Slug Fences and Beer

My Lovely Wife has fun growing and propagating Dahlias.  Each successful plant last year had the opportunity to become four or five more this year.  And so I made a new flower bed against the south fence.  It is a bit shady from the fence but we’ll see how things grow.  I restricted this flower bed to two feet wide.  Much easier to maintain than her wider one against the north fence – that is if you don’t step on the bed.

The grass in the yard next door is well maintained – it gets cut regularly every month…. well, maybe every five weeks.  It tends to grow into a hay field.  And that could be why the new flower bed was being invaded by slugs. 

Here in my part of the Pacific North West we get 62 inches of rain annually.  And the slugs grow to be eight inches long in a ‘good’ year. The slugs slipping under the fence and into the Lovely Wife’s dahlias were a tiny ¾ inch long.

First, we tried a bit of yeast and warm water in a rough flowerpot saucer.  Only got some earwigs.  Next, we tried using a smoother bowl and some excellent Czech Pilsner from Steamworks Brewing – more earwigs, that is until the evil raccoons got into the bowl and either drained it first or just dumped it over.  

Finally, I remembered my ancient slug fences. Many slug barriers sold today are made of copper.  Either a mesh, strip or tape.  Other barriers are made of some sheet metal.  Many need a smooth surface to attach to.  Most are expensive.  Some can be electrified.

Mine are low tech and made of 1.5 inch wide strips of old aluminum siding. They have a scratchy edge that the mollusks just don’t like to crawl over. I could serrate the edge even more with a pair of snips but they mostly work as is. And they’re always at the ready, hanging on the back fence.  With slits / notches near the ends they can be combined with others or just bent into a ring to surround each plant. 

I gently pushed the rings into the soil around the three most picked on plants.  And they seem to be doing the trick. 

But one other unprotected plant is now being abused.  All we need Is a bit more time for growth to get ahead of the beasties – so the fourth fence went up.  

This should mean even more dahlias for next year and more pilsner for me. 

Happy Gardening.