How Do You Permanently Get Rid of Slugs in Your Garden?: Slugs can be a real threat to the plants in your garden, especially if you own a vegetable garden. Therefore, you should have a clear idea of how do you permanently get rid of slugs.
Not to mention, slugs love damp places and come at night. If you don’t take any action, they can eat all the leaves of your plants in a few nights. But not to worry. We’ve come up with some of the best ways to eliminate slugs from your garden permanently. Hence, without more talking, dive into the methods.
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How Do You Permanently Get Rid of Slugs?
Slugs keep coming repeatedly. Therefore, you should start working on eliminating them as soon as you see them in your garden. We have a few different strategies to eliminate them from your garden forever. Besides, these are some of the most efficient ways.
You can use any of the following three methods to get rid of slugs permanently:
Prevent Slugs to Enter Your Garden
If your garden is yet to be largely attacked by slugs, then you can take some measurements to discourage them from entering your garden. You also can follow these methods if slugs haven’t attacked your garden yet. That’s because it will keep them away. The following are some methods to deter slugs:
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Grow Plants that Slugs Hate
Interestingly some plants deter slugs. Hence, you can grow them in your garden. This is one of the easiest and environmentally friendly methods to get rid of slugs. These plants include:
- Astrantia – slugs hate the scent of this plant and try to stay away.
- Different herbs include ginger, mint, garlic, and chicory.
- Flowers such as campanula, phlox, and hemerocallis.
- Bitter vegetables such as sprouting broccoli or spring cabbage.
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Use Copper Tape
Creating barriers with copper tape is also a good idea. Whenever slugs come into contact with this tape, it hurts them a bit. Therefore, they go away and try not to come back again.
Purchase self-adhesive copper tape first. After that, lay it down around the plants. I hope you will find this useful. However, check every day if the tape is in its place.
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Keep the Garden Dry
Slugs love dampness. Therefore, they mostly go to moisturize places. So, if you can keep your garden dry, the slugs may not visit you.
However, you also need to water your plants. You can follow the tips below:
- Water your plants in the early morning. So that the ground dries before nightfall.
- Keep a decent amount of space between plants. This will ensure better airflow and avoid moisture.
- Mow your garden regularly.
- Ensure a good drainage system.
With this method, you may not see impacts in the first few days. But in the long run, you’ll get excellent results.
Eliminate Slugs
If you see some slugs regularly in your garden, you might want to know how to eliminate slugs. Our suggestion is you follow any of the methods below:
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Spread Salt
Salt is an excellent element for consuming moisture. Hence you can spread them around your garden. So, when slugs come into contact with the salt, it will take out the moisture from them and kill them.
However, salt also can harm your plants and soil. Therefore, spread them on the bases around the plants. If it’s a rainy season, this can be useless. That’s because rain can take the salt out.
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Own Some Pets
Unlucky for slugs, they’re on the lower side of the food chain. Therefore, you can have some pets who will likely eat them. Ducks and hens are the best of ones. Besides, you also can have eggs from these pets. However, you need to invest some extra time behind them every day. It’s worth it.
Setting Traps
Many people prefer traps to eliminate slugs. Therefore, here we will tell you how do you permanently get rid of slugs using traps. Following are some most efficient trap ideas:
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Use Baits
As we told you earlier, slugs mainly go to moist places. Therefore, you can put some bait in such places. It will attract them, and then you can catch and dispose of the slugs. You can follow any of the two methods:
- Place some old lettuce leaves in a damp and shadowy corner. The leaves will attract slugs. After that, check in every morning.
- Spread some wooden plucks or cans to create damp. Then check regularly to see if any slugs are there.
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Cornmeal Trap
Not the most appealing to slugs still can attract some. Besides, it’s cheap too. Place some cornmeal into a jar. Then put in the garden. If slugs eat it, the cornmeal is likely to kill them.
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Beer Trap
If you drink beer at your home, you also can give a try to beer traps. Have some beer and leaves into a few containers and place them in the garden. After that, the beer will lure the slugs. Once entered, the slugs will be trapped inside.
Use Slug Killers
If you don’t want to get the hassle of making traps nor like to try to prevent them, then there’s another way. You can try slug killers.
Slug killers can eliminate slugs from your garden quickly. Besides, it’s easy to use. Moreover, it will also help you to get rid of snails.
Read more about How to Eliminate Milkweeds Bugs Naturally?
It would be best if you used slug killers in early spring. That’s because it’s time for slugs to grow. So, before they make your garden their home, you can eliminate them with this chemical product. Follow the instructions on the package to know how to use them. And don’t worry, it won’t kill your plants.
Conclusion: How Do You Permanently Get Rid of Slugs?
We’ve explained several methods on how do you permanently get rid of slugs in this article. However, if you ask us, we’ll suggest you use slug killers first. It will eliminate the existing slugs. After that, take any preventive measures. Growing plants that deter slugs is our favourite method.