Mother Earth’s Garden

Keeping Snails and Slugs Out of Your Garden

by Rebecca on August 22nd, 2007

I’ve never had much problem with slugs and snails, until this guy showed up literally on my door step last night. At first I thought that some of the stray cats that frequent our porch had left me a smelly present, but then I realized it was a giant slug! And he was crawling strait toward my container garden! My first instinct was to kill him, since a slug so big would probably finish off my plants in one night. But it was just so darn cool looking, that I couldn’t bring my self to kill him out right. I ended up throwing him in the grass away from my plants and set out slug traps and repellants. If he wanders into a trap, then I can’t be held responsible right? I’m a big supporter of natural repellants, and avoid using chemicals if at all possible, so here are some natural ways to rid your garden of the slimy little buggers.

1. Pulling up weeds promptly and keeping your garden clear of fallen leaves and debris will go a long way to keep snails and slugs in check, since they hide there during the day.
2. Hand picking slugs and snails at night can be effective if done regularly, and is some what satisfying. It’s best to do this after 10pm when they start coming out in full force to feed. Just throw them in a bowl of soapy water with salt and then throw them away when they die.
3. Set up barriers around your garden. There are a few choices when using natural, plant safe snail and slug barriers. You can place strips of copper along bed linings or around pots, since their skin reacts badly with the copper. Garden centers usually sell copper tape for this purpose. Sawdust or gravel around your plants will dehydrate slugs and snails. Putting mint or sage in your mulch does a good job at repelling them. I’ve also heard, but never tried, that dried crushed up egg shells are a good plant barrier, and add nutrients to the soil. But keep in mind that barriers will only repel snails, and they may end up going after your neighbors garden!
4. Put up a bird feeder. Birds love snails and slugs, so the more birds you have around, the less likely it is you’ll have a slug problem.
5. Almost everyone has heard of using stale beer to attract and drown snails and slugs, but if you don’t drink like me, then it would be kind of silly to go buy a case of beer just to kill them. Plus you’d have to wait around for it to go stale. If you don’t normally have beer around or a way to get beer, a very effective alternative is boiling some yeast and honey in water. Bury a dish up to the rim in your garden and fill it with this mixture or with stale beer. You’d be amazed at how well this works. They glide right in and drown themselves. I’ve also heard old grape juice works well, and that non-alcoholic beer works better if you use beer.

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