Ba-na-na SLUG!

[jaunthie]

I've been an organic gardener (more or less) for the last several years. My one occasional temptation to backslide has been in dealing with the English snails - non-native, destructive, annoying, resistant-to-every-organic-method-I've-tried pests that they are. Just seeing one (or the holes they leave in leaves) make my fingers itch for the good ol' Corry's Slug and Snail Death. But for the last year, I've resisted that temptation. I've manually disposed of any I've seen (and I do patrol for them), failed to plant a few things that wouldn't stand a chance, and basically gritted my teeth and put up with some plant damage.

And lo, a few nights ago, a totally unexpected reward. fisherbear stepped outside to walk to the corner store. He came back inside within a few seconds and beckoned me outside to see "the biggest slug he'd ever seen."

And what to my wondering eyes did appear?



A WONDERFUL NATIVE BANANA SLUG!



(Note: these are not pictures of the actual slug crossing the path to our door, just representative images for those of you who've never seen a banana slug. It was far too dark to take good pictures, and besides which I was still quite under the weather. The first picture is courtesy of TrekNature, and the second is from San Francisco State University.)

Granted, this wasn't a huge banana slug; maybe 5 or 6 inches long. But it was a gorgeously-spotted one, and looked very healthy. I haven't seen a native slug inside the city limits for years.

And yeah, okay, slugs are still pests in my flower, veggie, and herb gardens. But I have a soft spot for the natives, particularly as they're somewhat threatened. Just knowing that my garden hosts a lovely native banana slug makes me grin. It's a nice reminder of why resisting the temptation of Corry's Slug and Snail Death in the name of organic gardening really is worth the trouble.

Comments

[miz-hatbox.livejournal.com]

Gardens Alive makes a slug bait that's OK for organic gardens. Works great, too.

Pabst....Blue....RIBBON

[(Anonymous)]

A shallow pan full of cheap beer lets the little boogers drown themselves. And their tiny hiccups are just precious!


-Uncle Andrew

Re: Pabst....Blue....RIBBON

[jaunthie.livejournal.com]

Good thought, except... In my experience, beer traps work sorta-okay for slugs, but isn't at all effective for snails. And since it's the snails I really want dead dead dead die dang you!, it's not really worth the smelly sticky pools.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh dear, I'd forgotten that song.

Thanks, now I'll be singing BA-NA-NA SLUG! for the rest of the day.

If I had the URL I'd send you the URL for the llama song so you'd get an earworm too, but I don't.

Be grateful.

I've also got a guinea pig song and a kitty cat song.

--Jake