I have discovered slugs under the pots of my cuttings. I don't know much about them except that if you pick one up you are practically doomed to wear the slime forever.

Could they be part of my wilted leaf syndrome?

Where did these guys come from? My pots are on a clean table that is on a deck two foot off the ground. the pots were washed and sanitized in a dishwasher immediately before use and a new unopened bag of potting soil and Perlite was used.

It's a  miracle.

I suspect the eggs were in the potting soil.  Surely not in the Perlite.  I had the same issue with some of my cuttings.  Slugs like to eat the leaves I think.  Don't quote me on that but I just got a good flash light out at night and inspected all my cuttings.  I found a dozen or so sliming around.  You can spray for them but I did the inspection for three nights and seemed to wipe them out.  You can tell if you have a real issue as you can see the slime trail across the leaves with the flashlight.  Hope you can wipe them out.

Slugs... I had one. I sent it to where it won't be coming back.

Not sure where yours came from, but most place I lived before had slugs. Heard dish of beer will get rid of them... they must be cheap dates.

Pete

Awesome I have a flashlight, get off at mid-night and by gollie I have a beer.

Now how do you get that crap off your fingers?

Go-Jo hand cleaner, Dawn, Ivory, Shampoo....nothing touches that stuff.

Go-Jo with pumice will get it off your hands.  You just got to settle up with getting rid of a little skin...

I had excellent results getting rid of them using Sluggo Plus. Also, vinegar kills them fast. I used to spray them with apple cider vinegar (vinegar added to an empty sprayer bottle) at nights while they were active. 

Got apple cider vinegar and a spray bottle too!

I'm a tad bit short on pumice and lava.

Makes sense though as last time I kept picking up sand a scouring my hand with it. STP doesn't have anything on that stuff!

Here in Slug country we call them "Mammoth Puget Sound Shelless Escargot" ;)  I save my hands from the slime by scraping them off whatever they are on using a plastic spoon, shake them off to the ground, then send them promptly to "Sole Heaven" with the help of the bottom of my shoe!

They are adept climbers that enjoy sliming up the acrylic walls of my Greenhouse to get to the benches the Fig cuttings are on.  I've seen them above shoulder level in fruit trees.  It's necessary to do nightly slug patrols until the trees are ready to plant.  Be sure to lift every pot, inspect the bottom & drainage holes to make sure they aren't hiding.

Happy Growing (and be sure to clean your shoes),
kiwibob,   Seattle

Visit my website:  http://sites.google.com/site/kiwifruitsalad2

I like (?) to hand pick them and toss them into the fish pond - free protein. Besides night with a flashlight, early morning when it's still damp outside is a good time to go hunting for both slugs and snails too. You can also step on them to kill 'em.  If you have a lot, you can set up collection points - black flower pots nestled in on their sides work well.

I've also heard about using stale beer, but never tried it. I've heard from people who have that it doesn't work very well.

If I was a slug, I'll jump at a chance for free beer :)

Pete

If there weren't grapefruit tree roots under the deck I'd salt the table top. I know they don't like salt. Too bad small toads can't eat them I just raised and released close to 500 of them. They are all over the place.

Maybe the toads will eat the slug eggs. Or the babies as they hatch...

I've used beer before to get rid of slugs in the garden.  That method does take patience and consistency though.  I put jar lids on the ground and put beer in them in the morning.  The next day there'd be a few dead slugs in the lid... something in the beer attracts them (like Pete said a few posts above, cheap dates), they crawl in and get bloated and die (not exactly like a cheap date, just sort of... I prefer it when dates don't bloat OR die).  But each day you have to empty out the lids, then refill the with more beer.  (And if it rains just start over).  Took a week or two of that treatment for me, but it worked.

p.s.  Darkman - I think salt would also hurt the toads. 

Years ago back in NY we built a garden - oh we were so proud and happy with it.   It didn't occur to us that the 15-20 ft yews that lined the perimeter of the yard was a slug nursery!!!!!!!  We put out margarine containers of beer, and the next day they were FULL - packed like sardines in a can  major YUK!  We went slug hunting at nigh with a spear (OK a stick with a nail on the end).  We stopped counting when we reach about 1200. 

Here in TX, the only slug a I remember was the one I stepped on bare foot in my house!!  About 15ft from any window on the carpet - that was disgusting and creepy.

Salt draws out the moisture from the slug and "melts" it.  You don't want to use too much salt on the ground.

Use gloves to hand pick and put in a bag to discard in whatever way you see fit.

Like Navid , I have also had great luck with Sluggo.
Monterey is the company that makes it. It is OMRI listed and I think the active ingredient is iron phosphate.
Hope everyone has a great slugless fig season.
Kerry

I used to live with a woman who was an organic master gardener and she used a Gardens Alive product called Escar-Go. I use an Ortho product in their "ecosense" product line. The active ingredient is iron phosphate and is pretty safe stuff. It's just named "slug and snail killer". I use this over Escar-Go only as I could get it the day I discovered the slugs and didn't have to wait for shipping. 

Not slugs, but years ago, my mom (avid gardener) used to give us kids 1 cent for each snail we collected. Win-win.

Oooops! Forgot this;

Sluggo, or the generic iron sulphate works great, and is extremely safe. I use it around my lettuce seedlings in the fall when one slug can wipe out several feet row. "Sluggo plus" has spinosad, which will also take care of the pillbugs. They also cannot cross over dry sand, copper, diatomaceous earth, coffee grounds, and the territory of a hungry duck.

Who knew SLUGS would draw such a crowd. Looks like I have a lot of options. I'll continue my night patrols for a bit and share my beer.

I'm headed out for round two. Report tomorrow.

Don't know how but my Box turtle loves to eat them, I avoid touching them and eels. Slugs cannot pass a copper barrier. Something about the copper creating a charge in the slug's body. Not very practical to set up a copper barrier for large pots but doable to save the young cuttings. Greenhouse supply companies sell copper tape or anything copper will work

Old pennies would be the cheapest. Before 1982.