Japanese beetles can be effectively managed and eliminated through various natural methods. One effective method is to create a homemade Japanese beetle spray using water and dish soap. In agricultural settings, tillage, groundcovers, and irrigation regimes can help reduce Japanese beetle numbers. Researchers from Michigan State University found that Japanese beetles can be reduced by using organic methods such as handpicking, spraying neem oil or soapy water, using beetle traps, and planting flowers like geraniums that attract them.
Organic methods like neem oil or manual removal with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol can also be effective. Systemic insecticides work well for chemical control, while neem oil or manual removal with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol can be effective.
Neem oil can be used as a natural Japanese beetle trap, but it requires quick action. Handpicking, neem oil, milky spore disease, and biological controls like Beauveria bassiana are among the most effective organic options. Bonide’s Eight is a powerful chemical insecticide that kills Japanese beetles on contact and has a residual effect.
Neem oil can also be used as a superhero solution, as it combats beetles at every life stage. By following these natural methods, you can effectively manage and eliminate Japanese beetles in your garden and landscape.
| Article | Description | Site |
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| Beetle Eating Japanese Anemones | You can use sabadilla as an insecticide. You must be signed in before you can post questions or answers. Click here to join! « Return to the Garden … | garden.org |
| How to Get Rid of Japanese Beetles Naturally | Here, a small bucket of soapy water acts as a 100% natural Japanese Beetle trap. You have to be very quick about knocking them into the bucket … | heirloomsoul.com |
| A Comprehensive Guide to Eliminating Japanese Beetles … | Handpicking, neem oil, milky spore disease, and biological controls like Beauveria bassiana are among the most effective organic options. | jacksonandperkins.com |
📹 Seed Talk #45 – Japanese Beetles
Are Japanese beetles destroying your plants? Wondering what you can do to reduce the population of these pests in your garden …
What Is A Homemade Remedy To Kill Japanese Beetles?
To effectively manage Japanese beetles naturally, mix 4 tablespoons of dish soap with a quart of water in a spray bottle. This solution serves as a natural pesticide for direct application on the beetles found in your garden or lawn. Additionally, creating a barrier with tansy infusion can protect susceptible plants. To prevent infestations, consider planting tansy near vulnerable vegetation. Homemade traps can also play a role in controlling beetle populations, although some argue that they may attract more beetles to your property. A simple trap can be made by mixing one cup of apple cider vinegar with crushed raspberries or grapes in a bucket of water, enticing beetles to fall in and drown.
Continuously handpicking beetles, spraying with neem oil or soapy water, and employing beetle traps are effective methods. For an alternative pesticide, a garlic and hot pepper blend can deter beetles when mixed with water. Other natural remedies include diatomaceous earth, beneficial nematodes, and companion planting such as geraniums, which attract Japanese beetles away from other plants.
If chemical insecticides are off the table, these organic methods utilizing common household ingredients can aid in the control of Japanese beetles and their larvae, promoting a healthier garden environment. Continuous monitoring and employing these various strategies can significantly reduce the presence of these pests in your garden ecosystem.
What Insects Control Japanese Beetles?
Several insects, including lady beetles and parasitic wasps, naturally help control beetle populations. In North America, birds such as cardinals and sparrows prey on Japanese beetles, which are a common pest in the region. To manage these pests effectively, a multi-faceted approach is recommended, combining various methods. These include organic solutions like neem oil sprays and physical removal by hand.
Biological control methods, such as deploying Bacillus papillae (milky spores), fungal organisms like Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium brunneum, and entomopathogenic nematodes, often yield inconsistent results.
Effective control measures also involve using traps, netting, and resistant plant varieties. At the first sign of infestation, employing insecticides like Japanese Beetle Killer (pyrethrin) is essential. Additionally, natural predators like the fly Istocheta aldrichi and the wasp Tiphia vernalis attack Japanese beetles at different life stages. Though Japanese beetles are widely considered a significant turf-grass pest in the U. S., their primary predators from their native Asia are lacking here. For intensive control, synthetic insecticides, particularly pyrethroids, remain the most effective option.
Will Dawn Dish Soap Kill Japanese Beetles?
Japanese beetles can be a significant nuisance, especially for rose gardens. To effectively manage these pests, it's crucial to act quickly before their population grows. Using a simple solution of water and Dawn dish soap can help; when beetles are knocked into this mixture, they drown as the soap prevents them from escaping. A recommended ratio is one tablespoon of soap per gallon of water in a spray bottle, which can be applied directly to infested plants. This method suffocates the beetles, and the grease-fighting properties of the soap dissolve their outer waxy coating, ultimately resulting in their demise.
Handpicking remains an effective strategy as well, as dropping the beetles into soapy water ensures they cannot fly away. It's important, however, to use caution; only Dawn dish soap is advisable for this purpose, as other brands like Palmolive can damage plants. While insecticides like Sevin are available, homemade solutions can be just as effective. The soap's presence enhances the insecticide's efficacy too.
By treating plants promptly and monitoring for ripening or diseased fruits, gardeners can reduce beetle attraction and damage. Using soapy water to drown beetles or spraying affected plants will significantly reduce their numbers, providing an eco-friendly means to protect your garden from these persistent pests.
What Is The Best Homemade Japanese Beetle Spray?
Organic insecticides, such as neem oil and potassium bicarbonate sprays, effectively combat beetles on rose plants. To create a homemade pest control solution, mix one tablespoon of regular dish soap with one cup of vegetable oil, then dilute this with one quart of water. Early intervention is essential to manage Japanese beetles effectively; as their population grows, eradication becomes more challenging. Monitoring plants closely and promptly harvesting ripe or diseased fruits can significantly deter beetles, attracted by the scent of decay.
For a natural spray, combine one teaspoon of liquid dish soap (not dishwasher) with one cup of vegetable oil, then apply as needed. Another method involves pureeing five garlic cloves with a cup of water, adding a teaspoon of liquid soap, straining, and then spraying the solution on affected plants. You can also use essential oils mixed with water for a potent repellent. For drowning beetles, mix dish soap with water in a small container; empty beer or soda cans allow fewer escape routes for the beetles.
This soapy solution ensures a quick death as they sink and drown. Additionally, herbs like garlic, chives, tansy, catnip, and peppermint can deter beetles due to their strong scents. Other effective remedies include neem oil, essential oil sprays, and planting geraniums. Combining such natural strategies can help control and reduce Japanese beetle populations in your garden.
How Do You Kill Japanese Beetles Without Harming Pollinators?
To manage Japanese beetles in gardens with minimal impact on pollinators, mix a couple tablespoons of dish soap with water in a small container, ideally an empty beer or soda can, which makes it harder for beetles to escape. This soapy solution kills the beetles by drowning them and prevents pheromone release. Handpicking beetles, using neem oil, or spraying soapy water are natural methods for control. Although traps can attract more beetles to your property, they can effectively reduce the population by luring and killing them.
For corn, only spray emerging plants with caution. If pesticide use is necessary, Bacillus thuringiensis galleriae (Bt galleriae) is a new bacterial insecticide effective on adult beetles and safe for pollinators. Acelepryn can also be applied preventively, being non-hazardous to bees.
Using a spray bottle with a dish soap and water mix provides another control option. Knock beetles into a bucket of soapy water or use a drop cloth for large infestations, which is an effective strategy to remove them. This method acts as a natural trap, is comparable in efficacy to chemical pesticides, and does not harm beneficial insects, although it is toxic to monarch caterpillars. Regular application of soapy water can control beetle adults and minimize their damage to plants while being mindful of pollinators.
Does Dawn Dish Soap Get Rid Of Japanese Beetles?
To combat Japanese beetles, mix a few tablespoons of dish soap with water in a small container, such as an empty beer or soda can, which minimizes their escape. This soapy solution kills beetles by causing them to drown before they can emit pheromones. Early intervention is crucial; as beetle populations grow, eradication becomes increasingly challenging. Since these pests are attracted to ripening or diseased fruit, careful monitoring and prompt harvesting of fruits and vegetables are effective prevention methods.
To use dish soap as a repellent, combine 1 tablespoon of soap with 1 gallon of water in a spray bottle. However, it’s essential to avoid applying products like Milky Spores where beetles are currently present. Instead, spores should be placed in areas where beetles lay eggs.
While dish soap can kill adult Japanese beetles, mixing 1 teaspoon of soap with 1 quart of water for application has proven effective for other pests like Box Elder bugs. Soapy water can also aid in bringing up grubs, benefiting birds that prey on them. Avoid using any dish soap other than Palmolive on plants, as it can harm them.
The mechanism behind the soapy solution is that it prevents beetles from escaping, leading to their demise. While soapy water specifically kills beetles, it might not affect all insects, as beetles tend to drop when disturbed. Ultimately, proper application of standard dish soaps like Dawn or Palmolive is key to protecting your garden from Japanese beetles.
What Smell Do Japanese Beetles Hate?
Companion planting is an effective strategy for deterring Japanese beetles, notorious garden pests. To protect susceptible plants, integrate plants that repel these beetles, such as catnip, chives, garlic, odorless marigold, nasturtium, white geranium, rue, and tansy. Japanese beetles possess a heightened sense of smell, making them sensitive to certain scents they dislike. Effective repellents include garlic, geraniums, marigolds, chives, catnip, mint, and tansy, which can be planted around vulnerable crops. Additionally, aromatic plants such as bergamot mint, oregano, onions, and leeks release strong scents that can mask the odors attracting beetles.
You can also utilize essential oils from wintergreen, gaultheria, teaberry, peppermint, neem, wormwood, and juniper berry to create sprays that deter these pests. While the specific smells that repel beetles can vary, garlic, chives, and mint are frequently noted as effective. However, it is important to be cautious when dealing with crushed beetles, as they release a scent that may attract more of their kind.
Overall, employing companion planting with fragrant plants and using natural repellents can create an environment less appealing to Japanese beetles, helping to maintain a healthy garden without relying on harsh chemicals. Additionally, strategies such as planting catmint can provide not only beauty but also effective pest deterrence, ensuring a flourishing garden experience.
How Do Farmers Deal With Japanese Beetles?
Cultural methods for controlling Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) include planting resistant species and utilizing mechanical traps. These iridescent green beetles pose a significant threat as they feed on various plants, causing distinct leaf damage resembling lacy skeletons. They typically lay eggs in moist grassy areas, common around fruit farms, providing ideal habitats for their larvae. Effective management involves contacting local agricultural offices to monitor beetle emergence and grub activity.
Organic control methods can help keep Japanese beetles at bay. Strategies include planting their preferred plants to divert them away from more valuable crops. Key management options are hand-picking beetles, applying homemade insecticidal soap, and using traps. However, placing these traps too close to gardens may attract more beetles from the surroundings.
For organic farmers, employing physical barriers like row covers and netting, alongside biological controls such as nematodes or bacteria (milky spores), proves effective. Chemical options like neem oil or pyrethrin-based insecticides may also be utilized. Effective hand-picking can involve knocking beetles into soapy water to drown them.
In addition, applying fine netting can physically obstruct beetles from accessing plants. Another protective measure is the use of SURROUND WP, a clay-based coating that helps shield crops. Although managing Japanese beetle infestations can be challenging, utilizing these techniques—whether herbal, mechanical, or chemical—can minimize their impact and protect overall plant health. Prompt action against both adult beetles and grubs is crucial for the sustainability of affected gardens and crops.
How Do You Get Rid Of Japanese Beetles?
To effectively manage Japanese beetles in your garden, swift action is essential as finding one typically indicates more are nearby. The recommended method to deter these pests involves using standard dish soap, like Dawn or Palmolive. Mix 1 teaspoon of dish soap into each quart of water, ensuring it dissolves thoroughly. For those facing an infestation, implementing various strategies can help. These include using insecticides, hand-picking beetles, or applying organic methods.
In Japan, where these beetles originate, native plants have adapted, reducing their pest status. Consider planting repellent plants such as catnip, garlic, leeks, onions, chives, nasturtium, and marigolds around susceptible species. Effective control entails targeting grubs, adult beetles, and preventing future infestations. Suggested methods include handpicking beetles into soapy water, particularly in early stages. Companion planting can also ward off these pests; interplanting with garlic, scallions, or marigolds is beneficial.
For handpicking, a practical approach is to knock the beetles into a bucket of soapy water. Products like Beetlegone, which contains Bacillus thuringiensis galleriae, specifically target and kill Japanese beetles. Control efforts should focus on both the beetle's life cycle and the timing of treatments to optimize effectiveness, as total elimination isn't necessary to protect your vegetation.
📹 How to Stop Slugs Eating Your Plants (100% Organic)
Slimy slimesters and slippery thieves, stealing our seedlings and snaffling our salads! Finally, the time has come to give slugs the …
The comment about “cheap beer” made me remember a slug remedy we used a few years back. Just mix some flour and yeast with water and stir it up. Smells a lot like beer and seems to attract the slugs just as well. I put the mixture in a plastic cottage cheese container, cut a hole in the top so the slugs could get in, but they never came out. The top slows evaporation down a bit.
For 2 years now I’ve used vapour rub, wiping a thin layer about an inch wide around pots and beds, works an absolute treat, it stays on for the whole season, it doesn’t leave dead slugs around my garden leaving them for the predators and own label brands are less than a £1 a jar, time and money saving.
When we moved to our new house, the neglected garden was full of slugs. I promised our children 5 eurocent per slug/ snail and a little bonus after each 10 slugs. We counted them at the kitchen chalk board. To my own surprise it worked perfect. Sometimes they found 40 slugs in 1 round. I’ve never had better slug hunters. 🙂 The game lasted a few weeks, but was very effective. Now (4 years later) we still have a normal population.
I’ve had good success with planting decoy seedlings with my prized seedlings. I kept losing zucchini seedlings and finally out of desperation started planting mustard seeds in a ring around my zucchini (or in a proposed planting spot, a few days ahead of time, and then plant the seedling in the patch of mustard seedlings). The slugs seem to prefer the mustard and spared the zucchini (or zinnias, etc). As the mustard grows I can thin or remove as desired – but it’s also a fantastic trap plant for cabbage moths and aphids, so I tend to let some grow to maturity throughout the garden. Anecdotally, pests seem to prefer the mustard plants to other brassicas as well. The bees and especially hover flies love it. I just buy mustard seed from the supermarket spice aisle.
so interestingly, I’ve just found an excellent slug and snail lure, completely by accident. I have a stone mushroom about 8 inches high that bought years ago, and I finally decided to paint it. I went for the traditional red and white toadstool colours and ever since, each night when I go out in the garden, its covered in slugs and snails. I pick them off and relocate them to a nearby field. they all seem to be on or heading for the white spots. I think you could apply the colour scheme to any rock and have the same result.
This is the best slug control article I’ve seen! I agree that removing them to other areas really does reduce their population in the garden. Some of your tips are new to me and I’ll give them a try. (I usually just collect them and take them for a walk into the woods to settle in a new area.) I especially love the humane and environmentally friendly approach you seem to have to controlling them ❤️ thank you for this!
Maybe luck but I layered my ever hospitable cold frame with sandpaper and also my shelves in the greenhouse, it had a huge effect. Most seedlings survived for the first year ever. The more coarse the better. No area was left uncovered and it seemed to survive the rain too. Yes I will relay it this year but think I’ve got my answer. Planting out to the main garden this year I’m going to create some sandpaper rings and see how that goes.
I stopped letting slugs be in my compost pile. I believe their eggs are then transplanted into the garden when you move in the compost which then reinfests your beds with slugs. Homemade beer traps work excellently. As an aside, one year a raccoon broke into the garden and drank all the beer traps! She was after the ripe strawberries and added a drink along with the berries!
I’ve been sprinkling Epsom salt around my plants, mulching with aromatic cedar shavings and spritzing everything with essential oils, such as peppermint, mixed with a little water and a tiny bit of a surfactant like vegetable glycerin. I also installed bird feeders and planted lots of shrubbery that attract birds and bees. Our climate is damp and cool with lots of rain, so the gardens have little chance to dry out. Between the slugs and the wildlife it’s a constant battle to grow anything all the way to harvest!
Great article! I tried all sorts of things but beer seems to work best. I also discovered that marigolds are their favorite plant to eat. I planted a variety of flowers in a group and the marigolds were eaten down to nubs almost overnight. They also nibbled on the sunflowers but didn’t touch the calendulas. They started a bit on the nasturtiums once they finished the marigolds, but not too much. Next I’m going to plant decoy seedlings of them, much like Uschiaala did with mustard. By the way, they will also hide under cardboard.
My grandad used to cover the edges of his garden beds with coarse sandpaper dusted with talcum powder, it didn’t stop them but the dry sharp surface reduced the amount of slugs willing cross over it and the trails were clearly visible so he knew how many he needed to find and remove. Edit – They all went over the hedge into the nearby woodland, usually as far as he could throw.
Hi Ben! Just to add to your list, one barrier we have found effective in keeping back the slug attacks are the stalks of spikey plants such as bramble. We cut them up into smaller pieces and lay these in little stacked circles around the plants. Thanks so much for your articles. Your enthusiasm is compelling! 😃
One thing I’ve done that’s not mentioned here is turning my soil up and over at the end of the growing season once overnight frosts start. From what I understand, it disrupts the next generation. I did this last year and it seems to be giving me a terrific result, and thank goodness because between them and the cabbage moths, my poor veggies and I were STRESSING lol
After dumping the ash from my house fires on my bonfire I noticed that the slugs never touched it so I started to put rings of it round my plants. So far it’s worked an absolute treat even when it gets wet as it has a high alkaline level so I believe it may be acidic to them. Although I wouldn’t recommend using coal Ash as this will alter the pH of the soil and possibly kill some plants
I like having slugs and snails especially in Spring when the adult birds and me are feeding chicks of all species in the garden! Seeds,fatballs and dry porridge all year round means birds of all sorts in the garden all year, some birds like to ground feed and others feel safer with fatballs hung amongst the holly trees and other dense foliage…having trees,shrubs and underplanting means that even in a small suburban garden like mine the pest and predator ratio is balanced without me having to bother. The grass is kept long at the bottom of the garden as I have lots of gorgeous ground beetles and solitary nesting bees,with native species of meadow flowers…years of dry porridge being dumped on the lawn has weakened the grass so the seed bank of flowers takes over….it’s a mass of colour and an incredible amount of diverse life,just wonderful after a long cold Scottish winter! For edibles I use recycled council tubs and mix peat free compost with molehill soil and whenever I make coffee I plonk the spent coffee around the plants,slugs hate it, they are an important food scource tho so I live wih them,leapord slugs will only eat well rotted veg and black slugs have soft mouthparts so they only like very young plants…I start edibles indoors and plant out in May, by that time the birds are in a frenzy to feed chicks so slugs are top of the menu!
Hey, Ben! Comprehensive article. Thank you. You ask for more suggestions. I’ve had huge success with ordinary half litre plastic bottles lid on half buried with a hole in the side at ground level – half the bottom half filled with beer/cider or a sugar yeast mixture diluted with water. Lethal. If you make the hole u-shaped and bend the tong out a bit then the rain or watering runs off and not in. The other huge success in the polytunnel is a buried board on edge with two copper wires stapled carefully 1cm apart not touching… one connected to the positive terminal of a 9v battery and the other to the negative but otherwise going nowhere. A perimeter of such very effective deterrent… so far. Sour enough for the slug to not want to cross both. Potential hazard if the wires are touching or otherwise connected so check voltage regularly. Battery lasts and lasts if the wires are not touching or otherwise connected to each other. Don’t know how it would work outside if the boards are wet too often.
I have over fifty pot’s of flowers in my front garden and use seven slug traps around my hosta’s. The rest of my pots rarely get attacked which include agapanthus, salvia’s, alpines, fuchsia’s, hebe’s, daylilies, African daisy’s, alstroemeria’s, cranesbill geranium’s, delosperma. In the flowerbeds I have eight slug traps placed beside hostas. The bait I use in the traps is water, sugar, flour and dry yeast.
Overturned cabbage leaves have been working for me, similar to your citrus suggestion. Thank you for all of this. So helpful to see all the ways you suggest battling slugs. I was expecting to find big slugs in my garden when I went hunting for them, like the ones you show, but mine have been tiny and whitish pink. I’m guessing babies?
It wasn’t near my veg thank heaven, but the other day I counted no less than 36 slugs in the back yard. 36! I did find some on an overwintered green bell pepper plant. I pick them off with leaves and throw them back into the woods. Living in the deep, dark, and dank eastern hemlock forest makes slugs a part of daily life. They really like beer. I mean they REALLY like beer.
Great info on slug control. Thanks! I couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of intentionally leaving standing water to attract frogs… you must live in a very magical place with no mosquito control issues!!! I am constantly battling standing water to prevent my yard being hospitable to my personal summer enemy #1!
Thank you, this is very helpful and a great reminder that there are many non-harmful methods of dealing with slugs and snails. I’ve found beer traps to be the best method, along with picking them off in the early mornings and evenings. To prevent evaporation, I cut the top off a juice or other kind of Tetra Pak drink container. Pour beer into the rest of the container. Turn the top upside down and fit into the container. This allows the slugs to get in but not out, as well as preventing other animals and insects from drowning in the beer. Other than that, I’ve just accepted that slugs and snails are part of nature, and there will be a small amount of inevitable loss. Thanks again for another great article!
Hi there. Love your articles! I know this is an older article, but I hope my comment will still add value. I am an herb and flower gardener for some 30 years. I grew some veg, but the deer usually got them all before I could. Four years ago I moved to Florida where deer were not a problem but, slugs, snails and many other bugs are! Hydrogen peroxide was the answer! It kills the snails and slugs and MANY other bugs (including some viruses, bacteria, and other things!) It dissolves into water once it’s done. I don’t know where it falls on the organic scale, but, it WORKS! And leaves no harmful poisons behind, so it works for me. I always test a few leaves first to be sure it won’t harm a particular plant but have yet to find any that don’t care for it. If it matters to anyone, I discovered this through my orchid growing, which developed after I moved to South Florida. I have over 100 orchids now, and all are growing strong. Edited to add: Kills the slugs, larvae, and eggs. All gone. I have no problems with them at all. (I cannot have a compost pile where I am. Just not allowed! URGH!) Now if I could just find a way to get rid of those Army Caterpillers! I’d be golden!!
I just discovered and tested a way to stop slugs and snails that really is 100% successful – for 15 years my veg crops have been roughly 70% destroyed by slugs/snails despite trying EVERY method I found on YouTube and elsewhere. I came across a system of putting copper or corrosion resistant wire around the boards on raised beds that is then connected to a 9 volt torch battery and watched a lot of articles showing that the electric shock makes the creatures shy away and claimed 100% success. I did the set up and watched most slugs and snails just cross the wires to reach my veg! Then I connected a 12 volt car battery and hey bingo, most were incinerated and some gigantic ones immediately turned away resulting in not finding one slug or snail or damage to plants in the past month. Of course if you object to slug/snails being killed its not for you. I am a big fan of GrowVeg and hope the website will test this method and share with fellow veg growers!
Since attracting all of the birds with feeders a few years back, I rarely ever see slugs anymore, there’s a couple of snails but there seems to be a weekly massacre looking at the shells on the slabs. Touch wood, noones eaten any of my seedlings so far, even the local squirrel jumps over them to the feeders and ignores everything in the beds.
Even though you say that copper tape doesn’t work, I have had success using the large yoghourt pots with the bottoms removed, and putting tape around them near the top. I have tried the pots without the tape, and slugs have managed to get over the top, whereas the taped ones really do seem to stop them.
I started sprinkling chilli powder in my small garden to deter the neighbours’ cat (she liked my garden as her toilet, sadly) and it not only annoyed the cat, I also noticed the slugs were eating the powder and leaving my seedlings alone. At some point when the chilli powder got wet from the rain, the slugs were kind of rolling in it (they looked like those corn cheese puffs coated in chilli…) and other slugs were eating them. Quite disgusting! Slugs are cannibals! Anyway, chilli powder works really well to deter the cat and distract the slugs, so hey, give it a try. I live in a very windy area and we get plenty of rain, too, so I have to keep on reapplying it. But it works.
I really tried, picked them in the middle of the night, beer traps, tossed them out of the garden. Biological slug pellets worked, it said it’s alright for bigger animals but still a little hesistant. I do want to try the nematodes method sometime. I’m also wondering whether taping sandpaper along the grow areas would work. It should be like walking on glass for slugs, right?
I live in a clay soil area and slugs own this place. Planted out marigolds, woke up with 1/2 of them gone, flowers and leaves. Following night, at 11pm, went out with a torch, a plastic tub with hot and very salty water, and metal pegs to pick the slugs up. picked about 500 slugs 😫 Yes I was counting. these are just the ones I found at that particular time! They we’re eating all my plants and flowers. They were on my mint plants, onions/chives, leeks and all. No plant is slug proof at all. I’m sick of them.
I have a sweat scrapper for my horses, it is aluminum and has a curved end. I just scoop up the slugs with that and then sling them off into the woods. I can throw them a good 20 feet or more! I have one hanging in my greenhouse by the door. The sweat scrappers are super cheap and you do not have to get the slime on your hands!
I’ve tried all these things (except for the nematodes) and none of them made enough of a difference to save my plants. The only thing that has worked for me is simply not planting in the ground the crops that slugs like to munch on. For slug-prone crops, I plant them in buckets and keep them on a concrete pad.
For a barrier, one method I have seen but not tried is to run staple two bare copper wires along a surface and then connect them to the two terminals of a 9V battery, which mildly electrocutes the slugs and discourages them from crossing. However, they can travel underground to some extent. By far the most effective method I have found is just going on a slug hunt every so often.
Last year i picked up kaolin clay to protect my fruit trees and thought after applying it if it would help my seedlings from getting eaten by slugs, which i was having a big problem with at the time. So I applied it and it worked great. I do wonder if the clay may block some of the light for photosynthesis but the plants seemed to grow just fine.
Having tried many methods the only system I have found to be ‘almost’ successful is an electrified fence. No joke! two strips of wire stapled 6mm or so apart around my raised beds and a battery in a waterproof box linked across. It does not kill them but certainly gives them a headache when the complete the circuit. A couple of hunting trips at night to clear up any that were within the boundary before switch on and (hopefully) my veggies will survive. I say ‘almost’ successful as I have spotted a few clever ones arching their body over the second wire as they slither across (ha ha). Got to hand it to them, for such a small creature they are very inventive. I suspect to see subsequent generations abseiling in from above or leaping over with a motorcycle ‘Great Escape’ style!
I discovered this by chance. I threw a couple of lemon peels on the ground next to the cabbage making a note to pick them up later on. I went out in the evening flashlight in hand to spoy slugs that roam around, .There were dozens of them around the lemon peels which they were eating. We now drink a lot of lemonade and are slug free!
Love your website, been perusal it for tips for our allotment. I don’t like to harm anything so am looking for natural alternatives. One thing I’ve learnt is slugs don’t like onions or garlic. I planted some radishes in the onion patch and they left the radishes alone, planted elsewhere they obliterated them in 2 days. Going to plant lettuce and chard with the spring onions and leeks and where the onions were to see if the scent still puts them off!
The first year we planted our veggie garden it was destroyed by slugs. Plants literally disappeared over night. We tried organic slug pellets, which didn’t kill slugs, but would kill your plants if it got near the roots. Rats & mice came to nibble on the pellets, didn’t seen to affect them either. We tried egg shells, copper wire… none of it worked. Beer traps worked but there were sooo many slugs we couldn’t keep up. Finally, we got ducks! Indian Runner ducks & Khaki Campbell’s. They have the the run of the garden and now our slugs issues are minimal. The ducks live in the veggie garden, we net off plants we don’t want them to nobble on us. 4 years on and it is working a treat!🦆
Hi Ben. Ive found in my home garden and allotment normal play sand stops slugs. I use it around the outside and floor of my green house and around young plants. Planks I put out for a few weeks. The rest I leave up to our frogs, toads, and resident hedgehog. Yet still on occation I use Nemetoads if I think the slugs and snails are becoming too prolific. Love the article especially the google eye head set. lol sould be a regular feature. 😂 Allotment owner and pretend gardener. I follow your ideas, advice and guidance. My friends at the allotment think I’m a great gardener. Not: its all you. So thanks for making me look like I know what im doing. Lots of love and best wishes Kim x
This is probably my third year gardening at my house and this is the first year where I’m really having a problem with slugs. I’m currently using the beer technique and it’s working but I seem to have more coming as my bean plants are being destroyed right now. I’m also going to try the watering in the morning instead of during the evening. Great article btw.
When I lived in a very wet part of the UK and had my smallish garden surrounded by great slug habitats I probably tried every possible method and learnt the following: the only 2 diy methods that actually made a difference were coffee grounds and egg shells. BUT they never kept all slugs away, but noticably reduced their number and the damage. Egg shells must be first dried and the crushed quite finely and you really need insane amounts of shells to create decent barier, ie thick layer, around the plants you pick. I had my friend collect egg shells for me all year round and I never had enough to go around my bed. I only picked the most vulnerable plants. Same goes for coffee grounds, you need a lot of them to make a ring around the base of a plant and it only works when it’s dry, because slugs find it difficult to go through the very absorbent material. Added bonus is that both coffee and shells provide nutrients to plants as well.
Excellent primer on slug control. The two methods that I have found most effective are manually removing them (slug hunts, as you suggest, particularly in rainy weather) for a forest adventure, and laying out the garden so that they don’t have cover near the veg beds – not just mowing the grass and tidying up clutter, but also keeping perennial plantings and ornamental features like stone walls at a distance.
Plant a few sacrificial lettuces next to your priced plants. Snails and slugs zoom towards the lettuces. Pick them at night and cut them up. Their primitive nervous system suggests they feel no pain, so I don’t feel guity about it. Their remains also provide food for birds the following morning. Don’t throw live snails away as they are well known to have a strong homing ability. Watch a David Attenborough programme if you don’t believe me.
I use a bit of left over starter dough, in a partial buried halved plastic bottle with the top half inverted insude and top up left over flour. Also after a slug hunt if needed make a slug island in the bucket of water with fresh greens for them in the middle to munch on, any who hopefully have nematodes pass on to rest be the eat greens and drown. Then use the water on plants in early morning so slug nematodes go on to protect the beds.
Excellent article! Thanks for your ‘live & let live’ perspective. I’ve known people who gleefully sprinkle salt on the slugs & enjoy perusal them writhe in agony. I don’t want them eating my plants, but I don’t want to cause horrible agony either. Transferring to the compost pile sounds great – I never thought of that! When I have a LOT of slugs, I find a flat rock & cut them in half with my digging knife. I hope the agony is short-lived. I usually make a pretty good dent in the population that way.
Only you could make this very squeamish-about-slugs person chuckle during a article about the slimy beasts! I acquired my distaste of the creatures after accidentally stepping on a nice big fat one in my bare feet shortly after moving to my new home in the country. Yuk! It took a lot of washing to get that slime off the bottom of my foot and I learned my lesson to not go barefoot in the garden when running out for a quick tomato or some herbs while cooking. Much as I dislike them, I dislike killing them as much so I am happy to hear they are useful in the compost pile – I am going to start doing that instead of putting them in the freezer in a ziploc bag – it kills them painlessly I’ve been told but still don’t like the idea of killing them. Thank you for your very enjoyable website!
Dry oatmeal can work because the slugs eat it then it swells up in their bellies and kills them. You sprinkle it like DE. Also like DE, as soon as it gets wet it’s useless, and worse, goes mouldy (though does add to your soil.) I used to use Lidl’s cheapest Ruby Ale for slug traps until I found I quite like it! I now have a 2nd floor windowsill veg garden, and a basement garden surrounded by several metres of concrete in every direction so it’s quite easy to keep slugs under control, until quite recently when I put fresh compost on from my old garden bins (new residents were happy for me to take it), and re-introduced a load of slugs. I pick them off and flush them down the loo.
I’ve tried copper tape, wool and lava pellets this year and it seems to have helped a lot, although recent dry weather has probably enhanced this. I have done slug safaris in the past too.. tip: use a pair of cheap chopsticks to avoid getting covered in sticky slime! They get free flying lessons into nearby fields!
Good vid! Two things to add: you can by nematodes tablets to dissolve in water, or you can make your own (the recipes easily found online). One physical barrier that does help is an edge with a sharp angle around your garden bed. Slugs can’t crawl over sharp angles, so if you put up a barrier that leans outward and down, they won’t be able to crawl into the bed – however, keep in mind that slugs can also dig (the majority of them stay underground at all times), so unless your bed edge is burried around 20 cms deep, you’ll still get some slugs in.
For several years now, I’ve had the help of Indian runner ducks that roam the garden freely all year round. They love both snails and slugs, and have eradicated them almost completely from my garden, at least, I hardly see any, and I have no significant damage any more. Moreover, they look very cute when they walk/run around, they provide us with delicious eggs, and go about fertilising the garden as they search for snails. However, there are also some disadvantages of course: We can’t just walk on the grass bare footed, and lying down isn’t such a great idea either. I also have to protect seedlings and young plants in the veg garden because they will flatten them completely with their webbed feet when they walk over them, and they might also munch on them occasionally.
I’ve just realised the frogs/toads we had in our garden until a few years ago were living rent free, as we were riddled with slugs and snails! Then one year left/forgot about a Halloween pumpkin on our patio, I can’t remember now if it had mostly disappeared or had been hollowed out, either way something had eaten it, and surrounding it was about 50 snail shells, but that year, and since, we had almost no slugs or snails! The frogs/toads disappeared that year, too 🤷🏻
I am going to try blackberry brambles this year, along with your bottle idea and I also saw setting a board at an angle bottom outside of raised beds then check daily to remove slugs, I like your idea of putting the slugs in my compost bin. I don’t like to kill they are squishy. Thank you for all your tips because I have lots and lots of slugs here in North Carolina.
I refuse to be tidy, I resort to capture/relocation and beer traps in the areas I want to protect. Another predator are Leopard slugs they eat other slugs, I’ve got some massive ones roaming the garden. I leave piles of garden waste in amongst my herbaceous border, slugs and snails are brilliant at breaking it down to fantastic soil. The circle of life 🙂
I always save my coffee grounds. Slugs hate them because, like diatomaceous earth, it cuts up their underbellies. Happily, it also makes everything more acidic, which is 100% perfect for berries and potatoes. I’ve actually had the best success with fresh unbrewed coffee grounds. Any cheap coffee will do, just be generous with the dispersal.
Im in florida and slugs dont seem to be a hugh problem in my area but now that ive said this my garden will be decimated…lol only after my grubs beetles aphids on and on ..lol so many damn bugs here in zone 9. But i still produce a bunch of food so its a win thanks too websites like yours. Best thing i do is steal great ideas from all you guys and put them in to practice. T u
Very good tips! The only thing (except nematodes I never tried them) that actually works for me are beer traps AND as long as it does not rain (so not very good for Dutch nor English climate lol) is one time I made a circel around my plants with dead sea salt I had laying around. Believe me they won’t cross that haha.
When I do beer traps I put them where slugs/snails would like to hide during the day. So any damp corners or flower beds etc. I use glass bottles on their sides so it doesn’t evaporate and rain/me watering doesn’t effect it. If your a marmite hater and have ended up with some they like that too. I just mix a tbsp in with a L of water. I use a jar with lid with a bit of soapy water, after hunting them I put the lid on and they go in the bin and a marigold on one hand. I used to put them in the compost pile but have nightmares about them breeding and then spreading that on my veg beds.
Great article! It addresses just about every problem I have with slugs. 🙂 I’ve been fighting these little bastards for years now, but losing on every front. I usually start during the spring months, going outside in the evenings with a torch and some beer in a container, and I catch huge amounts that way. So much so that I’ve started taking notes and last year it added up to 980 total. 🙂 I’m using beer traps, organic pellets, copper strips, egg shells, I try to attract frogs and hedgehogs, but nothing seems sufficient. It takes just a single slug to chew through a dozen seedling in a single night, wiping out pretty much anything that I plant or sow. When there’s nothing left, they even move on to plants that don’t usually attract that many, like onions and garlic. I once picked over 20 slugs from a single potato plant that dared to stick a branch out of the container that I was guarding for weeks. When it touched the ground, an organized invasion broke lose. I swear, these slugs have secret meetings or something. 🙂 I haven’t been able to harvest anything decent in the past years. I’ve sown and planted huge amounts of flowers and veggies and nothing really makes it. The annual invasion is just too much. The only things that thrive in my garden are the plants that they don’t like. Perennials, blackberries, strawberries, rhubarb, and that’s about it. So, this year I’m going to throw in the towel. No more veggies for me, I’m going to switch to propagating perennials instead, with species that slugs don’t like.
What 15,000 slugs in the average garden. Yes we don’t want to get rid of slugs & 🐌 no matter how annoying they may be eating our plants because we want natural biodiversity. Another fantastic & informative article Ben. Next to my allotment there’s a pond so I get a friendly toad come to visit every year to have slugs for breakfast, lunch & dinner and he is a welcome visitor and hopefully he has a toad girlfriend.
Hi I have used rose bush or blackberry Brian’s as they are prickly and they can’t crawl over now they have worked most of the time but not 100% I used to use egg shells aswell and I think they worked in part aswell. We don’t want to kill anything just deter as we share our land with all living creatures. But we do want to have enough to eat and so keeping weed free and nothing left lying around helps and taking off the dead leaves or yellowing leaves regularly underneath that might touch the ground. Encouraging birds into the garden and as you said frogs and toads😊
Diatomaceous Earth is really dead diatom skeletons (exo) from the ocean floor. When you look at it under a microscope it’s like sharp irregular pieces of glass. This is what kills bugs from the inside out, and slugs from the outside in which can be dehydrating as well as gut wrenching. I never figured out specifically the difference that makes some food grade, but they sell a little puffer to apply it. I use it mostly on cabbage.
Your slugs are so small, and should I say almost cute? Here in western Oregon our garden slugs are great hulking things with a large appetite…and not cute in the least. We had a friend slip on a large slug going down his deck stairs and break his leg! I can’t handle killing them so I send them on vacation. I scoop them up with a trowel then fling them over the fence way up into the forest. Have a nice trip! Don’t come back. Thank you for all your great articles. So much useful information and super tips. I look forward to them every week.
A pretty much perfect barrier against snails is water: a 20cm wide trench should suffice. I tested this by putting snails on a little jar in the middle of a bucket (resulting in about 10cm water trench). They stayed there for days without any food. However they can also survive under water for 10-20min, so they could pretty easily cross even a 1m wide brook of running water. They avoid it if at all possible though. You’ll have to pay attention that there are no bridges made by grass blades or tree branches. Sadly I could never use that since my garden is on a hillside. I considered making trenches horizontally and combining them with reliable anti-snail-fences hillwards, but then I got rabbits, which means I am bringing in large amounts of greenery from outside my garden as feed. And it is not realistic to check that for snails.
This year my area had fantastic amounts of rain in May and parts of June. It is astounding how many slugs can pop up on a rainy day where you saw none previously. The biggest problem I had was how they mauled young pepper seedlings I had on a low deck while I was hardening them off, killing some and stunting many more. I also noticed that the slugs absolutely love pea leaves, but fortunately the peas had already produced and I was about to take them up. And where there were peas, they did not bother peppers or tomatoes.
I had slugs getting into my auto fish pellet feeder all the time so I used a copper net on the plank of wood holding the feeder, and it worked perfectly never had a slug enter since it may just be the tape that doesn’t work and mabe the net does. I noticed with the tape if the slug is desperate enough it will eventually travel threw the tape, but I think the tape is still effective if you place it in a small area where the slug has an alternative place to go. Maybe it’s only ineffective when they feel trapped, just like a rat will chew threw anything if it believes it is trapped somewhere.
Excellent article just want I needed, as I learn to manage or is it live with slugs. Yes please keep mentioning slugs and other garden irritations in your articles as it reminds us they are normal and have a place in our gardening lives. Slug pellets – my cousin’s bullterrier died having eaten the slug pellets she put out for the slugs in her veggie patch. Naturally she was devasted.
Drill some 10mm holes in the side of any lidded plastic container and fill with beer to just under the holes level. Slugs will crawl up the side, through the holes and into the beer. The advantage of this is that rain can’t get in. Slugs can squeeze themselves through holes much smaller than themselves but snails need much bigger holes to gain entry because of their shells. My nephew solves the beer problem because he always leaves a few bottles of Heineken behind and slug traps are all thats good for.😊
Your comments on your trip to France brought back memories of a couple that I knew while living over there a few years back. They had made an amazing garden that included a walkway marked by mature olive trees that had been transported from their native Portugal. Despite the age of the trees the team that brought them knew what they were doing and they all survived, just a shame that dealing with the crop is so time consuming and complicated. What has this to do with slugs and snails? Same bloke arrived home one afternoon with a couple of dozen prize snails that he planned to use to develop his own colony. Unfortunately sufficient care wasn’t taken, in the morning all had “escaped”. The experiment wasn’t repeated. We are relatively slug free around veg, we do have toads living in long grass so I think they help.
One of the main problematic issues with DE – apart from its total ineffectiveness when it gets wet (and I’m in one of the wetter parts of England …) – is that it kills beneficial insects, such as the ground beetles which predate slugs, just as effectively as it does slugs. That’s something that’s rarely mentioned and, in my book, is a MASSIVE disadvantage.
Diatomaceous earth is a wonder if you have patience. It will kill everything from roaches to bedbugs. You can sprinkle it on your veggies and then eat them the next day with just a good wash. You must use food grade. The stuff they sell for swimming pool filters doesn’t work as effectively. Loved your article☺☺
I’ve had awful trouble with slugs this year. First two sowings of brassicas are a complete write-off. I think it’s the unfinished compost I spread over the beds, it’s just harbouring them plus I’ve fresh wood chip paths which I think are habitat for them too. Hoping next year will be better once everything has broken down properly. Very mild winter probably didn’t help either.
The nematode solution works well but can be rather expensive in larger gardens. Saw another gardening article where you collect slugs and enclose them in a container with food and water. Keep feeding and watering and after 20 days add more water and spray that water around plants. The science here is that the nematode occurs in normal populations of slugs….. about 20%…. and keeping them together means they all get the infection and the infection leaches into the water and you create your own nematode solution. However, what I plan to do…. haven’t done it yet…. is to buy a bag of Nemaslug and infected a lot of slugs and retain them as described above to ensure infection…. That way am sure of the infection and can string out the product.
I cannot drown slugs nor can I squish them – not for lack of trying. I relocated them to compost but they were devouring my garden which I needed for food, so I ended up putting them in my brewing DFSW bucket. The caustic fermentation kills them more reliably than drowning alone, and I get slug fertilizer in return.
Ducks love to eat slugs. I am new to central Texas, but I notice that cowbirds come to my yard every few minutes. They hunt for something in the soil whether high grass or newly cut grass. The cowbirds like the water in the water fountains but don’t bother with the seeds put out for other birds. Between the cowbirds, 90 degree temps and the daily winds, I’m thinking that slugs won’t proliferate. When I lived in humid Monterey CA there were plenty of slugs. I discovered that eggshells indeed work, but they must be a continuous circle around a young plant’s stem. Put 2 or 3 layers of small pieces of (1/4″ – 1/8″) eggshell about an inch or two from the stem, problem solved.
You can save money on the beer for slug traps. Just mix bread yeast and and sugar in water. The smell get the slugs very interested. I don’t recall the ratio, i just improvise by now. One pouch of dry yeast go for a few traps for me though. I am fairly sure i could do an applecider vinegar starter with scraps instead applechunks and get fine results as well.
My front porch is built over a cement pad and for years slugs have lived under the porch. This year I have only had a few, so I wondered why. Then we saw a garter snake basking on the hostas near the porch. Then I saw a lizard on the porch. So, between the two the slugs are getting eaten up. Yeah! Last year I did see a rat run under the porch. I left it alone to eat those tid bits as well. Nature is wonderful when you understand it. Thanks to Google, I am able to learn about these things. I still find some in the back garden, but not many and I kill them off.
im using two new options for me 1. dried bramble twigs around the plant- should make life difficult for them 2. dry bran – applied in an outer ring( or the edge of your container pot- the idea is that they gorge on that instead, bloat, try to hide, gets eaten by birds and basically and leave your plants alone note that the eggshell method doesn’t work( RHS tried these out and this one doesnt work), however Im attempting with finely ground eggshell powder( similar in texture to diatomaceous earth) in the hope that is has a similar drying effect as DE
Years ago I saw mention on tv somewhere about garlic water. Googling it said that there is something in garlic which is fatally toxic to slugs and snails. You have to spray or water regularly but It has kept them off my hostas for years. This week (for the first time) I have planted veg that are prone to getting chewed, it will be interesting to see whether it works. I have also scattered the strained garlic bits around some of my crops for good measure. Watch this space….(lol)🖖
ohh so the slugs are the ones eat my cabbage’s? i try for the frist time this year to grow i will try to pick them up i find that is the most efectving to deal with something that goes after my plants, i had to do that for my white egg plants, but i don’t put a lot of plants like 4 roots of each plant.then again i remove weed’s one by one with my hands haha otherwise the will keep on comeing back.
I use crushed lava in my “flower” pots to control weeds and for aesthetic reasons. I once temporarily relocated a slug in the pot and had to quickly move it to the compost heap – it seemed in high distress. I thought it could be used as an effective barrier … Was this also tested in the study you refer to in the article ?
This year I had some good success with copper tape around the wood of the raised beds. It doesn’t stick to the wood once it’s wet so you will need to staple it in but it really reduced the amount of slugs. Does anyone know what farmers c. 500 years ago did to control slugs? Also apparently snails eat the baby eggs of slugs but I’m not sure if it’s true.
I used copper mesh cut in to a square cut half way through the center and put it around base of the plant it seemed to wok pretty well. but now my plants have reached the sides and roof of greenhouse i have noticed few slugs on my pepper plants but non on my chili plants and mostly on the 4th worlds hottest pepper its prob because the shell of the hot pepper thin . as long they kep targeting that and leave the others alone its ok but still remove them, last few nights picked them and dropped them in the steam under water fall where its deep and the amount water bugs like shrimp looking things all come out for a feast along with a lot other water bugs, also lots blood worms in the garden stream so lots food and the odd fish, was not many very rare when i was a child but we started to catch small fish in a net when out for walk in the park and put them in garden stream daces later they lot more common. the steam dose eventually lead to the same water way a few miles down. did notice water levels getting lower than i liked so i added a waterfall raised it but just under a foot and wow we started to get a lot more dragonfly’s, up stream may had a shock but now fish back all over. but am in stage to move it back after i manage to get some holes drilled in strongest slabs in the world ive gone though 3 sets drills so far and few extra bits and ive got 5 out 10 holes drilled but i could getaway with two as that go under the front waterfall. needs to be moved because better viewing from decking and it really needs a solid surface for water to land on and long metal pins cut in half the things for fencing o pin down and over lap the slabs, over a week still trying to get it done but hopefully few days a few more drill sets arrive i can finally get that garden job done as i want it done before heavy rain as removed a load bricks and hardcore from the base as that water can get from normal half foot right up to 4 and bit foot so a big volume water, the slugs i catch on the plants can become fish food but as ive noticed few more this week i am going litter the floor with pellets and around base plant pots as that were they like to hide but plants to big to move now as green house is full its a squeeze just to get in so of course those will not be fish food for a little while till they gone.
Is there a way to work /with/ the slugs? Like how you can take care of certain pests by having them focus on a decoy plant to keep them away from the rest of yours? The spanish slugs are absolutely ruthless, but there are lots of other slugs that I want to preserve that are native to my part of Sweden. I saw someone’s comment below for creating a habitat away from the garden – I love that idea!
Thanks so much for this article and for your kindness in considering animals up the food chains and dropping them somewhere that is far from the garden . I thought DE was an amazing option until I saw that worm and other soft bodied crawlers experienced the same fate as the slugs…it was a terrible experience. So now I’m not sure about using DE though there are likely ways of using it more safely than most do. Thanks again for a great article! .
Hey! This old beer trick… Never worked that way for me, but I’ve found a technic that works miracles. Crack the beer open, and drink it during your nightly slug hunts. They don’t deserve it, I do, as I am the one working there! More seriously, I’ve always found it pretty “wide” in the range of species that it kills, and I don’t really like the idea. Plus, I’d rather keep the slugs alive and throw them away, than killing them. If I have to kill them, I’d leave them in place to attract meat-eating slugs and their predators and encourage a wilder hunt between them all. The best option I’ve found is to let the hens roam free on the beds prior planting, near the end of the winter when I can. They also love me more when I give my handful of slugs to them instead of the compost pile! And when there’s really an awful lot of slugs, I do that regularly. Slugs found during the day are treats to the hens, the ones found at night are thrown in their enclosure, and the eggs are never better !
Sigh….slugs😝. We switched to permanent no-till beds, and paths with wood chips, and due to the crazy temperature swings we have in spring and summer (Ohio weather🙄) we have to use mulch to conserve water and keep ground temps as stable as we can. Now we’re dealing with slugs. I’ve placed beer traps, I hand pick, and I’ve used a product marketed here in the US called First Saturday Lime. It’s helping, but not a fun battle for sure when we all of a sudden get 2 inches of rain in as many days! Thanks for the tips!!