Bill Cissel, Extension Agent – Integrated Pest Management; bcissel@udel.edu
I have gotten several calls this week about slug injury on corn. In Delaware and Maryland, we have two species of slugs that will feed on corn, the grey garden slug and the marsh slug. There are two reasons why we are seeing more damage from slugs this week, the first being weather. The cool, wet weather has slowed corn growth down to a crawl and corn seedlings have not been able to stay ahead of the slugs. The second reason is that the grey garden slug hatch has occurred and, in the fields I have looked at, the juvenile grey garden slugs have contributed to most of the slug injury. Based on university trials, rescue treatments of slug bait have been successful in reducing slug populations and feeding damage on corn.
Here is a link to an article I wrote a couple weeks ago discussing slug management on corn: http://extension.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=10303
Slug feeding injury on seedling corn
Juvenile Grey Garden Slug
Juvenile Marsh Slug