Table of Contents
Slugs are the quiet tax on every garden. They work at night, they hide under things during the day, and by the time you notice the damage – ragged holes in your hostas, decimated seedlings – they’ve already been at it for weeks. The frustrating part isn’t that they’re hard to kill. It’s that killing the ones you see does nothing if you haven’t changed the conditions that make your garden attractive to them in the first place. So: stop thinking of this as a slug problem and start thinking of it as a garden management problem. The methods below cover every angle.
Traps
The simplest approach, and it works. A slug trap is just a container sunk to soil level with something inside that slugs want. Beer is the classic – they’re attracted to the yeast, they fall in, they drown. But a dedicated a slug trap made from a plastic bottle does the same job with less smell and less mess.
Cardboard traps work on a different principle. Cardboard traps exploit the slug’s need for daytime shelter. Lay damp cardboard near problem areas at night, and you’ll find dozens sheltering under it by morning. Collect and dispose of them before the day heats up. Not glamorous, but effective at quickly reducing numbers.
Night watch – going out after dark with a headlamp and a bucket of soapy water – is tedious but produces immediate results. Do it two nights in a row after rain and you’ll be surprised how many you’re dealing with.
Physical Barriers
Barriers don’t kill slugs. They redirect them. That distinction matters because it means they only work if they’re actually blocking the routes slugs are using.
Blocking the slug means thinking about entry points. Raised beds with smooth or overhanging edges are much harder to cross. Copper tape barriers create a mild electrical deterrent – slugs genuinely avoid copper, though the effect fades if the tape gets dirty or corroded, so keep it clean.
Propagation domes protect individual seedlings through the vulnerable early weeks when slugs can wipe out an entire sowing overnight. Simple and underused.
Diatomaceous earth is a physical barrier in powder form. It damages the slug’s underbody as it crosses. Dry conditions required – rain or irrigation nulls the effect entirely, so reapply after every wet spell.
Chemical and Organic Baits
If you want the most reliable broad-area control, baits are it. Iron phosphate bait is the standout. It’s effective, it breaks down into soil nutrients, and it’s safe around pets and wildlife. Scatter it around vulnerable plants rather than in big piles – slugs find it by following scent trails, not by sight.
Slug balls (metaldehyde-based pellets) work faster but come with real downsides around hedgehogs, birds, and dogs. Use iron phosphate instead unless you have a compelling reason not to.
Slug weaknesses covers the environmental factors: slugs need moisture to move. Salt kills them on contact by dehydration, but using it broadly damages soil. Targeted application only.
Biological Control
Slug predators covers two approaches. First, encouraging what’s already there: hedgehogs, ground beetles, frogs, and birds all eat slugs, and garden practices that support those predators pay dividends. Second, nematodes – specifically Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita. Watered into soil in late summer, they infect and kill slugs underground where you’ll never see them. The effect lasts 6 weeks and needs moist soil above 5°C (41°F) to work. It’s the most effective single-purchase solution for serious infestations.
Garden and Cultural Practices
This is the category most people skip, and it’s the reason they keep fighting the same problem every year.
Watering early in the day means the soil surface dries out by evening – when slugs are active. Evening irrigation is essentially an invitation. Cleaning up fall vegetation removes overwintering sites. Debris piles, old boards, thick leaf litter – all of these are slug hotels.
Growing slug-resistant plants isn’t about giving up on the plants you want. It’s about accepting that some plants need extra protection and others don’t. Hostas will always be a target. Lavender and herbs generally aren’t. Plan accordingly.
Where It Shows Up
The garden is the main battlefield, but the specific problem changes depending on what you’re growing and what you’re trying to protect. How to get rid of slugs from your garden covers cultural and biological approaches focused on the garden as an ecosystem. For hard-edge protection of specific beds or containers, how to get rid of slugs with barriers goes deep on physical exclusion. And how to get rid of slugs with traps and baits is where to go if you want the fastest knockdown of an existing population.
