Slugs cause tens of millions of dollars in damage to U.S. crops each year, and despite much research and effort into minimizing the damage, many no-tillers feel they’re still losing the battle. Experts have a long list of suggestions for controlling the pests, but no ideal solution seems to work every year in all conditions. 

Recently, researchers at several universities across the East Coast received a grant from the United Soybean Board to organize a multi-state research project to identify new slug management tools. Participating in the study are Virginia Tech, University of Maryland, University of Delaware, Penn State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Tennessee and Oregon State University. 

The management options currently known to work are plowing/discing, vertical tillage, eliminating pre-plant broadcast applications of insecticide, eliminating insecticide treatments for soybean seed, applying slug bait, and promoting rapid emergence and seedling growth of crops. 

Farmers in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia have adopted all of these recommended practices, and he believes the incidence of slug damage in corn in the Shenandoah Valley, for example, has been cut in half, but soybean injury has only improved about 5%, experts say. Some 20-25% of soybean fields in the mid-Atlantic states overall still suffer from slug damage, and 5-10% of corn fields. 

“We’ve reduced our incidents a little bit, but that’s why we're focused on soybeans so much,” says Bobby Clark, Senior Agent for Virginia Cooperative, who helped facilitate the grant application to USB. 

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