ive never heard of the clay barrier you speak of. believe me, we've tried everything from elephants to shotguns.... we had record warm temps here in the seattle area last winter as well as this spring. the theory goes the weather was so mild that the slug population exploded due to not being killed off last winter. now we're feeling the full brunt of it. It was very warm this past few days and its been raining for more than 24 hours here. slugs are going gangbusters!