few weeks, they become eggs and for another month the individuals develop inside.

Nutrition

Most species are unpretentious and eat organic materials. These can be mosses, leaves, mushrooms. They make useful humus from plant residues - this is their benefit. But there are also predators that feed on their own creatures, caterpillars and earthworms.

In agriculture they cause significant harm:

• cabbage;
• salad;
• seedlings;

• peas;
• strawberries;
• tomatoes;

• cucumbers;
• grapes;
• in winter.

They carry various diseases and fungal spores.

Natural enemies

Slugs have many enemies, but there are no animals that feed on these mollusks. Among those who like to eat slugs are:

• hedgehogs;
• moles;
• rodents;

• shrews;
• rooks;
• starlings;

• seagulls;
• chickens;
• ducks;

• toads;
• frogs;
• snakes.

Habitat

The main condition for the existence of slugs is high humidity. But they are found everywhere. Eggs or adults overwinter deep in the ground.

Social structure and reproduction

Photo: Big slug

Slugs are hermaphrodites. They have male and female reproductive organs. The slug can mate with itself if necessary, and both sexes can produce clusters of tiny pearly eggs. The slug lays 20 to 100 eggs on the surface of the soil (usually under leaves) a couple of times a year. One slug can produce up to 90,000 children in its lifetime. The incubation period depends on weather conditions. The eggs sometimes hatch after a couple of years of dormancy. A slug can survive in the wild for 1 to 6 years. Females live longer than males.

When mating, slugs move and contort their bodies to wrap themselves around their mates. The lack of a bone structure allows slugs to move in this way, and they can even use mucus to dangle from a leaf or grass to mate. When two partners come together, each drives a limestone dart (called a love dart) into the other's body wall with such force that it plunges deep into the other's internal organs.

To avoid predators, some tree slugs copulate in the air while each partner is suspended by a viscous thread. The subsequent sex of the slugs is determined by their nearest neighbor. They remain men as long as they are around a woman, but turn into women if they are isolated or around another man.

Types of slugs

There are many different types of gastropods. There are those that are widespread, and there are species that are found in a certain area.

Large slug

The size varies from 100 to 200 mm. The shade is yellowish, ashen or dirty white. White sole, dark pink tentacles. It is a pest of greenery and often lives in vegetable stores. In turn, there are representatives of this subspecies: black, spotted, red.

Field slug

A particularly harmful representative that reproduces in high humidity. Damages vegetables, ornamental crops, and greens. Tolerates late blight and downy mildew. There are more than 100 species representatives in total.

Road slug

Mollusk with a hard shield on one third of the body. It is nocturnal and afraid of the bright sun. It reproduces quickly and adapts to changing conditions. Can withstand moisture levels up to 50%.

Important

When planning to clear an area of ​​slug infestation, it is recommended to consider the following.

• Pay attention to the type of slugs - not all of them eat vegetables. For example, there is no need to get rid of large black slugs; they feed on rotten organic matter, so they do not harm the beds.
• Slugs are active at night and require moisture to survive. If we do not water our city at night, but water it in the morning, then we will already complicate the life of pests.
• To train the wild animals that live on your property to eat slugs, you can place a shallow bowl of water in the center of which you place the slugs on a brick. Slugs do not swim, so when wild animals come to drink, they will have food in the center of the bowl.
• The more species of animals that are natural enemies of slugs you attract to the site, the better.
• Observe, draw conclusions, because what works for other owners may not work in your specific conditions. In addition, you should be prepared to share part of the harvest with those animals that provide biological control of slugs.

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How to deal with slugs

Do not think that slugs that are weak in appearance are defenseless. During times of mass animal attacks on plantations, it can be quite difficult to destroy them.

Mechanical methods

Collecting slugs.

These are methods that require time and effort, but will help to effectively protect the area without the use of chemicals.

1. Manual collection. Early in the morning, when humidity is high, you need to look in places under porches, near buckets, in rosettes of strawberries and wild strawberries, under grape and cabbage leaves.
2. Traps. You can lure gastropods with aromas that are pleasant to them: beer, kefir, citrus fruits, melons, corn. The container is filled with bait and dug into the ground.

Creating a barrier

This method is very simple - it creates obstacles for slugs to enter the area. They do not like strong, strong-smelling substances, copper-based materials, or materials that are not comfortable for animals to crawl on.

They are placed along the perimeter of the site, preferably even in two stripes. The same fence is placed near trees or within the vineyard.

Suitable for barrier:

• crushed shells;
• sand;
• lime;
• wood ash;
• mustard powder;
• coffee grounds.

Odorous barriers will be:

• rosemary;
• sage;
• parsley;
• laurel;
• marigold;
• garlic.

Traditional methods

These are effective means that will help get rid of slugs, but will not harm beneficial animals. Below is a list of effective methods and their application.

Chemicals

If there are a lot of mollusks, you need to move on to a quick and effective fight. Chemicals that cause death will help with this. They are most often granulated or in powder form. The composition contains substances that destroy gastropods, and the smell attracts them.

The drug is scattered in places where slugs accumulate, but so that it does not get on the pets’ paws.

Collected slugs.

The best on the market are:

• "Slug Eater";
• "Storm";
• "Ulicide."

Habitat Features

Since slugs do not have a shell shell, like their relatives - snails, their existence is highly dependent on climatic conditions (temperature and humidity). Ideally, the “warm-up” of the air should be within +15+19C. And the humidity levels must be very high. It is not for nothing that the mollusk is always covered in slippery mucus; drying out is death for it. He breathes not only with his lungs, but also with the entire surface of his wet body.

This explains the fact that slugs are exclusively nocturnal when there is no scorching sun. However, during cloudy weather, after a good rain, they can appear during daylight hours. If the season is dry and hot, then the slugs climb deep into the soil, form a slug cocoon and enter a state of anabiosis (temporary hibernation). Dense grassy vegetation is also to the liking of naked mollusks. If you keep the area clean, weed out and loosen the soil, you will make life much more difficult for the slugs.

Slugs have only one leg, but they have very developed strong muscles, so they crawl perfectly. When in danger, they retract their tentacles inside and, curling up tightly, assume a spherical state.

Preventing the appearance of slugs on the site

Gastropods easily adapt to different conditions, spread very quickly and cause unique damage. To prevent the appearance, you need to reduce humidity and clean the places where they can reproduce and eat enough.

1. Autumn and spring digging, who will help push the slugs out into the frost or bright sun, where they will die.
2. Weeding between rows so that the thick grass does not make it comfortable for slugs to rest.
3. Remove carrion, pieces of branches and any places where they can comfortably live.
4. Mulch the plantings with hard material, which will prevent slugs from moving around the area.
5. Planting taking into account the neighborhood and avoiding crowding.
6. Carry out drainage in case of approaching groundwater.

How are toads different from frogs?

We have toads belonging to the genus Bufo.

The largest in all of Eurasia, the gray toad (B. bufo) is present in the vicinity of both capitals, and the range of its smaller relative, the green toad (B. viridis), begins south of Pskov. Outwardly they look like frogs. But they differ, so to speak, mentally. Look the toad in the eyes. They contain some kind of completely unearthly wisdom. Take it in your hands - the toad sits motionless, patiently waiting for you to return it to the ground. And no fussy frog twitching of paws - complete calm and self-confidence. It’s even inconvenient that you disturbed her. But she doesn’t jump on the ground, but walks. It overwinters, buried in some rotten substrate, but always under a canopy, so that there is no excess water.

Green toad