After spending hours tending the flowers and shrubs in your garden, the last thing you want to see is slugs chewing holes in the leaves. Slugs are a problem for gardeners across the country, but fortunately, there are lots of ways to get rid of these pests. Here are four methods that you can try.
Create beer traps
Beer traps are a tried-and-true method of dealing with slugs. To create one of these traps, partially bury a glass or plastic container in the soil and fill it with beer. The slugs will be drawn to the beer for a drink, and they'll get too drunk to crawl back out of your trap. It's the yeast in beer that attracts slugs, so if you don't want to waste beer, you can use a mixture of water, flour, sugar, and yeast, instead.
Sprinkle coffee grinds
Getting rid of slugs can be as easy as sprinkling coffee grounds around the perimeter of your flower beds. Studies have shown that coffee is an effective repellent against slugs, but it can do more than just scare them away. Caffeine has even been shown to be fatal to slugs, so the slugs that aren't deterred by the presence of the grounds won't last long.
Use diatomaceous earth
Diatomaceous earth is a gritty powder that can be used to kill a wide variety of crawling pests. The powder is made of fossilized diatoms, a type of algae. When slugs crawl across this powder it will create abrasions on their undersides, which leads to them drying out and dying. As a bonus, diatomaceous earth will also kill other garden pests like ear wigs.
Get rid of excess moisture
Slugs are attracted to excess moisture, so you need to try to reduce the amount of moisture in your garden. Instead of watering your garden a little bit every day, switch to watering deeply but infrequently. This allows your plants to dry out in between watering sessions. You should also remove objects like logs or decorative rocks from your garden since the area underneath will be moist and the perfect home for slugs.
Slugs can cause a lot of damage to your flowers and shrubs, so if you see them in your garden, you need to get rid of them right away. You can do this with beer traps, coffee grinds, diatomaceous earth, or moisture control. Click here for more info about getting rid of pests in your garden.
Share