Eggs are laid within the bag, which is also where pupation occurs. When needed, they can be controlled with the use of Bacillus thuringiensis var. Consult the label for dosage rates and safety precautions. Garden slugs, molluscs without a shell, usually infest moist, shaded gardens. Hosta and violets are particularly attractive to slugs.
Slugs feed mostly at night, rasping holes in tender leaves or along leaf margins.
Recent slug damage is easily recognized from the slimy, iridescent trail left by their crawling. At maturity they can be up to four inches long. They lay clusters of eggs, encased in slime, in the fall. Slugs can be controlled by lightly cultivating the ground in the spring to destroy dormant slugs and their eggs. A band of diatomaceous earth put around new plantings will control slugs by rupturing their epidermis.