When I went up to check my slug traps, I discovered I wasn’t the only one interested in what was in them
It hadn’t made much progress on eating the slugs though – whether because some of them were bigger than it was, or because it was too drunk on slug beer to contemplate anything other than a kebab, I don’t know
I did decide that, other than making it easier to get pissed frogs out of the traps, I had overthought the whole slug-in-a-basket thing. It turned out that a colander* and a bit of decanting back and forth was the easiest way to separate the slugs from the beer. And you’ll be relieved to hear that, although I looked at the resulting colander full of assorted slugs and thought ‘wow, who knew there were so many different kinds of slugs? I wonder if the internet knows what they all are’, in the end, I decided against posting the resulting revolting photo, and just fed them all to the chickens.
* not one we still use in the kitchen, I hasten to add
I am sure the French re use their colanders after using them for snails!
The three real baddies are the European grey field slug (Deroceras reticulatum), the Keeled slug (Tandonia budapestensis) and the Garden slug (Arion hortensis).
The Testacella slug (Testacella haliotidea) is a goodie and actually eats Keeled and Garden slugs. Another goodie is the large black slug, which confusing often isn’t black, which eat debris rather than new plants.
So pleased you’ve got a frog, even if he is drunk. Even more pleased you resisted the temptation to show us the colander.
I am French, I would reuse the colander, and I would consider eating the slugs. In a pâté, maybe, with herbs ? Though yours are more “appétissantes” than mine, that are fat and red.
I think I read somewhere that slugs were less palatable than snails (which is probably why they can dispense with their shells). Still, if anyone wants some, we’ve got loads (and it doesn’t seem to put the hens off)
A local newspaper with a gardening section todays has a formula which the author said he hadn’t tried yet but it looked promising. Take a whole garlic bulb, crush all cloves and boil the whole thing for five minutes in a litre of water. Then strain (colander again) and dilute the resulting broth – one tablespoon on a litre of water. Spray this concoction on your plants and the slugs will stay away. Sounds rather homeopathic but might just help, in an eco-friendly way except for the slugs of course.
It never occured to me that there was more than one type of slug.
John
John there are about thirty species of slug in the UK, of which the Leopard slug is the most impressive.
http://www.opalexplorenature.org/LeopardSlug
Thank You Flighty, that is very interesting, I must look out for Leopard slugs.
John
Frits – must try that. Along with everything else …
Flighty /John – definitely one leopard slug in the mix
[...] on the positive side, the depradations of the slugs earlier means that I have miraculously ended up with exactly the right number of cut-and-come again [...]