Believe it or not, this comes from the University of Hawaii and was discovered by accident while trying to do something else entirely.

COFFEE KILLS SLUGS & SNAILS. Make very strong caffeinated coffee. Mix half and half with water and put into a trigger or compressed-air sprayer. Spray on plants and the ground that snails & slugs travel on. As they move over the treated areas, they take up the caffeine through their pseudopod (foot) and it gives them heart attacks in 72 hours.

Cheap coffee works as well as the more expensive sort. I use espresso because it's more finely ground (works better in my machine). I also run the water through the grounds more than once to extract as much as possible - I'm filling a 4 gallon backpack sprayer.

My snail problem is worse in my daylily field than anywhere else, but the Hostas look better this year for this solution, too. Cheers for an elegant and simple solution to nasty critters.

Wow, Kate I had not heard about that before. That is amazing. And thank you for starting a new thread with that tip, that way we won't lose it.

Kate, thanks for that great tip! You should post it in the hosta forum too.

She also submitted it to Tips.

Great idea!

Well I found this little guy out in one of my semp beds. I see he is after one of the dreaded slugs. Slugs are a big part of this type of snake's diet. Encourage these little guys to move into your gardens, they will definitely help keep the slug population down.

Northwestern Garter Snake (Thamnophis ordinoides)

Pretty strange colored semps!

You should recognize them Chris, you sent them to me. I love the bright blue/green color. Can't wait until they start making offsets.
I also love my new garden garter snake companion. I do have to warn DH that it is out there lest it might scare him.

I've always had good results with Sluggo (Iron Phosphate) and it breaks down into things the plants can use.

I have used Slugo with good results also Tabby. But I sure like have a back-up plan, especially in our rainy season.

Yes, wouldn't want your DH to hit it with anything! If they start making offsets, I want to know!

I will definitely send you some if they do that Chris.

Thanks!

In past I've found research which indicates this is only minimally effective. As I recall it the research was also conducted on Hawaii. Will try and find.

I have hundreds of thousands of small snails in my daylily field (smaller numbers in other parts of the nursery). It absolutely works for me. But it must be VERY strong coffee to start with.

The original research was trying to find a way to shut up certain of the tree frogs and serendipitously discovered that it works on snails (but not the tree frogs).

Thank heavens it doesn't work on the tree frogs.

I love those cute little frogs.

I been spraying my mini-roses with garlic water and not only have the afrids stayed away, but so has the rose worm, snails and slugs and ants. I just but crushed garlic in a jar from the store, put it in a gallon bottle, fill with water and let stand for a week. Occasionally I give it a shake or 2. Than I strain it into a spray bottle and spray the roses. No bugs.

Wow, wonder if that will keep racoons, squirrels and possum away?

If i get tired of hand killing them all, I put sliced potatoes out around the plants that I know they feed on. I go back after an hour or two (at night of course) and kill the dozens of slugs that feast on the potato.
It also works with a thin layer of beer.