How To Keep Garden Slugs Under Control

Slugs have 27,000 teeth on their tongue, and they use it to grasp their food. They can be a little picky when it comes to eating. Usually, they dine on damaged plants more than healthy ones. But nonetheless, they wreak havoc in the garden. Let's explore the different methods for getting rid of this annoying garden pest, and keeping them under control.

There are many ways to skin a cat, in the same sense that there are many ways to kill a slug. While most people want to get rid of their slugs as soon as possible, many don't like the common salt idea. Since slugs are very water-based, salt dehydrates them, in turn killing them. So simply sprinkle a bit of salt on to the slug, then you can watch it melt.

Another similar home solution is beer! Slugs do seem to have one good character trait, and that is their affinity for beer. Simply leave a bowl of beer in a slug town, and voila, slug-in-a-bowl! These little creatures will drown in the beer, but will die happy. Sometimes, however, the slug may just dangle its head over the bowl, get tanked up on beer, then go rampaging through the garden. Even if these slugs-in-a-bowl seem dead, a little moisture can flush the alcohol from its system, and life goes on. Maybe Budweiser should have used slugs instead of frogs in their advertisement campaigns...

Another method is by using ammonia. Simply spray a bit of the solution in the garden, then these little critters will be no more. However, the effects of this method are unpredictable. Also, if you consider yourself to be a slug hunter instead of a trapper, try spreading a section of wet newspaper in or near you planting area. In the morning, you should find a city of slugs under the paper.

Another method is to place pennies or rolls of copper around the plants, and the slugs will receive an electrical shock when they try to cross it. So the next time, they will know better than to mess with your plants. Finally, a practical solution would be to introduce ducks or geese into your garden. Since these fowls are the slug's natural predators, it will soon rid of your slimy problem. However, the cure is sometimes worse then the problem…