How Can You Get Rid Of Garden Slugs Without Using Any Pesticides?
Slugs love to eat the leaves on vegetable plants, and a large infestation of slugs can rapidly kill a home garden. When a slug eats the leaves of a plant, it won't be able to produce as much energy from sunlight, slowing its growth. If most of the leaves on a plant are eaten, it may die entirely.
One problem with trying to eliminate a slug infestation, however, is that the pesticides commonly used to kill slugs are also highly poisonous to birds and mammals. Other animals that eat poisoned slugs may become ill or die. If you want to get rid of the slugs in your garden but don't want to use pesticides, read on to find out how you can eliminate a garden slug infestation naturally.
Keep Your Garden Dry
Slugs love moisture, so one of the best ways to make your vegetables a less appealing target is to keep them dry. Slugs are most active at night, so you should always water your plants in the morning so that they're as dry as possible when night falls. Remove any debris from the ground like dead tree leaves and mulch that can trap and collect moisture. By keeping your plants dry, you'll help prevent slugs from targeting them.
Use Diatomaceous Earth to Kill Slugs Near Your Plants
Spreading diatomaceous earth around your plants will help keep them safe from slugs. If a slug travels over diatomaceous earth, the diatomaceous earth will create numerous microscopic cuts in its skin. This will cause the slug to slowly die from dehydration. One downside of using diatomaceous earth is that it will stop working if it's rained on or if it collects too much moisture from the air, so you'll have to periodically spread a new, dry layer around your plants to keep them protected.
Trap the Slugs and Dispose of Them
You can trap slugs by digging small holes in your garden and covering them with a damp piece of cardboard. It's a perfect burrow for slugs, so they'll hide underneath the cardboard after they've finished eating for the night. In the morning, you can collect all of the slugs in the traps and relocate them or kill them. If you don't want to touch the slugs with your hands, line the hole with a plastic bag so that you can simply pick up the bag and throw it in the garbage to dispose of the slugs.
Introduce Nematodes to Your Garden to Kill the Slugs
Nematodes are tiny parasitic worms that live in the soil, and they're deadly to slugs. You can buy live nematodes at home improvement stores, and these can be watered into the soil in your garden to introduce nematodes into it. Nematodes don't work very quickly, but they only harm slugs and not the other wildlife in your garden, making them a safe way to stop your slug infestation.
Overall, combining all of the above methods will slowly eliminate the slugs that are eating your vegetables. If you can't seem to control your slug infestation on your own, contact a pest control service in your area and tell them that you want to get rid of the slugs in your garden without using pesticides. A professional pest control service will clean up your garden to make it a less hospitable place for slugs and use traps to eliminate the slugs that are already there, protecting your plants from being eaten by slugs.
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