Have you ever had slugs eat all your seedlings in a single night? Having all that hard work go to waste is devastating isn’t it?!
But slug pellets aren’t the answer. Many are harmful to pets and wildlife, and even organic pellets labeled as ‘non-toxic’ can harm earthworms – and we really need our worms!
Follow my seven simple tips and you won’t ever need slug pellets because you can control them, 100% naturally.
Tolerate Some Slugs
No matter how much of a headache some slugs give us, they’re not all bad! Slugs and snails help to feed birds and other wildlife higher up the food chain, and not every species even eats live plants. In fact, we can think of these munching mollusks as nature’s recyclers, because they help to break down dead plant matter and return nutrients back to the soil.
Not all species eat your plants either – some of them just eat moss, for example. So we want to target slugs in the right places. And some slugs, like the leopard slug, actually help to control the populations of pest slugs by eating them!
It’s impossible to eradicate every slug from your garden anyhow. But as I’m about to reveal, there’s plenty we can do to keep numbers to a more tolerable level and (dare I say it?) even live alongside them harmoniously.
Later on I’ll be revealing a simple-but-effective organic slug spray, and we’ll be making a cheap-and-cheerful slug trap, but first let’s look at some simple ways to keep slugs and snails in check.
![Slugs]()
It's impossible to remove all slugs but if damage gets severe then organic control techniques can be very effective
1. Remove Hiding Places
My first tip is to reduce opportunities for slugs to lurk. That means keeping everything in and around your vegetable garden tidy by removing stray pots, picking off and composting dead or yellowed leaves, and removing any other debris that might provide cool, shady spots that could act as a refuge for those slimy so-and-sos.
In an ideal world the vegetable garden will be located some distance from trees and shrubs, as shaded areas like this are ideal slug territory and we want to create distance between them and our crops.
![Slug-eaten pak choi]()
Slugs love tender your leaves
2. Remove Temptation
Slugs love nothing more than fresh, tender growth – especially seedlings! Some crops are more susceptible than others, including leafy salads, young cabbage family and bean plants, and celery and carrot seedlings.
If you’re growing at-risk veggies, start them off under cover or anywhere that’s well away from the slug risk. This will mean you’ll have bigger, more robust plants to transplant. Carrots need to be sown where they are to grow, so for these guys just pick a nice, clean spot clear of any lush nearby growth.
Slugs and snails typically come out to play around dusk, as nighttime approaches. This slightly cooler and obviously shadier time of day is one of their main feeding periods – and all the better if it’s nice and damp. So aim to water in the morning if you can, and that way foliage should have plenty of time to dry off before nightfall.
![Plank slug sanctuary]()
Lay a plank somewhere slugs might like to congregate, then the next day turn it over and pick them off at your leisure
3. Go On a Slug Hunt
With our slimy nemeses on the very slow-but-steady prowl from dusk, this is also the best time to go on a slug hunt. Head out into the garden with a torch, and pick off any you come across. Go on slug hunts regularly to help keep numbers down.
If you haven’t the time or will to go on a slug hunt, try corralling them into one place by setting up specific daytime retreats that you can inspect and clear at your leisure. Wooden planks are ideal, leaned up against raised bed walls or simply laid on the soil surface. Or for something deliciously straightforward, use large leaves like this rhubarb. Harvest and enjoy the stems, then lay the inedible leaves in strategic locations to offer a cool bolthole.
With your slug sanctuaries in position, all you now need to do is lift and inspect the undersides every couple of days to pick off any slugs or snails you come across. Easy!
![Beer trap]()
Beer traps are an effective way to reduce slug numbers
4. Set Slug Traps
It’s not unreasonable to look on slug pellets as a convenient, scatter-and-forget solution to slugs, but my main gripe with them is that even ‘organic’ pellets typically contain the binding agent EDTA, which research has shown is harmful to earthworms. Obviously, we want lots of lovely worms in our soil, so it makes no sense to reach for the pellets only to impact our number-one gardening ally.
Slug traps are one of my favorite alternatives to traditional pellets because they’re a very effective way to lure slugs away from tender-leafed plants. Typically, I’d just sink a small pot or ramekin into the ground, fill it with cheap beer, then return every couple of days to empty out any slugs that have been tempted in by the beer and drowned. But even cheap beer deserves to be drunk, not wasted in the garden! So this year I’ve switched to a simple yeasty liquid that costs a fraction of the beer but does an even better job.
In fact, researchers in the US state of Oregon compared a range of slug attractants to see which came out on top, including renowned slug favourites such as cucumbers, strawberries, beer and bread dough. As it turns out, it’s bread that proved top of the slugs’ menu. We can create a sort of liquid bread that will attract and trap them.
![Yeast trap]()
Whisky up flour, yeast and water as an alternative to beer traps
To make it, start with two cups of water then add one cup of flour and a sachet of yeast, and whisk it all together. The liquid should be a bit thinner than, say, a pancake batter, because we want the slugs to fall in and drown.
Take a small lidded container and cut two notches into the sides at the top for slugs to slip through. Set itat the edge of the vegetable garden to intercept the slugs as they move to and fro. Bury it into the soil a little so the notches are nearly level with the ground but just slightly above, which should reduce the risk of beneficial bugs accidentally falling in. Fill it with the yeasty liquid, and put the lid on to keep the rain out.
The slugs should really start to show an interest after about three days, as the liquid starts to turn a bit sour. Empty and refill traps about once a week.
Traps can be used throughout the growing season, but autumn is a great time to make an extra push to trap and gather slugs to make a final dent on the local population before they head underground for winter or have a chance to lay eggs for hatching in spring.
![Wool pellets]()
Try surrounding plants with spiky or scratchy materials to keep slugs at bay
5. Lay Slug Barriers
Slugs and snails are soft-bodied, so anything sharp or spiky that we can lay down to impede their progress is worth a shot. Sheep’s wool is often recommended because it has lots of tiny little fibres. Spread it around vulnerable plants. If you don’t know a sheep farmer, you can buy sheep’s wool pellets specifically for scattering around plants as slug deterrents. The wool creates a very unpleasant, scratchy, irritating experience for those slugs, and it sucks moisture from them, so they tend to just give up instead.
Bramble prunings and other very spiky stems are another option and can be laid in generous rings around specimen plants. Lay them in a good, tight band so the slugs can’t get past.
I wouldn’t bother with crushed eggshells as, (a) you’d need to eat a lot of eggs to get a meaningful amount of shells and (b) they don’t really work anyhow as they’re just not sharp enough to deter slugs!
![Garlic spray]()
Boil up some garlic and dilute it to spray onto slug-prone plants
6. Make a Slug Spray
One crop that never gets any bother from the slugs is my garlic. That’s because slugs can’t stand it, and we can use that to our advantage.
Garlic spray is a potent preventative option in our toolkit that’s perfect to use around at-risk plants. Crush up two whole bulbs of garlic then add them to a pan along with two pints (one litre) of water. Bring it up to the boil, then simmer for about a quarter of an hour. The whiff coming off this will be quite something! So if you’d prefer not to stink out your entire house, maybe cook this up outside, in the fresh air.
Once the liquid has cooled off, decant into a bottle with a lid. This pungent potion goes a long way, so dilute just one tablespoon into each half gallon of water. The diluted spray can then be poured into a spray bottle to mist-spray the plants we’re want to protect. Spray every 10 days or so – more often if it rains – then ease off once plants are big enough to withstand occasional nibbling.
![Ducks]()
Ducks make great slug annihiliators!
7. Encourage Slug Predators
Slugs are a favourite snack for lots of garden wildlife, from birds to frogs and toads to ground beetles, so do all you can to promote a healthy, happy garden ecosystem. Include shrubs to offer shelter and vantage points for birds, perhaps a small pond to attract amphibians, include a log pile or, as I have in my garden, woodchip paths, which are both hot spots for ground beetles. Having these natural predators on site to lend a hand is well worth it.
Ducks have a voracious appetite for slugs, and in the words of the late permaculture pioneer Bill Mollison: “You don’t have a slug problem, you have a duck deficiency”! So if you have a bigger garden or live in the countryside this might be something to consider. I rather like the idea of turning slugs into eggs and free duck poo fertiliser!
It’s great when we can grow our food without involving nasty chemicals. Thank you for working with nature!
