Slugs in the Home Vegetable Garden

When I say slugs in the home vegetable garden I am not talking about the crabby old man around the corner that constantly wants your fresh fruits and veggies. I am talking about that annoying shell lacking gastropod mollusk that wreaks havoc on the plants you are growing.

Slugs will eat just about everything you grow in the garden and the carnage they leave behind to look at isn't pretty. Who would think something so small could be so bad right? Well they are.

Slugs thrive in areas where there is plenty of moisture. Some common areas would be in gardens that have plenty of mulch or under potted plants that get regular waterings and areas of the garden that have become overgrown.

Predators to slugs make for great slug control however for many home vegetable gardeners attracting such predators may be too time consuming or near impossible. If you are lucky enough to attract some toads then you are business, but for me, in the suburbs, it doesn't work out too well.

If obtaining some predators is not a viable option then one method that has worked well for many is putting out a tin pan filled with beer. Yeah I know, such a waste of a good drink, but this method truly works. It attracts the slugs and they eventually drown in it.

Another method that works great that I picked up from my grandfather many years ago was pouring salt on them. Since slugs need moisture, the salt dries them out, killing them. This method works well when you can get right at them and pour the salt directly. It doesn't work so well when you blindly dump salt in areas that may or may not have slugs.

Along with beer traps and salt, diatomaceous earth, crushed egg shells, coffee grounds and copper also make for great slug deterrents.

As one friend of mine said previously, `if you have a vegetable garden, you have slugs`. This statement rings true. If you don't have slugs consider yourself lucky or your vegetable garden underwatered, but that's a topic for a whole other conversation.

Some facts about slugs you may not have known and that is some slugs are predators and will eat other slugs, they do a great job of "cleaning" the environment by eating dead leaves and the majority of slugs are absolutely harmless to humans.

Also, Frogs, toads, snakes, hedgehogs, Salamanders, eastern box turtles, rats, Caecilians and also some birds and beetles are slug predators. So if you have a few of these around, your home vegetable garden will be in good shape.

About the Author
Mike Podlesny is the owner of Mike the Gardener Enterprises, LLC, the exclusive home for the Seeds of the Month Club, which has appeared on NBC, ABC and MSN Money as a great way for consumers to save money.