Sunday, September 12, 2010

Will slugs cross coffee grounds to get to suculent leaves? Yes.

Another popular theory, debunked.

Exhibit A: a big fat slug in a styrafoam box with a kale leaf surrounded by coffee grounds.


Exhibit B: the same scene, about an hour later. The slug not only went for the leaf but managed to move it to the other side of the box.

For a list of all of my slug control experiments, please see this page. 

7 comments:

MMP said...

It would be interesting to try the experiment again to see if the coffee grounds change the slugs preferences. ie, if there are leaves that are not surrounded by coffee grounds, does it eat those first? Or, if there are less preffered leaves, will the coffe grounds be enough of a deter it from the preffered kale?

Vegetable Garden Cook said...

That would be interesting. Perhaps I will try that soon. But for now my next experiment will be testing out beer methods and how to make them work best.

thyme2garden said...

okay, so coffee grounds and DE don't work. Boo. Have you tried more coarsely crushed eggshells? I'm anxiously waiting for your beer trap results. Please let us know!

Vegetable Garden Cook said...

Definetely I want to try out crushed eggshells. :-) Will post when I do!

MM said...

also doesn't work: ground egg shells. have you read The Truth About Garden Remedies, by Jeff Gillman? he's done a lot of experiments similar to yours. i've tried the egg shells anyway, and had no difference in slug damage.

Vegetable Garden Cook said...

I have read the Jeff Gillman book. It's been a few years but perhaps I should pick it up again.

Unknown said...

I go out and pick them off here in Lakeside. I throw them in the street and the crows eat them. My neighbors grand kids were driving them nuts. So I told them they woulf get 5 cents for each snail or slug they picked. BEST three bucks we spent.