The creature I find most challenging to love, despite my best efforts, is the common garden slug. I remain stumped as I try to see its role in the universal scheme. Birds and hedgehogs may feast on them, but surely nature could provide tastier, less destructive options. Call me short-sighted, but I doubt I’d shed a tear if slugs were to vanish overnight, which is why I am searching to find out how to get rid of slugs (and how you probably ended up here).
Our garden hosts a veritable slug buffet: striped ones, hefty black varieties, chunky grey ones, and little brown menaces. These mollusks ravage our meticulously tended beds, leaving behind trails of perforated leaves and stunted stems. Once, they even infiltrated the house, leaving slime trails on the carpet due to a missing protective strip beneath the patio door—a lesson for anyone with a new build.
Slugs, cousins to snails and octopuses, seem ill-suited for land life. Why not remain underwater, munching seaweed? Instead, they lurk under pots, stones, and even trash bins, drawn by their excellent sense of smell to feast on our leftovers.
How To Get Rid Of Slugs
Slugs consume up to 40% of their body weight in plant material daily, making them formidable garden foes. Active primarily between April and October, they prefer cool, moist environments and hide under leaves, mulch, or bricks during the day. Here are some strategies to combat them:
- Hand-Picking: It’s unpleasant but effective. Venture out at dusk or after rain with a flashlight and gloves to collect them. Drop them into a bucket of salt water, soapy water, or rubbing alcohol.
- Beer Traps: Slugs are drawn to beer’s yeast. Bury a shallow dish of beer in your garden; the slugs will crawl in and drown.
- Milk Traps: The method is exactly as above, but milk is used for the best results instead of beer.
- Fruit Traps: Scoop the flesh out of grapefruit or orange halves and leave them ‘dome up’ on the ground. The slugs will congregate inside this natural repellent, ready for you to collect the following morning. Please brace yourself for a nasty surprise when you gather them. Otherwise, you will fling them across the garden in horror, and all will be lost.
- Copper Barriers: Place copper tape or strips around pots or garden beds. The reaction between their slime and copper acts as a deterrent.
- Eggshells or Coffee Grounds: Scatter these around plants. They act as sharp barriers and irritants to the slugs.
- Encourage Natural Predators: Birds, frogs, and hedgehogs help control slug populations. Create a wildlife-friendly garden to attract them.
- Remove Hiding Spots: Clean up debris, rocks, and other hiding places to make your garden less appealing.
Quirky Facts About Slugs
- Slugs can eat twice their weight during their active season.
- They’re spineless and always legless—though the female slug outlives her male counterpart.
- Despite their terrestrial lifestyle, they’re related to octopuses and squids.
While slugs serve some ecological purpose, their destruction in our gardens can feel overwhelming. With these tips, you can reclaim your garden without losing your sanity—or your plants!