Home Remedies for Keeping Slugs Out of Your Flower Bed

Slugs can cause a great deal of damage in your garden, in addition to being unpleasant to deal with. Luckily, there are many ways to deter slugs from entering your garden. Some of these methods will trap and kill slugs, while others will just keep them away in the first place. Mix and match these techniques to see what works best for your situation.

Coffee

Slugs can't deal with caffeine. Use your used coffee grinds to keep slugs away from your plants. Simply make a ring of used coffee grinds around affected plants to deter slugs.

Hair

Clean out all your old hairbrushes and surround your garden with old hair. Slugs won't be able to cross this barrier without getting tangled and trapped. As the hair degrades, it will also provide nutrients to the soil.

Sandpaper

Sandpaper can be found in many department stores and home stores and is a good deterrent for slugs. Purchase the roughest sandpaper you can find and surround your garden with strips of it. The slugs will find this sandpaper too rough to cross and will stay away from your garden.

Beer

Collect old butter or margarine tubs or use plastic food containers that you were about to throw out anyway. In the evening, fill these tubs with beer and place on the perimeter of your garden. If you have a problem with slugs, these tubs will be filled with dead slugs the next day.

Eggshells

Save the eggshells when you cook eggs and crush them up. Surround either the entire garden or just the affected plants with these crushed eggshells. The eggshells will provide nutrients to the plants and will also be too rough for the slugs to cross. This is a very effective way to keep slugs away from your plants.

Copper Plant Guards

Purchase copper plant guards to keep slugs out of your garden. Copper will give slugs a shock when they come in contact with it.

References

• The Fun Times Guide: Natural Garden Slug Control
• Gardens Alive; 13 Ways to Stop Slugs; Mike McGrath; 2005