How to Get Rid of Slugs in Your Garden the Chemical Free Way

Slugs can cause a lot of damage in flower and vegetable gardens.

Slugs can destroy your garden's harvest. They like dark, moist places and feed on small seedlings and many types of fruits and vegetables. Look for slime trails and leaves that have been eaten, either entirely or just around the edges, to determine if you have slugs in your garden. Slugs can be difficult to control, but by making a few changes to your gardening routine and setting some simple traps, you can rid your garden of slugs without using chemicals.

Things You'll Need

• Soaker hose
• Garden spade
• Pie pans or other shallow containers
• Beer

Instructions

Cultural Controls

1. Remove any surface debris from the garden so that the slugs don't have anywhere to hide. Avoid using mulches like straw and pine bark in your garden.

2. Water with a soaker hose to keep the humidity at a minimum. If you must water from above the plants, do it early in the day so that the plants and leaves have time to dry out before nighttime, when slugs are most active.

3. Prune plants, use trellises and space new plantings far apart to help increase air movement and keep the garden surface dry and warm to discourage slugs.

Setting Beer Traps

1. Dig small trenches that are the size of the pie pans or shallow containers you plan to use. Place the trenches every 2 or 3 feet throughout the garden.

2. Place the containers in the trenches so that they are even with the soil surface.

3. Fill the containers with beer.

4. Check the traps every day or two, removing any drowned slugs and adding more beer when necessary.

Tips & Warnings

• Sugar water mixed with a few teaspoons of yeast can be used instead of beer in the traps.

References

• Colorado State University Extension; Slugs; W.S. Cranshaw; 2008
• North Dakota State University Extension Services; Questions on Slugs; Ron Smith
• Gardening Advice: Organic Slug Control