Content

• Steps
• Advice
• Warning

Bare slugs are a gardener's danger; This tiny gastropod often sneaks out at night, eating leaves and fruit from the trees. Instead of letting them take over your beloved garden, take action to get rid of the bare slugs that are destroying the trees. With a variety of methods including luring and trapping, as well as using natural predators to get rid of slugs, you won't be disturbed by slugs. Note that all these remedies work for snails as well.

Steps

Method 1 of 4: Trapping and Hunting

1. 

   Use beer or alcohol traps on important plants. Bare slugs will only notice traps that are about 1 meter away, so this is best used on small gardens or critical areas. Set the trap according to the following instructions:
   • Bury a tall goblet with a slope inside the soil. Leave 1 cm of the cup mouth, to prevent the beetles from hunting slugs.
   • Pour beer or milk to half a cup.
   • Change the cup every few days. If a slug comes out, replace it with a mixture of honey, yeast, and a little water, and boil until it sticks.

2. 

   
   
   Kill slugs by trapping with raw cornstarch. Raw cornmeal is cheap, but may not attract many slugs. Put 10 or 20 g of cornstarch in the jar and place it horizontally. Keep the cornstarch dry, and it kills the slug by expanding inside it.

3. 

   Lure a bare slug with a humane trap. Slugs gather in dark and damp places, such as under wooden planks, flower pots, or cardboard boxes. Set traps and test each day to focus and remove them away from your home. For best results, lure them with one of the following slug foods:
   • Cabbage leaves
   • Lemon orange peel is soaked in water
   • Dry pet food

4. 

   
   
   Protect traps from rain and pets. Water will damage the cornstarch and liquid traps. Put a cover on to prevent rain. If you have a pet that can be a lure, use coverings such as turning a flower pot upside down and leaving only a small entrance.

5. 

   Snail hunting at night. While this is not the most exciting job, hunting one by one can be necessary to handle massive vandalism. Using a flashlight and gloves, skew the slugs with a stick or put them in a bucket of soapy water. If you have headlamps then hunting will be easier.
   • Check under the leaves.
   • Follow the greasy traces you see.
   advertisement

Method 2 of 4: Prevent Bare Slugs

1. 

   
   
   Keep the garden dry. You won't see immediate results, but keeping your garden dry is the best method for long-term control of your slug. Here are some strategies to help make your garden less susceptible to wet insects:
   • Water the plant in the middle of the morning, so the soil will dry out before dark.
   • Install a drip irrigation system to limit water use.
   • Keep the yard debris free, and mow the lawn regularly.
   • Avoid using organic mulch, like straw or cut grass.
   • Keep plants far enough away for air to circulate around.

2. 

   Make mulches or teas from certain plants. Prepare the following plants that will suppress slugs to some extent, if you can find them at your local gardening store:
   • Cover oak leaves or tobacco stalk powder, spread in a fence around the tree
   • Wormwood Tea, made by soaking wormwood stems in warm water for 24 hours. Drain and mix with soapy water, then spray on the soil or slug.

3. 

   Make a fence with copper wire. Buy a strip of copper wire that is wide enough for the slug to not crawl. Use them as a fence around the tree or around the bed.
   • Note: Children can cut their hands because of these copper bands.

4. 

   Sprinkle salt on non-soil surfaces. Spread salt over the snails or crawl around to kill them with the damp streaks they leave. Be aware that salt can easily kill plants and damage the soil. Use salt around the flower pot base on the porch, or place a fence on the ground before spreading the salt to protect the soil.
   • Avoid salt use in situations where the salt could come into contact with water (such as during the rainy season or when the watering can run down). Water can dissolve the salts and wash them away from the "safe" zone and spread into the soil, affecting soil quality.

5. 

   Fencing by folk methods. Gardeners have been frustrated with putting everything in the garden to prevent slugs. Here are some of the most effective home remedies, but they may not be 100% preventable:
   • Coffee grounds can have a mild effect on the health of your garden.
   • Coarse, sharp sand scratches bare slugs, but may not prevent it completely.
   • Seaweed is not as efficient as granular salt, but is probably safer for the soil. If you can, then seaweed foods containing calcium will be better.

6. 

   Plant plants that prevent slugs. Specific plants keep slugs away due to the taste, texture, or poison of the plant. Plant them in a fence around the entire garden, or alternate with other plants. These plants do not remove 100%, but they will stop many slugs without having to try alongside the original plants. Try planting these varieties:
   • Herbs: ginger, garlic, herbs, mint, and chicory.
   • Vegetables: Bitter vegetables are less attractive to slugs than sweet vegetables. Try growing kale, spring cabbage, or broccoli sprouts.
   • Hostas with blue leaves will prevent it better.
   • Flowers like complete shade: Astilbe, Dicentra, Digitalis (Mao Lichen), Lobelia, Viola (some tulips and sapphires). Also available Ranunculus (Buttercup) and VincaBut they grow very quickly.
   • Partially glossy flowers: Oleander, bell flower, porch flower. As European mint, but this breed grows very quickly.

7. 

   Consider using stronger (but more dangerous) fencing. There are many materials that can kill slugs when exposed. They can be used as effective fencing to prevent slug movement, but they should be used with care and kept dry. Improper use can harm your garden (even the people and animals that use them). Be sure to use these ingredients on a soil-free surface except for the following precautions:
   • Safety warning: Do not inhale these substances or handle them with bare hands. They may not be suitable for gardens with children and pets playing.
   • Diatomite: May harm beneficial insects.
   • Wood ash: Increasing pH in soil, bringing high efficiency.
   • Lime I: Increases the pH of the soil greatly. Can make the soil not grow trees.
   • Spray 1% caffeine: Spray it directly on the tree you want to protect; Kill slugs when they are eaten. Can adversely affect plants in unpredictable ways.
   advertisement

Method 3 of 4: Using Wild Predators

1. 

   Use earth beetles. The beetle is a natural snail hunter. You can buy beetle larvae at a garden store and scatter them around your garden in early spring. The larvae feed, pupate, and emerge as they mature in the summer.
   • Alternatively, you can encourage wild beetles to get closer to the tree by providing shelter under rocks, grass, or straw. This helps the bugs escape from predators, making your garden an attractive home. Fortunately, earth beetles can live almost anywhere where bare slugs live.

2. 

   Use birds to be effective. The largest natural predator for a bare slug is the bird; Ducks, chickens, red-necked birds, rags, and other popular birds all love the slug. If you are not terrified, you can pick up the slugs and throw them to the wild birds in the morning; They will gradually become a condition for finding slugs in your garden, and you don't need to feed them 'food'.If you keep chickens or ducks, you can also feed them slugs in the garden every day.
   • Keep an eye out for chickens, as they can eat whole plants.
   • Encourage birds to nest in your garden by building hedges or bushes, food, and bird food containers.

3. 

   Release the toad. Toads love slugs and other pests on trees if you give them a home in the garden. If you're trying to lure wild toads back into your garden, turn the pot or other container upside down and place a rock under it to provide dark shelter for the toad. On the other hand, you can buy wild toads to keep in the garden and eat slugs every day for you. You can also add a small decorative pond for toads and frogs to live on.
   • Do not keep fish in the tank as they can eat tadpoles.

4. 

   Raise the nematodes if necessary. Nematodes are microscopic parasites that live in soil. You can purchase a variety of nematodes specifically designed to kill slugs at your local gardening store. This works incredibly well, but it's also a double-edged sword. When all slugs are killed, the snails (and nematodes) will leave the garden or die. If you don't repurchase the nematodes every few weeks, then huge waves of slugs will flood in and take over the garden because there is no longer any danger.
   • Nematodes should be used according to the instructions. Usually, they are spread on the soil, then watered.
   advertisement

Method 4 of 4: Using Chemical Measures

1. 

   Spray the slug with ammonia. You can create a slug-killing spray by making a mixture of ammonia and water. Mix 1 part raw household ammonia with 6 parts water. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle, then spray it on the slugs whenever you see them. Be careful not to spray the plant directly, as it may burn the leaves later.

2. 

   Use iron phosphorus tablets. These small slug killers can be found in a garden center, used to spread around the garden. Slugs will be attracted to them, but when eaten they will die within a week. This method is safe for most pets and edible plants, but is better when used sparingly.
   • Buy brands like Sluggo, Slug Magic, and Escar-Go.

3. 

   Use metaldehyde. Metaldehyde is a popular slug killer, but it has some limitations. It is worth noting that Metaldehyde can be very toxic (especially to dogs). Proper handling and traps are essential to avoid dangerous situations for pets in the family.
   • Avoid using metaldehyde "pills", as it can be mistaken for pet medicine. Instead, use "nuts".
   • Store metaldehyde in a place inaccessible to dogs.
   • Do not take this remedy near edible plants.
   • Spread a thin layer of metaldehyde, not to pile, because pets will mistake it for food.
   • Metaldehyde works best on warm, dry days, but cannot be used in the sun. Sprinkle them under the leaves in the evening before warm weather is forecast.
   • Look for products that contain low dose of metaldehyde, with less impact on the environment.
   advertisement

Advice

• Spray WD40 around the pot pedestal on the porch about 5-7 cm above the top. It will stick for a long time even in the rainy season. Done twice a year.
• If hunting bare slugs by hand, hunt them when it starts to get dark, preferably on wet nights or catch them in the early morning.
• Try a salted peanut butter trap.

Warning

• There is some debate about whether iron phosphorus tablets actually contain toxic ingredients when used. It is thought to contain EDTA, a substance that is listed as inert.
• Many snail traps have been shown to be safe and contain no toxins that damage or kill invertebrates, including worms.
• Bare slugs are mollusks, not insects, so conventional insecticides won't work.