Key Points
- Three species of carabid beetle were commonly found during monitoring of cropping farms in Canterbury.
- Lab trials indicate that all three species of carabid beetle will eat slugs with one species being a ferocious predator eating all the slugs.
- Many pesticides kill these beneficial beetles even when they eat slugs killed by some slug baits.
- Some slug baits are non-toxic to predators.
- When adopting an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach to pest control, growers have the added bonus of having the pesticide and the beneficials controlling the pest.