Slimed!

I have now officially caught over 2000 slugs (2028- yes, I counted all of them!) in the backyard (4 from the poor dying lemon-tree pot on the porch) in the past week. On 3/22 I caught 432! I was really grossed out by that. Some of them were large, but most were tiny.

I have discovered that slugs have some really interesting habits. Last night in the rain, they were climbing the outside walls of the garage looking for shelter, and moving faster than usual in that quest. Tonight, a cool but dry evening, they were lounging at ease on dead leaves and bricks, and a cabbage seedling. . 

You might think I was recatching the same ones over and over, but I'm dropping them in soapy water in a plastic container with a screw top, and screwing the top down tightly. They aren't getting out alive. These are new slugs nightly. I don't count those that get away.

I'm going to buy some beer this week-end for the baiting. Hand catching is gross (some of them exude slick slime, others sticky slime, so your catching hand gets awfully slimy and dirty), and time-consuming, so I hope the baiting will be effective, too. The mulching with various natural prickly things really didn't seem to make much difference, except as a basic barrier. The picking off seems to be doing better.