Parasite offers natural way to control leaf-ea...( > Half the slugs...)

But by day 20, almost all slugs in both groups were dead, indicating that the worms were just as effective as the metaldehyde at killing slugs over that extended period of time.

In terms of controlling damage to crops, the poison and the worms were similarly effective. Over the length of the study, slugs treated with metaldehyde were able to consume 18 percent of the leaves on the Hostas in their environment. Slugs treated with the worms consumed only a little more -- 25 percent -- of their Hosta leaves.

Poison kills slugs faster, Grewal said, but it must be reapplied every 10 days or so. In contrast, one application of worms will keep killing for weeks, until all slugs are gone.

Grewal envisions that American farmers and homeowners will someday be able to order live worms by overnight mail from commercial pest-control companies, as Europeans do today. A batch of several hundred tiny worms resembles a small pile of white cottony threads, he said.

Instead of spreading poison throughout the farm or garden, people could apply a tiny scoop of worms to wherever the nocturnal slugs sleep during the day - under a piece of mulch, for instance.

Once all the slugs were dead, the worms would die off as well, Grewal said.

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Contact: Parwinder Grewal
Grewal.4@osu.edu
330-263-3963
Ohio State University
14-Sep-2001