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Slugs can be a major nuisance in your garden, so learn how to control them with this guide from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Identifying Slug and Snail Damage on Plants and Vegetavles
If slippery slugs and slimy snails are stealing your seedlings, it’s time to think like a slug and get one step ahead of the slime trail! Find out which control methods work to get rid of slugs and snails—and which don’t! Plus, see a helpful video.
We will help you bring your slug woes under control as naturally as possible. Spoiler alert: That means there’s no room for slug pellets!
What Are Slugs and Snails?
Did you know that the average garden contains upwards of 15,000 slugs?! No wonder our plants get nibbled or even destroyed.
Slugs and snails are not insects; they are soft-bodied mollusks. Unlike seagoing mollusks, these landlubbers are equipped with a single lung. The main difference between slugs and snails is that the latter have an distinct shell, primarily composed of calcium carbonate.
Slugs and snails are hermaphroditic, with each individual having both male and female reproductive organs. As you would expect, their love life is complex. The common gray garden slug dances an elaborate, hour-long nuptial waltz before mating, while other species perform acrobatic movements while hanging suspended from threads of slime.
While slugs do try the patience of us gardeners, they’re not all bad. For example, the slugs found in compost heaps help with decomposition, speeding the process along. There are also lots of slugs that have no interest in your vegetables and prefer to eat things like algae instead. And then there’s their value as a food source for all manner of wildlife, from beetles to birds to frogs and toads. Like weeds, it’s not that slugs are intrinsically “bad”—we just don’t want them in certain places, such as around susceptible plants.
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Identification
Identifying Slug and Snail Damage
- Most garden slugs and snails are gray, dull orange, or dark brown and 1 to 3 inches long. They will hide in dark, damp places during the day.
- Many people are prompted to ask, “Where do slugs come from?” They seem to materialize out of nowhere! They are hard to spot in the soil due to their dark color, but also because they only feed at night and hide throughout the day. If you realize you have slug and snail damage but can’t find the culprits, you’re not alone.
- Slugs and snails will leave a slimy secretion where they have been, so even if you can’t spot them, you’ll know they are there. Look for slime both on plants and in the surrounding soil. It is easiest to see the trails of slime first thing in the morning.
- You can monitor slug and snail activity in your garden by digging holes that are 4 inches wide and 6 inches deep. Cover these holes with a flat board, and then check for slugs after 3 days. If you see many of them, these might be the sneaky pests that are eating your plants!
- Slugs and snails lay their eggs in moist soil or compost. Their populations can grow rapidly in cool and moist conditions.
What Do Slugs Eat?
Slugs will feed on almost anything in the garden—look for holes and ragged edges on leaves and stems. The holes should have irregular shapes due to the slugs’ file-like mouthparts. Small seedlings can be consumed entirely. Slugs can digest tissues from most plants, but you might find them especially liking plants with broad, delicate leaves, like beans, lettuce, cabbage, bok choy, and tomatoes.
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Comments
They are still here, this is year 5 of the enslaught of slugs and snails - and I am the only person in my town with this problem. They are on all my perennials, under the cardboard pieces I put on all the walk paths, under and up the sides of the wood borders of my raised beds. Picking them is most helpful, as last spring I picked 1000 a day, and three days ago I picked over 928 in one day. Put them in dishsoapy water which kills them quickly. Last year a few slugs were on my house porch after rain, in the wet spots, and this year, there are a lot more. Today in the first visit to the porch, after rain all night, I picked 46, and they are mostly teeny baby slugs. Went out again in half an hour and got 15 more. Nothing is deterring them except picking them, but even then, more arrive. They are in all the hay in the fields around my house and garden. Need to keep them off my veggies!!!
Don’t “donate” them to your neighbour (you can have the u I’ve got more!) because they are homing (like pigeons) and will just come back.
This is the 3rd year of these creatures torturing my garden. Mostly slugs for the past month. All in this piece is correct and helpful. I find that picking them is the most effective, as well as setting up pieces of cardboard to entice slugs. Also, the boards around my raised beds attrack slugs, so if I turn them over every day, especially after a rain, I find more. Takes a lot of time to check these 'traps'. Also, digging up big weeds around the border, I often find nests of slugs and snails. More to do!!
Ducks love slings n snails.
Peppermint spray kills slugs--rodents also hate the smell, so a double benefit to gardeners. If you don't want spiders in your house, spraying it around windows and doors will discourage entry; inside the house, it will kill spiders if sprayed on them--otherwise, it's the same deterrent. (Disclaimer: outside, in the garden, spiders are beneficial!!!!)