How to Get Rid of Slugs in the Garden
Slugs eat through and create damage to fruits, vegetables, plant leaves, and seedlings. What does the damage look like? Have slug issues? Here is how to get rid of slugs in the garden.
What Do Slugs Look Like?
Slugs come in a variety of colors and shapes but all varieties have the same qualities.
They are soft and thick-bodied insects that enjoy wreaking havoc in vegetable and flower gardens eating plants using their rasping mouths.
Additional Reads:
Snails
Aphids
Stink Bugs
Leaf & Plant Hoppers
Where Can They Be Found?
Slugs can literally be found everywhere. The critters prefer cool, moist areas with plenty of leaf litter and plant cover.
What Damage Do Slugs Do?
The pests can chew through leaves and stems of plants with their rasping mouths.
Slugs are nocturnal and feed at night when we generally can’t see them.
– Eat clean through fruits and vegetables.
– Make holes in crops and leaf vegetation.
– If you have signs of slugs, you should get them under control immediately.
Five Ways To Get Rid of Slugs In The Garden
1.) Traps
If you are having an issue with earwigs, slugs or snails, a trap works well. You can purchase slug traps or make your own.
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Remember, for the most part slugs like to come out at night. So, you may see them in the early morning or late afternoon. Otherwise, at night they are feasting.
You can purchase traps in a variety of shapes and sizes. All of which work the same way.
1.) You add some form of liquid bait to the trap. Use any of the recipes to the right.
2.) You bury the container in an area you are having issues.
3.) The insect crawls into the container and will drown.
Simple, easy and effective.
2.) Crushed Eggshells
Slugs are soft-bodied insects. Using crushed eggshells creates discomfort for the snails. They may turn around when they reach an eggshell barrier.
Looking for additional reasons to save those eggshells? Eggshells break down naturally and add nutrients to the soil and they also will deter ants from scaling your plants.
3.) Oak Leaf Mulch
Have an oak tree in your yard? Crush up dry oak leaves for mulching around your plants.
Slugs normally love to hide out in moist leaves, but for some odd reason they are not a fan of oak leaves
4.) Copper Tape
Copper tape is excellent if you have raised beds and flowers pots. You can wrap the tape around anything. It is non-toxic and doesn’t produce any chemicals.
Slugs and snails do not like to cross this tape.
It gives off a discomforting sensation that they do not like when their slime secretions come in contact with the tape. Making the insects turn the other way. Saving your plants from their destruction.
5.) Sluggo
This product is very easy to use, you simply sprinkle it around your plants and create little circles of doom.
I have used it for slugs, snails and pillbugs.
It contains iron phosphate which naturally occurs soil, making it pet & wildlife safe.
Good Luck Slaying Your Slugs
If one product or way of slaying your slugs works, keep doing it. Like with everything in life, what works today may not tomorrow. But, it is important to have options out there to try. I’m positive one of the methods above will work for you.
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