We started our first plants this year, and right away I thought to myself that we should prepare for slugs. And I did just that! First, what are the options?

You can prevent them from entering “the premises” with some sort of barrier, such as a cute, battery-powered electric fence. That can work as long as its two conductors stay electrically isolated, but our raised beds would make the installation impractical.

Another option is a slug trap with beer or another attractant, but those tend to get nasty quickly because the slugs drown and start rotting.

The third option is slug pellets. Different products use different active ingredients, so the color alone does not tell you how they work. Metaldehyde causes excessive mucus production, loss of coordination, dehydration, and death. Iron phosphate damages the digestive system, causing slugs to stop feeding and die later, often out of sight.

I did not want to waste money by spreading the iron-phosphate pellets everywhere, so I thought I could lure the slugs with beer and put those same pellets right underneath it in a covered feeder.

Then came my second thought: I know I am not the only person who would build this. Sure enough, I found a model on Printables and started printing. The design specifies iron-phosphate pellets and keeps the beer or yeast separate as an odor lure. As with any pesticide, the product label still comes first, especially around children, pets, and wildlife.

After some time, I had four strategically placed traps around the perimeter.

Now I have zero slug problems, as far as I know. I suspect that I would have been fine without the traps, though. This season has been very dry, which could mean the slugs are sheltering rather than absent. So now I am wondering whether I wasted my energy focusing on my past slug trauma, because two weeks before writing this, we almost missed a major infestation of weevils on the brassicas.

And what did this teach me about B2B sales?

Naah, just kidding.

It just showed me that I tend to hyperfocus on one specific problem while ignoring the rest. It is a textbook case of tunnel vision. Maybe there is more to it: perhaps hyperfixating on slugs gave me a false sense of security that our garden was sorted.

Maybe it was just that little perfectionist having at it again, distracting me from being productive.

I like to obsess, and I do not like settling for good enough, but that can lead to paralysis, leaving me unable to do anything else. I also often change my mind, which can lead to me investing a couple of weeks in a slug problem that was not even there.

Maybe one good-enough answer should just be accepted forever without any second-guessing.