How to Keep Slugs away from your Garden

Slugs are mollusks that are related to clams and oysters.

Slugs can cause great destruction to your garden. Irregular shaped holes in plant foliage and slimy trails around the garden are sure signs of slug activity. They usually do their damage at night. If they are causing damage in your garden, you have a few options available to keep slugs away. If one doesn't work, try another tactic.

Things You'll Need

• Pail
• Dish soap
• Garden gloves
• Flashlight
• Copper strips
• Diatomaceous earth
• Saucers or jar lids
• Beer

Instructions

1. Fill a small pail with soapy water, put on garden gloves and handpick the slugs. Dump them into the bucket to kill them. It's best to do this at night when they are most active. You might need a flashlight to spot them.

2. Run a strip of copper or copper tape around the perimeter of the garden. These are available at garden centers. The copper creates a shock for the slug, deterring its entry to the garden.

3. Deter the slugs by removing their hiding places. Weed your garden often. Keep the edges trimmed. Remove unnecessary items they could hide under.

4. Cultivate the soil often. This will bring any eggs to the surface and dry them out.

5. Sprinkle diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of the garden or susceptible plants. Diatomaceous earth is a powder that abrades the slug's skin, eventually dehydrating and killing it.

6. Sink saucers or jar lids filled with beer around the garden. The yeast in the beer attracts the slugs and they drown.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep at it. Slugs will always exist!

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Slugs in Home Gardens
• Ohio State University: Slugs and Their Management