Slugs can destroy your garden, especially when the plants are young and tender. They are a particularly nasty threat in outdoor and greenhouse grows, and in cool and wet regions where they strike at night.
Usually slugs lay their eggs in soil and dark, cool places. The ravenous baby slugs emerge during the evening and eat everything up.
Generalist vegetarians
Slugs are not very picky with what vegetation they will eat. They munch on the leave. Usually slugs are most active after rain. When the ground is moist. Always make sure you pay attention to your garden after it rains whilst your plants are starting their vegetative growth.
They are hermaphrodites, so any two of the same species can breed. Slugs can lay up to 30 eggs. So you got to get rid of them, before they give birth.
Slug Predators
Frogs and toads will help get rid of your slugs.
Slug weaknesses
They only come out at night, so take advantage of that. Make sure that they have limited places to hang out in the dark. Remove everything from the garden that is not essential for the grow. The less clutter in your grow space, the less places for slugs to hide and for you to monitor.
Blocking the Slug From getting on the plant
slugs won’t slide on sand. So make a 2-3 inch barrier of sharp sand or gravel around your plants.
Slug balls
Perlite stops them in their tracks too. Add a half inch (1-2 cm) layer of perlite above the surface of your substrate as a double barrier.
I tested a slug’s ability to cross perlite. Within a second it was covered in the white, light volcanic rocks and was immobilized — creating what looked like a snowball with a soft slug centre.
The slug’s response to the perlite is defensive; secrete a slimy mucous and roll in a ball. This may work when confronted with some predators, but on perlite this sticky goo leaves our slimy adversary in a bit of a pickle. Like I said, know your foe.
Another measure you can take is to put a propagation dome over your plant as it hardens off (assuming you are germinating them indoors under lights or even on the windowsill). You leave this on until you are confident it is strong enough to withstand an onslaught of incoming slugs. A cloche like this has other benefits than just protecting your baby plants from pests. Outdoors or in greenhouses, it will maintain high humidity and temperatures which will reduce shock and encourage the plant to root out in the pot faster. When I run AutoPots, I use propagation domes which fit snugly onto the pot and have a vent for you to gradually harden your plant off before removing the dome when the leaves are up against the top and sides.
A slug trap
Put a shallow dish of beer out where you know slugs are lurking. They will not be able to resist the smell of a nice beer. I use organic but I don’t suppose they mind. As one gulp kills them they don’t get the chance to become a beer snob like me.
After one sip they tumble into the deadly slug pub where they fall and drown to death in beer. A fitting end for those hell bent on destroying your cannabis garden. And a stark reminder of the slippery slope of alcohol abuse.
Night watch
If you are hanging out in your garden or greenhouse at night. You can ambush them at dusk or in the cover of darkness with a flashlight and pick them up as they are eating up on your plants.
Get revenge on those slimy foragers taking over your garden with these simple tips to eliminate slugs like a pro gardener!