SlugFest

Last weekend, our strawberry plants began yielding ripe berries. Unfortunately, the slugs got to them before we did.

I knew we had slugs after the damage done to our brassica plants. However, when I saw all those yummy red berries gouged out by nasty, slimy slugs, something inside me snapped.

It was war. 

A slug trap--yogurt container with a window cut into it.

I was on a mission for about 90 minutes, seeking out slugs in their little nooks and crannies, stabbing them to death with a little stick. I bought a 24-pack of the cheapest beer and made beer traps out of yogurt containers. They love the yeasty nature of beer and will crawl into it to drink and drown. They appeared out of nowhere, drawn by the Pabst, within 10-15 minutes of setting the traps out. When they showed themselves, they met their maker. 

A poor kale plant, nibbled to oblivion by slugs.

Later, I tried uprooting a bunch of strawberry plants and tying the remaining ones up unto themselves with string. I wanted to reduce the amount of shade & hiding places.(Slugs hate crawling over dry, exposed soil.) I've also been saving and washing all our eggshells for weeks, crunching them up, and sprinkling them around all the plants. They're supposed to cut themselves crawling over the shells. I have no idea if this has been beneficial in the least. 

Our garden plot. 8 raised beds. 3000 slugs.

We can't sow seeds directly in the soil, because slugs love the tenderest shoots the best, and they eat everything. They eat most seedlings too. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it--it's so discouraging. But, we'll persist and see if we can get a little produce anyway.