Slugs are slow-moving cousins of the snail and are common garden pests, especially in humid regions.
Your organic slug control strategy is threefold: take their homes away, keep new slugs from moving in and kill any slugs who dare to remain.
Eliminating their habitat
Slugs like to live in damp, shady places during the day and awake to forage in your delicious organic garden at night. By removing tall grass or weeds, rotting logs, boards or any plant detritus (including your compost pile) from your immediate garden area, you will eliminate a lot of potential slug habitat.
Building a barrier
The second slug control strategy is to create a slug barrier around your garden. The barrier can be made or anything that will poke, stab, dry out or otherwise irritate the slugs. There are many types of organic slug barriers that you can try in your organic garden. Among the materials of choice are lava rocks, eggshells, lime (calcium carbonate), hardware cloth, copper strips or whatever other sharp, drying materials you can think of.
Trapping the stragglers
The third step and the one that gives you the most extensive slug exposure is trapping any slugs who persist in calling your garden home. You can accomplish this by luring slugs with the bait of your choosing. Many people swear by using beer as slug bait, but for the teetotalers among us, there are various non-alcoholic baits available, either homemade, such as a sugar water and yeast mixture, or purchased, such as Sluggo. Slugs can also be trapped by luring them with the promise of a snug, dark, moist home (such as under a piece of plywood) and then killing them by squishing them or sprinkling them with salt.
By combining these organic slug control strategies, you will be able to safely keep these pests out of your garden.
 | Effective pest control starts with identifying the plant and the pest, then working out a solution that does the least damage to the environment. |
 | Five easy solutions to control Japanese Beetles in your garden naturally. |
Japanese beetles can do a devastating amount of damage to the leaves of fruit trees, bushes, vegetables, and a number of other outdoor trees, flowers, and plants. They feast on the tender parts of foliage, and they leave behind a path of destruction. |
Every gardener, at one time or another, has had to deal with an infestation of some sort. I myself am something of a gardening novice, but my mother-in-law qualifies as an expert in my opinion. I recently sat down with her and went over various remedies and preventatives. |
Japanese beetles are capable of destroying plants and lawns. There are methods you can use to get rid of them. |
