Help me with my coleus eating slugs?

Question

There are little slimy silvery slugs making swiss cheese of my coleus plants. I hate to revert to insecticides. Can anyone help?

Answer 1

Here's some easy environmentally friendly pesticides you can make yourself. You'll be successful in repelling the slugs & snails if you use more than one of these methods at the same time, such as a slug/snail repelling mulch, plus a wood &/or sour milk trap. I hope the following info helps in deciding which method or combinations to use. Good luck!

1. Strong coffee! "A study in the journal Nature found that slugs and snails are killed when sprayed with a caffeine solution, and that spraying plants with this solution may prevent the slimy mollusks from eating them. (1) Another study found that "After 96 hours, all of the snails treated with a 0.5% or 2% caffeine solution were dead." (2)

2.Chile Pepper. Capsaicin, the natural "heat" of the chile pepper, makes snails unwilling to cross materials containing the naturally repelling properties of chile pepper." (3)

3. Galic spray: Blend well 1garlic bulb & 1 onion add 1Tbsp cayenne pepper & 1 quart water. Steep ingredients for 1 hr, then strain & add 1 Tbsp dish soap and your non-toxic spray is ready to use. (4)

4.Repellent mulches: Wormwood, prostrate rosemary, basil, rue, acacia bark, and oak leaves are disliked by snails and make good repellent mulches. Wormwood is also effective as a spray.

5. Barriers: Dry, dusty or sharp material can be a barrier to snails, such as hydrated lime, wood ash, sharp sand, crushed egg shells, or diatamaceous earth. "A band 20cms wide and 1 cm high is required. The effectiveness of barriers is reduced when wet so locate them away from watering points. Snail fences may also be made from galvanised metal, window screen wire and similar materials. 30 mesh copper screens can ... prevent climbing, or steel wool can be wound around trestle legs in glass houses." (5)

6.Traps: Place board on ground & scrape off snails when they gather on the underside, &/or place shallow containers sunk into the ground and filled with beer or other fermenting substances such as sour milk, or even "a mixture of water and bakers yeast." (5) Combining both methods by covering part of the container with a board should prevent creatures from drinking it .

Plant Marigolds nearby because they repell slugs & snails, too.

Answer 2

There are some great natural slug baits available. One of them is called Sluggo, but there are other brands as well. The active ingredient that kills the slugs is iron phosphate, which occurs naturally in the soil. It won't kill anything but slugs and snails, and is safe to use around pets and wildlife. It also still works after it rains.

Answer 3

Yes put low saucers near your coleus and put beer in them. The aroma will attract them, they will crawl in and drink the beer and die. It really works but be sure the saucers are low so they can crawl in. Do not drink the beer that is left! Some of the new coleus out now are gorgeous!

Answer 4

Snail and Slug bait.. I've used it alot..Some times I use baby powder around the ground...to keep them off they don't like to crawl through powder...