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Sanilac Co. Michigan | I had terrible slug trouble when first notilling soys, most particularly following wheat where the straw hadn't been baled off. Over the years I've come up with some tactics that seem to have overcome the issue.
The first is eliminating any green bridge caused by any volunteer wheat, or green growth in general. This is particularly important as it eliminates a feed source during the grey slugs reproductive phase in late summer and fall.
The second is keeping as much of the stubble standing as tall as possible and spreading the chaff/residue as evenly as humanly possible. This introduces air and sunshine to the soil surface and minimizes the burrow/nesting habitat, thus reducing slug populations.
The third might be the most important of all: stop using insecticide treated seed and be very judicious in applying any broad spectrum insecticides in crop. Those two kill a tremendous number of benificial, predatory species (think certain beetles and wasps) that feed almost exclusively on slugs and snails. Worse yet, insecticides have no effect on slugs and insecticide treated slugs literally poison beneficial when they feed on them. Lose-lose!
Anyway, I know some of this runs counter to some things you might want to do, but it gets to the root of the problem better than any dope you spray after the issue has presented itself. That's all I got!
Edited by tkoppel 5/6/2024 22:01
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Reliable means to decrease slug populations
