Foraging Worms Guarantee Slug Bait Failure

摘要

Grey field slugs in the Pacific Northwestused to be kept in check by practicessuch as conventional tilling and burningpostharvest straw residues. But many producersare now using no-till managementand leaving leftover straw on the fields toenhance soil quality and prevent erosion.The downside to these sustainable practicesis that they create a much more hospitableenvironment for slugs, which have becomean agronomic nightmare.“They’ll eat anything,” says AgriculturalResearch Service agronomist GeorgeMueller-Warrant. “In the middle of thenight, the ground is covered with them.”These nocturnal mollusks, Derocerasreticulatum, are such pests that in westernOregon, producers of grass seed, wheat,and other field crops spend around $3.7million every year for around 2.9 millionpounds of slug bait. The bait is often in theform of metaldehyde—either as pellets,granules, or liquid—or iron phosphatepellets.