Get rid of slugs with a slug beer trap

Slugs are attracted to beer. Set a small amount of beer in a shallow wide jar buried in the soil up to its neck. Slugs will crawl in and drown. Take the jar lid and prop it up with a small stick so rain won't dilute the beer. Leave space for slugs to enter the trap.

[edit] How To Get Rid of Slugs in the House

Have you ever turned on your kitchen light at night to be confronted with slugs crawling around your kitchen floor and up your cupboards?

That’s exactly what happened to me last November and after the initial shock, I set about getting rid of them – it took about of month of trial and error with different methods to banish them. In this article, I’ll explain various ways of getting rid of slugs from your house so you’ll no longer have to suffer the squelch underfoot when you pop downstairs for a midnight snack. To begin, it is important to get inside the mind of a slug and understand how they operate. Think like a slug and your halfway to getting of them!

STUFF SLUGS LIKE

Mr slug likes the dark and Mr Slug likes the damp. That’s why you’ll often find them wandering around your house at night. Slugs will generally tolerate light and dry areas when they are are looking for something to eat, but after feeding they will return to their dark, dank lair. Talking of food, slugs are attracted to fruit and vegetable matter whether fresh or decaying.

CLEAN AND TREAT

So, the first thing you need to do to is make your house less hospitable to slugs. If your home suffers from dampness, get it treated by specialists as soon as you can. In addition, give your house a thorough clean to ensure there is no decaying matter that could be a feast for a slug (I found under the fridge to be a prime example of a slug’s banquet).

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES

Next, try to establish how the slugs are getting into your home. Start from the location where you’ve seen the largest concentration of slugs and look for holes, cracks and crevices to the exterior. Is there an exterior wall? Are there any air bricks / vents? Any holes to the outside for pipes or cables? These are all questions you should be asking yourself as you search for the slugs way in.

If there are any slug slime trails visible, you may get some clues as to where they are coming from by following it. When you make a discovery, seal it up by repairing any damage or filling with expandable foam. It may seem obvious to most but I should point out that you shouldn’t block your air vents! Purchase a new air vent that slugs can’t get through and replace.

SLUG TERMINATION

There are a number of ways to kill slugs that are inside your property and I’ve put together a list of my top three here:

Beer Trap: Lay out a bowl of beer and leave it overnight near to the area of your house that the slugs frequent. Mr slug will be attracted to it (after all, beer is essentially rotting matter, which slugs love) fall into the liquid and drown. You can also purchase specially-designed slug traps.

Salt: Sprinkle patches of salt around the infested area. Slugs and salt don’t mix and you’ll wake up in the morning to find lots of dead slugs.

Slug Pellets: Click here for some great slug pellet recommendations.

[edit] How To Get Rid of Slugs

About the Slug

To gardeners, the slug (or shell-less gastropod mollusc) is an annoying pest that can create vast damage to their crops. Whilst, slugs can play an important part in any eco-system by eating decaying organic matter, a slugs penchance for a gardener’s prize harvest makes it very difficult for the two to live together in harmony.

This webpage outlines some of the ways a gardener can get rid their garden of slugs. For more in-depth information, we highly recommend that you grab a copy of Jill Haskin’s Garden Slug Control.

How Do You Get Rid of Slugs?

In this section, I’ll discuss some of the techniques you can use to get rid of slugs.

Eggshells

Method: Break up eggshells and scatter around the perimeter of your plants.

Due to the softness of their bodies, the sharp edges of the egg shells deter slugs from crossing them. Although a widely-known solution, I don’t know of anyone that has had success with this technique.

Diatomaceous Earth

Method: Create a barrier of diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of your plants.

Diatomaceous earth is a natural material consisting of fossilized algae. Like eggshells, it can lacerate the underside of any brave slug that tries to cross it.

Removal by hand

Method: Remove slugs from your garden by hand (especially after a shower of rain)

I wasn’t sure whether to include this but in the end I decided that it should be here, if only because it is the most common method of slug control.

Slug Pellets

Method: A scattering of slug pellets around your garden

Commercially manufactured slug-killing pellets. Although they’re pretty good at killing slugs, they can also cause damage to other wildlife, pets and young children.

Predators

Method: Introduce slug-eating ducks or chickens to your garden or create a habitat that will attract other predators

Ducks, chickens and other birds love to chew on tasty slugs, as do other birds. You can invest in poultry or simply attract birds to your garden with a feeder. Other animals such as hedgehogs or beetles will also enjoy keeping your slug population down.

Porridge

Method: A scattering of porridge oats around your slug’s habitat.

I’ve never tried his, but apparently slugs will eat the oats and it will kill them (please let me kow if anyoe has had any success with this method).

Beer Trap

Method: Bury a jar/bottle in your garden and fill with beer.

Slugs are attracted to the beer, fall into the trap and drown.

[edit] Links

• Look here for other natural slug control methods, including adjusting the watering schedule, copper, salt, overturned flowerpots and grapefruit halves and more.