How to Get Rid of Garden Slugs

As an organic gardener for many decades, I feel your pain. The best remedy I've ever found is to put a ring of speedy-dry, (cat litter), around the base of the plants. They will not walk over it. You may have to refresh it often.

In addition to laying out plastic lids with beer in them, I also take plastic containers, such as those in which Folgers coffee is packaged--the ones that are 6 inches or more in diameter. I use their shallow lids to hold the beer, and cut off the bottoms of those containers. This results in a short plastic tube. I place the tubes where I am going to grow my seedling tomato plants, fill them with good soil, and transplant the tomato seedlings on top. I found that not only does this arrangement stop slugs, as long as no part of the growing plant touches the ground surrounding the plastic tube, but it also elevates the plants enough to provide good drainage when too much rain falls.

Origo

Attract animals that will eat the slugs

I suppose you can't get these in a pet shop but if you can, do it. The problem is they are only around if slugs and other pests are around. We have them living in the wild so they just keep coming when food is available. They can be destructive when they dig after ants and don't stop until they have them all but that doesn't happen too often.

Good luck, Ky.

A small dish with some beer in it might do the trick <hic!>. "As drunk as a skunk slug...."? Maybe.

There's a good set of suggestions here. This is going to sound slightly mad, but I'll go for it anyway;

The barrier methods sound good (as do the other ideas), but seem directed at individual plants. Can you put a moat around the whole vegetable patch to keep down re-infestation ? Nothing fancy, maybe some guttering filled with water. As you work on getting rid of the existing population, some kind of larger scale barrier like that might help keep them at bay ?

Bait sounds good, but I wonder if it would just ensure you have a perpetual problem - slugs from outside the area constantly being drawn in (?).

It sounds like slug eggs can survive a fair while. That article emphasise the need to get rid of eggs as well, so using bit's of wood to collect slugs + eggs sounds good.

Beer is a good trick. Take a container and dig it into the ground so that the edge is level with the ground. Put in some beer. Slugs will crawl right in and never wake up.

Melon rinds or turnip peels work well as a bait. Put the rinds near the edge of your garden at night and empty them in the morning.

I hear the diatomaceous earth is effective but never had much luck with barrier methods myself. We tried using ashes: had to be reapplied every time it rained. Which is often.

When the sun is high, you can find where the slugs are hiding. Turn over rocks or any board lying on the ground, and you'll find em.

Beer worked for us in our gardens in Georgia, and in Ohio.

Salted them suckers whenever we caught them.

milo

My friend had an interesting solution for slugs. On top of the wooden barrier around his garden, he ran a complete loop with return of stainless wire hooked in series with an LED and a current limiting resistor connected to an AC adapter which output 6 VDC. Apparently slugs will not cross the bare wires that carry an electrical current. Nichrome wire would function also.

We use cutoff lengths of 4" PVC pipe about 8" long. Press about 2" into soil encircling the sprouts and leave in place. Works excellent for tomato worm too.

We have tried using double back tape on outside of pipe with mixed results. There is an ant proofing sticky stuff that can be applied to the pipe exterior, it works better than tape.

I have cups of beer round the garden. It definitely works. I brew beer for them and it costs about 10 dollars a month. More in summer than in winter. I think hedgehogs, chickens frogs? or guinea fowl are also options. It is not well known that there are hunter slugs and snails! I have a picture somewhere on the net of a slug eating an earthworm. It was in dublin Ireland. Last fall I found out about the cannibal snails. They are used round the world to keep down slug populations. Most seem to be snails, but some are probably slugs. You introduce them and they are still minor pests (omnivours) but they keep down the population of vegetarian slugs. I tried to find details about which species of canibals are native to vancouver island but I failed. (They do exist here, several species) You have to be careful because introducing cannibal snails from other countries can do a lot of damage.

http://www.hear.org/species/euglandina_rosea/

Try Korea and China. You can get paid for all you collect!

Please take no offence my Korean & Chinese friends. Just wanted to add a bit of humour.

I am going to try chimney soot this year, A remedy I found in an old gardening book.

Just adding my vote to burying jam jars up to their rim and adding a little beer.

If all else fails drink the beer and forget about the gardening.

Hi,

I got tired of the traditional remedies such as beer 'cos the critters seemed to just keep on coming, bit like one of those ol westerns and I ain't got the patience to go out after every rain storm to refresh all the bait traps.

Solution: I never realised until they seemed to disappear as if struck down by some malady. In fact I had a family of hedge hogs operating in the garden! Alas, this is not a perfect world and in time the 'hogs moved on, the slugs came back and so I gave up trying to grow things that gave me grief!

Outcome: I decided to let nature have a free hand in the garden, trees grew higher and I've now got something of a wild life sanctuary with a wide range of birds etc.

Its sometimes referred to as an edaphic society I prefer to think of it as going with nature rather than against. Viva the slugs et al.

Happy gardening!

I have heard that if you bury a plate even with ground level, pour beer in it, they will slither into it and drown with a smile on their slimy face. Give it a try!

I have experience with two slug control methods (other than the typical approaches to slug control, i.e., chemicals, egg shells, diatomaceous earth, beer traps, etc.).

The first technique that I tried with good results some twenty years ago consisted of two fairly closely spaced (about 1/2 inch) bare electrical wires with a 9v battery between them. Slugs will not cross over. The wires were installed around a low raised bed (6x6) vegetable garden. This works fine until the plants grow and tip over the edge of the bed and provide a bridge for the slugs. I've had a long hiatus from gardening, but right now I'm making a raised bed from old wooden pallets and I'm hoping the sides will be high enough to solve the "bridge" problem (I plan to install the wires and/or moat - see below).

Second method that I did experiments with, but did not implement in a real situation: Creating a moat around the garden. I found that slugs will not cross a water barrier. My experiments at the time consisted of creating "islands" in flat water-filled containers with tasty vegetation as bait. From a practical point of view, eavestroughing, half pipes, etc. can be installed around a raised bed.

I suspect that you do not have raised beds so these suggestions may not be helpful. If there is any interest I will post pictures of my current raised bed/slug control efforts as progress continues.

As a follow-up to my posting on Garden Slugs you can now view my setup on Youtube:

(Seems that I cannot paste the url into CR4... to view search on Youtube "Slug control - 9-volt"

Warning: the video may be objectionable to some.

Great, great video with super guitar licks. m'sluggo. sluggem. yaaaay.

here's your url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ8RFlR0mD4

On a BBC gardening programme recently there was a lady who grew dozens of Hostas. She said everyone asks how she deals with slugs. Her method for protecting the plants from this problem is to squash two Garlic bulbs and boil them for five minutes in two pints of water. Add one tablespoon of the solution to one gallon of water when watering the plants. I do not know if she meant two whole Garlic bulbs or just two Garlic Cloves. From the look of her plants, it certainly seemed to work for her.

Interesting, two bulbs would be the recipe

My favorite is slug seasoning ... salt. You will need to reapply a barrier as needed depending on the ampunt of rain you have.

I have successfully used ashes from my wood stove. My dad has used diatomaceous earth also with good effect. I have found that utilizing just one method will work but some will get through. I utilize the wood ash and beer trap methods and have had no slug problems for 5 yrs now. All of the suggestions that have previously been suggested do work, but a combination of methods is more effective. The only method that I would be cautious about is importing a non-native species (killer slugs/snails) because you might be causing another problem (look up Cane Toad, and you will see what I mean.)

Happy Gardening

Ash from the wood stove was my finding that worked.

My aunt swears by crushed egg shells scattered about. I have no idea if it works.

I have been trying the egg shells and salt, but it has been a very wet year. I think I found part of the reason I started having the problem, the pile of compost I brought in wasn't completely broken down, and appeared to have quite a bit of green-matter in it. Thanks for the comments. I started with the beer a few nights ago, but it has rained every day, so the effects have been muted.

If you cut down large yoghurt pots or cottage cheese pots you can make a protective roof over your beer traps. Reduces the rain problem.

(Works for Hostas, so now I only really have problems with potatoes - underground slugs seem to bypass most surface remedies. The area where I had a bonfire in the midst of a mini-moat seems OK, but it's not large enough for crop rotations.

Instead of tossing empty beer cans or bottles out, place them on the ground, out in your garden, out of sight.

My neighbors do this and toss the containers in the garbage periodically they say, with the accumulated slugs inside.

The slugs don't appear to have any brand preference, so long as it's beer!

Failing that, listen in to "You Bet Your Garden" on PBS Stations, typically on Saturday mornings or find their web site with Google. They are a plethora of valuable tips ,

L.J.

Set out lids that come with many food items such as coffee, jelly, and peanut butter. Fill those lids with beer! The alcohol in the beer will kill the slugs without poisoning your garden soil. The lids should be large enough for the slugs to crawl into, and absorb the alcohol through their skin.

Origo

You need to get some Skunks, they work best!!

I'd vote for chickens or ducks...until your produce gets to the point that they want to eat it!

The garlic tea will work pretty well.

Here is a site with a lot of good info:

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/

I have used Howard's techniques and have had really good results...except with squash bugs (Harlequin Beetle?)... They come in droves. The killed a butternut squash pant in two days. The plant covered an area about 10'x10' and was about 4' high...beautiful...gone in two days!

Spread crushed egg shells around the base on the plant or perimeter of the garden. The slugs / snails will not crawl over them.

place a bowl of beer in the garden at ground level. it needs to be deep enough the slugs cannot crawl out of it. they will be attracted by the yeast, fall in and drown.

I've not tried this but I've been told that a container, such as a jar lid or shallow pan filled with beer will do the trick. The slugs seem to be attracted to the aroma and "plunge" right in. I guess they drown happy!

Take care.

Send them out to Nevada, the scoprpions, black widows, lizards, and snakes are starving out here.

Hello Old Coal Man,

Some very good remarks and help here ! Can I point out though, that the copper wire does work, but it should be wound round the legs of any supports or legs which hold plants, such as in a 'green house', not the plants themselves.

Take care................... bb

Looking through, I was surprised that no-one had mentioned nematodes. These are best-matched to larger infestations, as they multiply to match slug volume, and the large numbers at the end of task should result in more comprehensive wipe-out. They should be available reasonably locally from multiple suppliers (google = slugs nematodes).

Hello Physicist,

hope you are well?

I can confirm that these are available at almost all UK garden centers and advertised in gardening mags, in the UK. Not sure about the US though. I would think they may be sold in the 'wet' areas only? As the UK is just one big wet area they are sold all over!

bb

Hello babybear

That's the reason I suggested OCM used Google - it will give local companies first.
(Typical rainfall in NC is said to be in the region of 40" per year, but even on its own a severe slug problem implies it should be damp enough for nematodes...)

I've not used bought nematodes myself, because it would be completely uneconomic for me - but the way the place has been cultivated means that there's probably a stable population in any case. On top of that, the local wildlife (pheasants, slow worms, grass snakes, toads, beetles, hedgehogs* and rooks) seem to contain the slug population nicely.

Regards

Fyz

*I tempt them to stick around by feeding them tinned cat food

A lot of good answers here. I've used most of them, with the addition of a salt saturated length of sisal rope around the garden perimeter, refreshed occasionally from a squeeze bottle.

I have a rabbit wire fence around my garden, (grounded, about 80' long) topped with a single strand of isolated electric fencing. Question; Could I use a resistor between the rabbit wire and the electric fencing? Or would that be too much of a drain on the fence charger? What size resistor should I use?

I regularly build a Toad Hall in each corner of the garden, use Cu strips in a circle, and beer or milk in a jar lid. Diatomacious earth cuts down on the cut worms too.

Hi,

I have heard a lot about Diatomacious earth. Where is it available in bulk and what is the typical price? Actually I require it to be used as a filter aid.

I get mine from a garden shop. You might try a pool supplier, or Google it.

Thanks a lot. There is only one problem. I live in Sri Lanka. Swimming pools are not so popular here as we have one big pool (sea) right around our tiny island and we have constant temp. 28-32C right through out the year.

May be I will try some online stores.

How much do you need?

milo

You can buy it in smaller quantities here:

http://www.aquariumguys.com/diatompowder1.html

I've read in organic gardening publications that the aquarium, (food) grade is preferred over pool grade.

http://www.safesolutionsinc.com/Diatomaceous_Earth.htm

http://organicgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/use_of_diatomaceous_earth_in_organic_gardening

It can also be applied directly to plant leaves with a puffer. Bugs will definitely not enjoy diatoms on their salad!

It can usually be found around gypsum

Maybe Bentonite would work.

Go to your local pool store. It is used as a filter material for pool filters. There are also numerous on line sites.

In extreme cases, you may have to:

Beer in a container buried to ground level works well. Several have mentioned it. The slugs simply drown in the beer. Not a bad way to go.

Try using sharp sand and spread it around the plants. Snails and slugs will avoid that barrier. Drink the beer yourself to celebrate the good job you did to avert the destruction of your garden .

I have just started a slug beer project. It costs me a lot of money to brew beer for my slugs over the year. I brew it from a kit as directed to make slug lager or slug ale.

so why not make cheapie beer? I have just put seedie weeds and dried grass from my lawn into a garbage bin with water and half a bag of sugar, and some active bakers yeast. In 5 days, I should have an alcoholic beverage that the slugs will like. I toyed with adding nitrate or urea too. The yeast would convert it to "organic" fertilizer by incorperating it into their protein as they eat the sugar and disolved sugars from the plants. After 5 days, i should not only have slug beer, but hopefully the weed seeds will be dead too! What do you think?

Brian

Cool. A use for grass burrs!

Sharp knitting needle regularly shortly after dusk and again just before bed.