BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 10, 2023
Slugs are especially active this summer in Maine, which is home to four species of slugs. Most of them want to eat your garden flowers and crops. Legless and boneless, these invertebrates leave trails of slime and destroyed vegetation in their wake. Fortunately, there are ways to counter slugs attacking your garden. Keep the area around a garden as clean and debris-free as possible. Some gardeners sprinkle diatomaceous earth or other gritty substances like cinders, sawdust, gravel or sand around plants. A simple mixture of salt and water in a spray bottle will draw all moisture from the inside of the slug. It dies from dehydration though it is a cruel death for the slug because they feel pain. Less cruel is placing pie plates or tuna cans filled with beer around your garden area in the evening. The yeast in the beer attracts slugs, which will crawl into the liquid and drown.