Slugs

I try to share my garden with the wildlife in our neighbourhood without making life difficult for them. We get foxes sometimes, and hedgehogs visit regularly. I can even tolerate creepy crawlies, and ants, but there is one pest that refuses to play fair - slugs! They munch away at everything in sight and I have to at least reduce their numbers. How do you get rid of slugs without harming anything else? Oh, and if anyone knows how to stop my dog rolling in fox poo I would be very grateful, it smells terrible!

You could try beer traps. You bury a jar up to its neck at soil level then add some beer to it. The slugs crawl in trying to get at it and then fall in and can't get out.

I just use a torch and a salt container then get out there at night when they're most active. If you sprinkle salt on them, they shrivel up and die. It's gross but works. Try not to look like a burglar while you're looking under leaves for them in the dark LOL.

I've heard to mix something gritty in the soil would deter them because it scratches them. I haven't actually tried it, so I don't know if it works or not.

Iv'e heard the beer trick many times.

Additionally the commercial slug baits work well.

Put things around your delicate plants that slugs will not appreciate moving over, like pet hair, coffee grounds or even cut up plastic bottles. You could also try copper as apparantly this works too. I've never tried it though.

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Originally Posted by Serenity

You could try beer traps. You bury a jar up to its neck at soil level then add some beer to it. The slugs crawl in trying to get at it and then fall in and can't get out.

I just use a torch and a salt container then get out there at night when they're most active. If you sprinkle salt on them, they shrivel up and die. It's gross but works. Try not to look like a burglar while you're looking under leaves for them in the dark LOL.

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I'm too much of a wimp to try the death by salt, but I will try the bear traps, at least they will die happy! I have tried various ground barriers without success, I am beginning to think we must have flying slugs!

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Originally Posted by justontime

I'm too much of a wimp to try the death by salt, but I will try the bear traps, at least they will die happy! I have tried various ground barriers without success, I am beginning to think we must have flying slugs!

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Either that or they have trampolines or pogo sticks. :p

The beer works well. I've used these traps before with lemonade too which works if you don't have beer in the house. I think any kind of sweet liquid will attract them.

A word of warning though, don't leave it too long before you empty it out and replace the beer. Drowned slugs are pretty disgusting anyway but even more so after a few days of fermentation! :D Empty it out each morning if there's anything in it.

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Originally Posted by Chris

Iv'e heard the beer trick many times.

Additionally the commercial slug baits work well.

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Chris, I used to use the commercial slug pellets up until a few years ago. Then my brother-in-law told me that it kills birds too, because the birds eat the poisoned slugs. Now whether that's true or not I don't know as I didn't look into it any further, but it was enough to put me off using it. Maybe you can tell me if that's just a myth.

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Originally Posted by Serenity

Either that or they have trampolines or pogo sticks. :p

The beer works well. I've used these traps before with lemonade too which works if you don't have beer in the house. I think any kind of sweet liquid will attract them.

A word of warning though, don't leave it too long before you empty it out and replace the beer. Drowned slugs are pretty disgusting anyway but even more so after a few days of fermentation! :D Empty it out each morning if there's anything in it.

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Well, we do have a trampoline in the garden!!

I will try it with a soft drink, I'm teetotal so I wasn't too keen on buying beer even for slugs.

My 13 year old son can deal with the casualties, he doesn't seem bothered by grim stuff like that. When he was younger he was always asking if he could dig up his dead hamsters to see if they had turned into skeletons!

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Originally Posted by justontime

Well, we do have a trampoline in the garden!!

I will try it with a soft drink, I'm teetotal so I wasn't too keen on buying beer even for slugs.

My 13 year old son can deal with the casualties, he doesn't seem bothered by grim stuff like that. When he was younger he was always asking if he could dig up his dead hamsters to see if they had turned into skeletons!

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That's funny! Why are boys so gross anyway, hmmm...mine was the same at that age. Don't forget you could send him out with a torch and salt too since he's not fazed by unpleasant things and get him to do the dirty work. :D

No one in my house drinks either, which is why I know the lemonade works. Any kind of soda will do, just whatever you have to hand. I find a jelly jar's about the right size to bury.

Slugs are the worst, they are like a plague to a garden, there are a lot of good tips here which is great. If you re-do your garden bed with compost or new soil, I would recommend mixing in some sand or hard rock material to deter the slugs next year this way they will stay out of your garden without you having to empty out traps everyday or going out every night to commit slug murder.

i have tried the beer trap method, without success. I tried to keep them off strawberry plants. I have raised beds and everything. i hate to use any of the slug pellets. maybe the lemonade will work. thanks for that tip, hadn't heard of it.

This thread started few years back but anyhow,... :)
if beer traps don’t work let them eat cornmeal,
usually slugs die after eating it
and if that still doesn’t work,
mix a few amount of ammonia to water
and directly spray it to slugs.

I have heard a lot about the beer traps, and I've seen a couple of videos on youtube. And judging from the results i've seen I really think the trap works. It's worth trying.

Slugs damages shady gardens.
You can see them in the moistest parts of the gardens or during rainy season;
But if there are many slugs this year, that doesn't mean you will see more of them the following year.
If you want to see fewer slugs, better make sure watch out for the moist conditions of your garden.

Even here in Australia, the beer works fine to kill the snails / slugs