Every night my wife watch me go out in our garage and check my figs with a flash light.  She asked me what was I doing and I told her I was searching for slugs.  She said the best thing to use is slug bait.  Well, I know she's right but that stuff molds if not removed and I don't like getting rid of one problem but inheriting a new problem as a result of the first one!  So, every night, I kill huge fat slugs. 

They only come out at night or dusk and they have to be near moisture.  My open bottom self-watering pots have been the home for may of them.  So I place these guys on the outside edge so I can get to the slugs if I see them.  Today, I've literally killed 57 slugs, including the babies. 

But what are these things good for?  I know the birds love them.  I've watch many birds uncover large pieces of mulch and eat the slugs.  But besides bird food, what are these things good for?  I'm getting so mad that I'm starting to burn these guys when I catch them!  Is that mean or what?  HA!

Fishing

I think if you put some beer in a pie tin, they will go for it and drown.  But that's a serious waste of beer!

Suzi

I used to sprinkle salt on them when I was a kid.  Wonder if they will try to cross a line of salt on the floor?  Or maybe a tin of salt water as bait/trap?  I haven't seen any signs of them in my garage.

Oh, and salt is a lot cheaper than beer!  We used to sprinkle salt on the carpet to keep fleas off of it and the dogs.  Those days are gone.  But we have a ton of snails.  I think they are the escargo types.  They are all over the rosemary, and it is all over the property.  I hope they hate figs!

Suzi

Most of the time I collect a bunch in a baggie then tie it shut and put in the garbage. Other times I throw them on the roof of a tool shed to cook in the moring light. Sometimes I almost slip and break my neck like the old bannana peel trick when I incidentally step on one. Other times I throw them on the neighbors roof.. :D ..a night time slugging. (This is my revenge for an untrained barking dog and putting up with smelling a yard contsantly full of dog sh#t when the wind blows the right way, luckily the air is usually dry here).

Somewhere in the US there has got to be somebody frying them in beer batter and dipping in ranch dressing.

Slugs are good fried with garlick and wine, put the garlick on the slugs and drink all the wine because you need to be vary drunk lol. The beer works well I use it in my garden. Rex.

Absolutely nothing...say it again!  Edwin Starr anyone?

As far as what they are good for...I've got nothing.

Slugs will not cross copper, get some wire or mesh and make a ring around plant-land. But if they are already in the pots, that's not going to help with that much, just keep new guys from visiting. Perhaps put a loop of copper wire around each trunk? I believe you have more than a few pots, so that would be labor intensive but certainly better than handpicking every night.

Some people claim salt is cruel but I say they are gastropods and don't know pain, do what you must.

whatever you do, don't eat them. 

Leave the light on in the garage and in the morning look for their hiding places.

Richard
Zone 6a MA.

Dennis, I did that also, and got tired. Finally got my chickens. However, some are still alive and here and there I find one or two.

found that moist newspaper or cardboard is a great 'trap for them'... , so, try puting strips of carboard on the ground, under the pots and check under them... it is easier to find them.

puting 'last meal' in a  strip of cardboard works great also... then toss the whole thing. and the chemical is not in your figs  you can use lids of yogurt containers or small flat surfaces to put the last meal.. they come for that crap... they like beer, that is not enough to erradicate them, and please consider raising ducks from chicks and feed them slugs so they learn to like them and hunt for them.. let  them loose in area where you plant them. Ducks don't scratch and don't eat fig leaves... in return you get some eggs.

Re: fishing

When I was a kid I remember picking some slugs up when I was out in the lawn after a rain collecting nightcrawlers to go fishing with.  We tried them for fishing bait, but they were hard to get on the hook, they were digusting to work with and they did not seem anywhere near as good as the worms were as bait.  These were only up to 1-1.5 inches long - maybe some of the super jumbo sized ones would be better.

2- http://www.azildagreenhouses.com/log-in/data/garden_care/million_acts/Slugs_and_Snails.pdf 

I remember my mother collecting hair from hair sallons to put around our fruit trees.  I guess it works also.

I've never tried to eat a slug, but garden snails are delicious! Seems like slugs would be just as good and no shell to mess with.

Dennis
Slugs au Riesling

2 tablespoons butter
1 shallot, minced
1/2 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
24 to 30 small slugs, rinsed and drained
50 milliliters Riesling wine
1 teaspoon flour
60 milliliters heavy cream
fine salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
for croutons:
butter
4 5-mm thick slices baguette
1. Preheat broiler.
2. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the shallot, garlic, and half the parsley. Cook until the shallots are soft. Add the slugs and continue cooking for a couple of minutes.
3. In the meantime, butter the bread slices lightly on both sides and place on a baking sheet. Set aside.
4. Add the wine to the snail mixture. Sprinkle with the flour and mix well. Increase the heat to high and cook for a couple of minutes. Do not let the sauce become too dry. Add the cream and continue cooking.
5. In the meantime, toast the bread under the broiler until browned on both sides. Place two croutons on each heated serving plate.
6. Season the snails with salt and pepper. Add the remaining minced parsley and mix. Divide the snails over the croutons. Serve immediately.

PS when done over night them to Jon P. im sure he would appreciate them.

Mmmm...big ol belly full of mucus.

Dieseler, Riesling is too good for that ! ... By the way, the idea of your recipe is making my stomach go up and down ...
You don't even mention to keep the slugs from eating for a week as is done for the snails :)

Slugs are only good to birds, and hedgehogs .

If you want to give a bad time to a cat, give it a slug . It gets its mouth full of slug slime - the sight is awful - The cat looks like rabid.
This happened to someone I know - his cat had never seen a slug before, chased one and proudly tried to eat it.

Dieseler to be more efficient, throw beer to the water reservoir of your figtrees - that will kill the slugs inside  - Try with one tree first to see how good it works.
I'm sure you will have new strain of figs this year - figs with some taste of hop ( houblon) :P

I put two simple pots in the basement with some plant cuttings . In January, I brought them to the kitchen to give them an early start - and I had to kill 5 slugs as well.
For the bait, dispose them on a dry part of the ground upon a plate - they won't mold easily as long as they don't get moist.
Drawing salt lines on the floor - not in the pots! - can be a solution as well .
As  for me, depending on the place I do both bier + salt.

A line of salt would get to be messy and you would need to re-apply every time someone shuffles across it. If your garage floor is smooth, make a perimeter around your entire pot area with copper tape. Slugs can't cross it.

http://www.amazon.com/Lilly-Miller-715-15-Foot-Corrys/dp/B000QD3BPW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1391205296&sr=8-4&keywords=adhesive+copper+strips

http://www.amazon.com/Copper-Conductive-Adhesive-Width-Length/dp/B009KB86BU/ref=pd_sim_lg_8

Save the recipe and substitute some mussels for the snails. Serve with a loaf of hot french or italian bread.  Based on this and the care you give your figs,  suspect your garden is the equivalent of a Weight Watchers Spa for slugs. From Yahoo...What slugs are good for? "In a nutshell, slugs are good for eating things; they eat all kinds of stuff, and some can eat more than their weight every day. Among the foods slugs consume are animal feces, carrion, centipedes, fungi, algae, insects, worms, lichen, green plants, and even other slugs".

Hi
On a more serious point do not let your cats or dogs eat the raw slugs because they can carry a potentially lethal infection of lung worm  very nasty bug         

Dennis, when I was growing up in Greek islands, locals would poor salt on the ground when the slugs would pass through to get to the places they shouldn't be, we used to watch them touch the salt and start melting like a piece of icicle . If you are sure there aren't any hiding under your pots in the garage, you can make a line of salt at the antrance and/or around the walls from inside of the garage as a barrier.

Jdsfrance -lol no slug problem here in yard.

our slugs are very well trained. they will only come look at my fig trees. they won't dare touch them. ok, they slime it now and then.. but they don't munch on the leaves... or i think they don't, but i'm not sharing my beer with them!

Dennis. I was going to suggest the salt perimeter but looks like that has been covered. It does work. I'd never heard of the copper idea though. Guess it depends on which one you want to go with. Salt is the cheaper of the two though. You can get a really big bag of "pool salt" for pretty cheap. Just my 2c.