How to stop slugs eating plants

Take your eye off them, and slugs can quickly turn young plants into a feeding ground. 

If you’re wondering how to stop slugs eating plants in your garden, a combination of friendly, beginner-level strategies usually does the trick. Slugs are most active after dark, especially in warm, damp weather. 

So, focus on building balance in your garden by introducing natural predators, setting traps and baits, or shopping for slug repellents at Whitaker's Garden Centre. For more of our top tips, stay tuned. 

1. Encourage natural predators

Rather than attacking slugs with chemicals, make your garden inviting to the creatures that love snacking on slugs. Birds (blackbirds, thrushes), frogs, toads, hedgehogs, ground beetles and even ducks will happily eat them! 

Gardeners can also encourage helpers by providing a more conducive habitat. Consider installing a wildlife pond or a log pile, leaving some leaf litter, and avoiding tidy fences so hedgehogs and frogs can roam freely from garden to garden. 

As slugs tend to attack plants that are already weakened, pay particular attention to your soil: use mulch with organic compost or manure to keep it healthy. Luckily, we offer a range of compost and mulches rich in nutrients! 

2. Create a slug-free zone 

You can’t get rid of slugs completely, so a gardener’s best bet is making vulnerable areas a priority. 

For example, grow your seedlings in a raised bed or cold frame. Line pots and beds with fabric, fine mesh, or even copper tape, so they can’t crawl in from underneath. You could even delay planting out young seedlings until they are larger. 

If garden slugs prove relentless, remove them as and when: go out after dark with a torch and bucket and pick slugs off plants by hand. 

To create more of a slug trap, you can place damp food baits (like old vegetables, cat food, bread) in a quiet corner. The slugs will gather there at night, and you can collect them! 

3. Use barriers and repellents 

Aside from food, how else can you create slug barriers? Well, placing copper tape or collars around pots and raised beds is believed to give slugs a mild electric shock, which acts as a deterrent. 

You could also sprinkle horticultural grit, sand or crushed eggshells around individual plants to make it harder for slugs to get around (although, if your garden is slug-prone, you’ll have to replace these barriers quite often). 

You can also try garlic sprays: crush a couple of cloves in water and spray the solution on plant leaves in the evening. Slugs don’t like the smell of garlic and will actively avoid these plants. 

4. Grow slug-resistant plants 

Sometimes, the only way to prevent slugs is by planting foliage that they don’t like! 

They tend not to like plants with leathery, hairy, or strongly scented leaves. Many herbs, such as rosemary, lavender, thyme, and perennials like Sedum, geranium, scabious, or Verbena bonariensis, are much more slug-tolerant. 

By surrounding susceptible plants with deterrents (e.g., mint, fennel, or ornamental grasses etc.), you make your garden less of a feast. 

Growing more than you need to (also called overseeding) can also be a preventative measure to make sure that a few slug attacks won’t ruin your whole crop. 

5. Maintain healthy soil 

As we’ve learnt, slugs are night owls and prefer cool, wet soil. 

That’s why gardeners should develop proper watering habits. If you can, avoid watering in the evening or at night. Instead, water in the morning so the soil surface dries before slugs are most active. 

Mulch your beds with organic materials (compost, bark mulch), as healthy, well-drained soil is better at resisting slug attacks. If the soil is rich and crumbly, plants are less stressed and less likely to be targeted. 

Our peat-free and organic mixes are ideal for this!

6. Use organic slug repellents 

If none of these methods work and your plants continue to be annihilated by slugs, organic slug pellets may be the solution. 

Traditional metaldehyde pellets are banned or harmful to wildlife, but iron-phosphate (“organic”) pellets are safer. These cause slugs to stop eating and eventually starve, without poisoning birds or pets. 

(However, organic pellets can still affect wildlife, so only use them as a last resort). As an alternative biological control, you can also use slug-killing nematodes, a microscopic worm that you water into the soil.

Shop for slug deterrents with Whitaker’s Garden Centre! 

Employ a mix of these methods, and you’re sure to win the war! Now that you know how to stop slugs eating plants, it’s time to stock up on materials. We’ve got a range of slug-control products at Whitakers, including biodegradable mulch mats! 

With persistence and the right tools, you’ll soon see far fewer holes in your leaves. Browse Whitaker’s slug and snail control range and start protecting your plants!

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