Garlic Water to deter slugs???

I just need to say...there should be a 'Varmints' forum.

Has anyone had experience with 'Garlic Water' to deter slugs?  I have not.  I just heard about it and couldn't find anything on permies...so time for a new thread. :D

I'm in the Western Washington, where the slugs outnumber the people about 1000:1.  I generally solve the problem with some alfalfa to bait them and ducks to eat them, but there are some spots that this just doesn't work for.

So, listening to Gardeners' Question Time I came across an organic Hosta grower in England that swears by the garlic water.  They spray it on the soil around their in-ground hostas weekly from April to October and the panel there insisted that they didn't see signs of slug damage anywhere in the operation.  Once I was in front of a computer, this is the recipe I found, and it lines up to what they described.

Basic recipe:
-  Boil 2 bulbs of garlic in 2L of water, until soft.
-  Mash garlic to get all the goodies out, then strain out the paper
- That's it.  Let it cool and your concentrate is done.  Store it in the fridge

To use:
- Dilute by using 2 tablespoons per 5L of water.
- Put in your watering can or sprayer
- Sprinkle over the soil in the affected area weekly
- Use more during wet weather

So, the questions:
1. Have any of you done this?...Did you have any luck?
2. Can you think of any detrimental effect to this?  I sure can't.
3. Any clue on what the mechanism of action is?  Are slugs just vampires and hate garlic?

My local slugs love eating garlic. It probably wouldn't work here.  I think the problem is that our local nibblers don't get wifi in the garden so they don't know what they are supposed to like or not.

It would be worth a try if your local slugs aren't garlic munchers

Beer traps also work well.  

I've heard of using garlic spray as an insect treatment, but not as a slug repellent. If you have particular plants that need protecting then it may be worth a try (anything is worth trying once!).
I gather that slugs navigate a lot by scent, so the garlic smell may confuse them and it act as a cloak for the tasty plants. It would probably need applying quite often for it to be likely to work, especially if you get much rain.

I have never had a slug problem though I have read salt melts slugs ....

I use garlic (and onion) water as an insect repellant when the flea beetles attack my beans, but I don't think slugs would care too much.
2T to 5L also sounds like almost a homeopathic dose. I use something like a cup in my 1.5L sprayer!

Thanks all for your input...I agree that it sounds like a homeopathic dose at 2T/5L, that was part of what piqued my curiosity and skepticism on this.

I also do baiting, but I use alfalfa leaves in pans overnight with the mists to moisten them into a paste.  The slugs just stay in there munching away until morning, then I release my ducks onto the pans.  There are a few places that I'd rather not turn my ducks onto though.

I'll give this a try on a couple of target plants and see if there is any sort of effect.  Watch this space. :D