Just in case you are unfamiliar with Oregon slugs, let me show you a couple examples of them. This one here was about 6 inches long and, as you can see, very icky and slimy. Also, it has snake-like qualities that make it even more unlikeable.
This one was about 4 inches long. However, it was really fat, so it could have just been bunched up when I saw it and really much longer. It was also extremely icky and slimy.
I wouldn't necessarily have anything against slugs, except that they eat all my plants. I usually put out margarine containers with beer in them and the slugs crawl in and die. However, we have had an unusually (even for Portland) wet and cold spring, so the slugs have been more active than usual. They have been eating everything. As I mentioned in my last post, I was having trouble killing the slugs with cheap beer and hypothesized that they were beer snobs like everyone else in Oregon. I embarked on an experiment.
This is a picture of my garden, with a lonely, defenseless zucchini seedling in it. On the left, there is a margarine container with Deschutes Mirror Pond Ale. On the right, the container holds the cheap beer. Which will the slugs like better? Even more importantly, will they like the Mirror Pond enough to not kill the seedling?
The next morning, I examined the containers. The above picture is the cheap beer. We see that only one slug preferred the inferior beer.
The container with Mirror Pond attracted three slugs, and also more bugs. This experiment would tend to support the hypothesis that slugs are beer snobs. Unfortunately, the seedling did not survive and was eaten to a stump. Sigh.
1 comment:
Poor thing. It is frustrating to have animals eat your plants. I hope you are able to figure something out soon! I didn't know about Oregon slugs. I learned something new today!
Sarah
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