Control Slugs

To control slugs terrorizing your garden is quite simple. You can take your pick from a number of methods taking into consideration the amount of time and money you are willing to invest and your level of squeamishness. The simplest method (in terms of equipment used) is to gout into the garden with a pail and a pair of tongs and collect them. Since slugs are nocturnal creatures and prefer moisture, you will be able to collect more at night, after a slight drizzle. If not, then you will find them in little garden pockets where it is still shady and moist like under logs and flower pots as well as in damp leaf litter. Once the situation is under control slugs can either be fed to ducks or doused in beer. You can also use soap water in the bucket; plain water has no effect on them and the eventually crawl out. They can also be used as fish food.

Slug infestations in the garden are like balloons under water - they keep popping back up no matter how hard you try to keep them down. This is because slugs are hermaphroditic and their eggs can lie undetected for years in moist soil before hatching. Since we are unable to be rid of them completely, to control slugs by reducing their numbers is the only possible option.

You could also use iron phosphate pellets available in super markets. Sprinkle these pellets throughout your garden and you will need to wait for at least six days for it to take effect. To control slugs this way is quite effective since you don't need to go looking for them, but you should make sure to keep them away from pets and children.

Most gardeners control slugs with commercially available pesticides, but If you're worried about its effects on your edible plants and the environment, then you can practice organic way to control slugs. One is by adjusting the times you tend to water the garden. Since slugs only tend to come out mostly at night, by watering your garden in the evening you create the perfect environment for these pests to crawl about in. Water your garden in the morning and any moisture would have evaporated by the time night falls.

Use the beer trap to control slugs enmasse by filling a shallow jug with beer, burying it neck deep in the soil and covering the opening with a lid slightly wedged open with a stick so that the slugs can enter. The beer in the jug acts like a magnet and pulls the garden slugs towards and into its toxic depths where they drown. The lid is kept on in order to stop the rain from falling in and diluting the beer.

To most gardeners the control of slugs is an ongoing battle that can be won with effective slug control measures that need to be viewed more as a constant cyclical application than spot treatment for long term slug free gardening.