Pillow Road

You can say it the way the Monty Python skit says “The Larch,” to embark on a subject of study. I present to you the slimy, goo-producing, hermaphroditic, stretching-out stomach-foot, the unappetizing slow-crawler of the night. The Slug.

• “Slugs and snails are classified as gastropods. They are more similar to clams and mussels than to other common garden pests such as insects.” (from Colorado State University Extension service.)
  
• “The word gastropod is almost funny: It’s derived from the classical Greek word gastros meaning stomach, and podos meaning foot. Watching aquarium snails grazing, you may think that “stomach-foot” is a good name for them!” (from Backyard Nature.)
  
• “A total of seventeen native species (of slugs) in six genera are
  known from California.” (from “Slugs: A Guide to Invasive and Native Fauna in California.“[PDF])
  
• “Both snails and slugs are the only terrestrial mollusk. … Essentially, the only difference between slugs and snails is that snails carry coiled shells on their backs while slugs don’t. Both have eyes at the tips of short stalks arising below the base of much longer, more slender tentacles – these tentacles feel what the simple eyes may not see. The radular mouths of these gastropods are directed downward so that food can be taken from the surface over which they travel. And finally, all gastropods have a single, broad, muscular, flat-bottom foot which propels them with the help of a special gland in the foot that secretes mucous. (from DavisWiki.)
  
• The common garden snail is the slowest moving animal and can travel about 0.03 mph (0.05 kph).” (from DavisWiki.)
  
• “One adaptation enabling land snails and slugs to survive on land is their ability to produce plenty of slimy mucous. This mucous prevents the animals’ body moisture from being soaked up by dry terrain and protects the animal’s fleshy underparts from sharp objects. Snails and slugs can actually glide across a razor blade without being cut. During the dry season, snails and slugs bury themselves in the soil or another protected spot.” (from DavisWiki.)
  
• “Mucous also serves as a defensive mechanism when a predator such as a toad snatches up a seemingly defenseless slug. The slug secretes such quantities of the stuff that after the toad chews a few times, it finds its mouth clogged with sticky, gooey slime.” (from DavisWiki.)
  
• “Slugs are trans-gender, hermaphroditic with both male and female sex organs. They are first males, developing female reproductive organs when mature. Slug courtship is not for the faint-hearted. It is elaborate, sustained, and usually results in the transfer of genetic material between two slugs.” (from Oregon State University’s Nursery IPM Slug/Snail pages.)
  
• “Slugs reach maturity after about 3 to 6 months, depending on the species, and lay clear, oval to round eggs in batches of 3 to 40 beneath leaves, in soil cracks, and in other protected areas.” (from PESTNOTES from UC Davis.)
  
• “They can stretch to 20 times their normal length enabling them to squeeze through tiny openings to get at food.” (from Golden Harvest organics site.)
  
• 
  “Spring and fall are also the best times to control both slugs and snails. Feeding generally occurs at night. In the morning slime trails can often be seen where slugs and snails were the night before.” (from Living with Bugs.)
  
• “To sum a slug, it is magnificently designed to deconstruct. This can be a little unsettling to those who like to produce.” (from Oregon State University’s Nursery IPM Slug/Snail pages.)
  

This is all to say that slugs are fascinating on paper but in the garden, they are devastating pests. At this time of year, with all the rain, they are everywhere. They eat everything. We fill some shallow plastic containers with old beer. The slugs slide into this taverny trap and never leave. Below is a life-ending slug swimming hole buried among the strawberry plants.

Final note: “Leaving dead slug bodies in the traps may also attract slugs.” (from
(from Oregon State University’s Nursery IPM Slug/Snail pages.)