Getting rid of snails and slugs from the garden when they are busy devouring your vegetable garden and prize hostas can feel like an endless and hopeless battle.
But there are natural slug repellents that will control slug and snail populations and stop them from eating your plants naturally including simple DIY :
This guide gives you all the simple tips you need to protect the garden without harming wildlife or your soil with the best quick easy ways to :
- Slash snail & slug numbers
- Control snail & slug levels
- Repel snails & slugs naturally
- Protect specific plants.
1. How To Get Rid Of Snails And Slugs From Garden
Slugs and snails do play a useful role in our garden as they help decompose dead plants and bugs.
But slug and snail populations easily get out of control because we have lost many natural predators from our gardens. If all your plants are vanishing, use these natural tips to get rid of lots of snails and slugs fast :
- Clear Hiding Places
- Beer Slug & Snail Traps
- Yeast Water Traps
- Rainy Day Patrol
- Dusk Patrol
Clear Hiding Places
Manually removing slugs and snails from their day time hiding places is a blatantly obvious thing to do but it is easy to forget. Before you start spring planting go round all these hiding places to clear them out :
- Under lip of pots
- Behind pots
- Round compost heaps
- In garden bags
- Side of sheds
- Next to ponds / bog areas
- In fence grooves
- In wood piles
- Between raised beds and fences.
Drown them in a bucket of soapy water or release them in the park.
Leave leopard slugs alone as they eat other slugs rather than plants.
Beer Slug & Snail Traps
Jam jars of cheap beer are the best homemade slug and snail traps and a great way to lure out any you missed manually. The slugs in particular can’t resist the yeasty smell of the beer and drown in it.
Simply place slug traps between key hiding places and beds or pots slugs are attacking. I keep 5 jars going around my small vegetable garden.
Do remember to empty out and refill jars weekly as they get a bit gross and will attract flies if you don’t!!
You can also use beer slug traps to protect specific pots and plants.
Yeast Water Slug Traps
If you don’t have cheap beer handy, you can make DIY slug traps with yeast, sugar and water in jars.
I don’t find them as reliable as beer traps but they are cheaper. Use them in the same way as beer traps.
Dusk Slug Patrol
Slugs and snails come out at dusk.
If you go out nightly at dusk for a week in spring to collect them up manually you can get rid of enough slugs and snails to make levels manageable for the growing season.
Rainy Day Slug Patrol
Slugs and snails are nocturnal but come out from hiding places in rain. So go out when it’s raining especially in spring to get rid of more manually.
2. How To Control Slug And Snails Naturally
Our gardens and backyards would once have been full of small predators to control slugs and snails naturally. So do everything you can to encourage them back in.
Key Slug & Snail Predators
The key predators who will get rid of the most slugs and snails are :
- Frogs
- Toads – who also devour ants
- Hedgehogs
- Foxes
- Badgers
Birds Who Eat Slugs & Snails
Many of us have also lost slug and snail eating birds including :
- Thrushes
- Blackbirds
- Robins
- Starlings
- Jays
- Magpies
In urban areas these birds now no longer ground feed because there are so many cats around. So curiously one of the best ways to control slugs and snails naturally is to keep cats out of your garden.
Leopard Slugs
Leopard slugs are very big slugs with distinctive leopard markings who typically don’t eat your vegetables and do eat other slugs so leave these guys alone when slug clearing.
Chickens
A final option is backyard chickens who help control slugs, snails, ants and caterpillars and produce compost for growing vegetables:
Now obviously these natural slug and snail control methods are not quick wins I would keep using homemade beer slug traps all season long to keep levels under control.
3. Natural Slug Repellents
Even if you get rid of lots of slugs and snails during spring planting and use wildlife or beer traps to keep them under control you still need to build a number of natural slug repellents into your garden design.
Some of the best natural slug repellents for whole beds include :
- Gravel & Sea Shell Mulch
- Spruce & Pine Cuttings
- Butterfly Netting
- Spiky Cuttings
- Prickle Strips
- Strong Smelling Herbs
- Vegetables Slugs Hate
- Compost Heap
Snail & slug repellents – natural or not – are never fool proof so it is best to double up on natural repellents.
Gravel & Sea Shell Mulch
Gravel or sea shell mulch paths between raised beds and around pots and plants act as a slug and snail barrier as they find it hard to move over the sharp edges.
Butterfly Netting
Butterfly netting around vegetable beds is not an impenetrable barrier for tiny slugs and snails but does make it harder for big ones to get to and eat your vegetables.
Spruce & Pine Cuttings
Spruce and pine cuttings can be used as natural snail and slug repellent around beds and pots . The snails and slugs don’t like the sharpness, smell or taste of the pine.
You can also compost pine needle mulch as a natural slug repellent around key plants they like eating.
Spiky Cuttings
You can repel slugs and snails naturally by placing cuttings from thorny climbers and spiky hedges around the edges of bed.
These spiky perimeter plants are also a great way to keep cats out of your garden so serve as double whammy natural pest control.
Prickle Strips
Prickle strips are another pest control method you can use to keep cats off plants that doubles up as a snail and slug repellent. You can use it as ground cover but I’ve also used it to make quick protective fences around sweet pea seedlings.
Strong Smelling Herbs
Strong smelling herbs in your vegetable garden can repel all sorts of pests naturally and also be used in all sorts of natural remedies.
Herbs to repel slugs and snails are :
- Lemon Balm
- Mint (snails will I feed occasionally nibble but not massacre)
- Sage
- Thyme
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Chives
I don’t have much space so sneak chives and parsley into path edges around raised beds and have lemon balm as a repellent barrier between the pond and vegetable garden.
Vegetables Slugs Hate
Slugs and snails typically hate red vegetables so if you have the space design your vegetable beds to have some of these around the edges as natural slug repellents :
- Aubergine / eggplant skin
- Radishes
- Red cabbages
- Red onions
- Purple cauliflower.
4. How To Stop Slugs Eating Plants Naturally
Slugs and snails do like eating specific plants so it is worth giving some plants, pots and beds dedicated repellents including :
- Bramble Rings
- Copper Rings
- Copper Mesh
- Copper Tape
- Sandpaper
- Pine Needle Mulch
- Wool Pellets
- Coffee Grains
- Egg Shells
- Diatomaceous Earth
Bramble Rings
If you have blackberries brambles growing in the garden or wild nearby you can create little slug repellent bramble rings tied up with string to pop around prized plants.
Copper Rings
I find copper rings very effective at protecting key young plants from snails and slugs. You can keep shifting them around as early plants mature and new seedlings go in.
Copper rings last for ever but are not cheap so not the best option if you’re gardening on a budget.
Copper Mesh
A new cheaper and more flexible alternative to copper rings is copper mesh. You can easily mould it around different plants and attach it to raised beds, planters and pots.
Copper Tape
Another cheaper alternative to copper rings is copper tape that you can stick directly onto planters and pots and can use to make your own rings by sticking it on DIY plastic rings cut from water or soda bottles.
You can now get copper tape with serrated edges that are even more slug and snail repellent.
Sandpaper
If you need an instant DIY slug repellent for plants under attack you can make sandpaper rings or stick sandpaper going spare to pots.
Wool Pellets
Natural sheep wool pellets can be used as both slow release fertilisers and natural slug repellents to protect specific plants slugs love to eat.
Personally, I haven’t tried them as I do well with beer traps, rainy day patrols, butterfly nets and copper rings. Some people swear by them for everything from zucchini to hostas whilst others have less success so they are best used with other natural slug repellents.
These suppliers all offer versions :
Pine Needle Mulch
Pine needles can be used as a natural slug repellent mulch around plants but need hot composting for a month before application as pine needles contain tannins that inhibit seed germination.
Coffee Grains & Spray
Used coffee grounds have long been used as natural barrier to stop snails and slugs eating plants.
Research by the USDA actually found that a solution containing 1-2% caffeine (as per typical cup of coffee) sprayed round a plant could significantly reduce consumption by slugs. Most slugs sprayed directly with the caffeine solution died.
Eggs Shells
You can use eggshells in the garden in all sorts of ways and many people claim they work well as natural slug and snail repellents.
I have tried them in big pieces and crushed small and haven’t found them very effective. For quick DIY slug repellents I would go for the bramble rings and coffee grains.
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth is very useful for all sorts of natural pest control – I swear by it for getting rid of ants naturally – and it can be used to protect plants from slugs and snails.
But it only works if the powder is dry which is obviously NOT the case when slugs and snails are about so I would save it for the ants.
5. Plants Slugs & Snails Eat
Slugs and snails do devour some plants more than others so if you are planting any of the following give them specific protection e.g. copper rings, bramble rings, coffee grains.
Key Fruit & Vegetables That Slugs & Snails Eat
Slugs and snails love to eat all of the following vegetables and fruit :
- Almost all seedlings
- Basil
- Beans
- Cabbage
- Collards
- Courgette / Zucchini
- Cucumbers
- Lettuce
- Peas
- Peppers
- Spinach
- Strawberries
Flowers Slugs & Snails Eat
Slugs and snails also love to devour these flowers :
- Dahlias
- Hostas
- Lenten Rose
- Marigolds
- Sunflowers
- Zinias
So again it is worth protecting them with natural slug & snail repellents.
And there you go, loads of tips on how to get rid of slugs and snails naturally in the garden and backyard. I do hope they help.
For more natural pest control tips check out these posts :
- Get Rid Of Flies Naturally
- Get Rid of Ants Naturally
- Natural Mosquito Repellents
- Keep Cats Out Of Gardens
- Wasp & Bee Sting Remedies
- Mosquito Bite Remedies
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Original images sloely.com plus baby snail and large snail under Creative Commons.