In my first year, I was paranoid about the prospect of slugs, and used slug pellets in a jam jar on its side in the brassica seedbed.   Unhappy about this compromise?   So was I.

Within a couple of years, my paranoia had evaporated - without picking slugs at night, using NO pellets at all, and best of all, my crops sustain very little real damage.

I had to work backwards to find out what was working - the only clues I could think of were ---

The Basics

I have indicated the most important in *bold*.

• *Don't build "slug palaces"* - remove planks of wood, stones, plastic bags, or flower-pots lying on the ground.   Shady moist cracks and crevices between piles of wood and walls are another favourite "slug palace".
  • Personally, I think carpets and black plastics fall into this category - brilliantly conceived slug-shelters!   I don't use them.
  • I make one exception - I have kept grass paths between my beds; over the season, the couch grass overhangs the bed edges.   As the beds dry, perhaps a week after some damp weather, I know just where to find the slugs - trimming the path edges means I find both the slugs, and their egg clusters.   And destroy!
• Plant lots of small beds of many different varieties
• *Keep a good crop rotation*
• *Digging* exposes slug eggs to frost in winter, or to hungry nesting birds in spring.
• Slugs don't like to crawl over newly cultivated soil.   *Regular hoeing* (I've heard daily, but that's going a bit far!) of your beds will discourage them, and cut down populations; especially worthwhile in spring - so you don't allow a large population to develop in late summer and autumn.
• Divert the little "-------s" - give them something they like to eat!   Sow some lettuce between your brassicas.   You won't get any lettuces, but all the brassica you planted!   And you'll know where to look for your slug population before they mature and breed.
• Slug control can be a real pleasure, for you and the slug!   On Sunday afternoon, nip up to the off-licence, get a couple of cold cans of beer; now lie back in the sun, and drink slowly.   Oh, and leave half-an-inch in the bottom of the can, and lay it on its side in the soil; make sure it's at a reasonable slope!   Come night-fall, the slugs will climb in, slide down into the beer, get drunk and drown - what a way to go!
• Many of my children's games involve "making safes" - they cut a flap of turf, which hinges back, and they pretend to hide valuables.   Next week, they visit their "safes", open the flap, and squash the slugs hiding there!   The kids thought they were playing, but I know they're not!
• One last hint - and click here for the secret

Keeping slugs under control generally means that I have to do very little more for specific crops - the suggestions below are minimal, but have worked so far on our plots.

Potatoes

Some varieties are very toothsome morsels for underground slugs.   A couple of clues to dealing with them.

• My first earlies sustain very little damage (my preferred variety is Red Duke of York).
• Kestrel (second early) produce beautiful potatoes; in two years growing, the slugs have not touched them, however long I've left them in.
• I have grown Cara and Valor as main crops for their blight resistance.   Blight free potatoes - but a lot of slug damage.
• Moral? - try different varieties, and stick to the ones slugs dislike; and grow potatoes to lift before September!   As the slugs responsible live underground, the only other treatment I can think of is using nematodes - but that is quite pricy, and for me unnecessary.

Brassica

• Slugs are choosy eaters, so try lots of different varieties, and stick to the ones they don't like for your main crops.
• I've planted lettuce as a catch crop between brassicas - result?   No lettuces, but slug-free brassicas in that bed!
• Slugs loved my Golden Acre cabbages - so I grew extra of these, and left four or five on the plot.   Kept the slugs occupied (and off the rest of my brassicas) through most of the season.

Lettuces

• Sowing a row or two of Little Gem (no, I don't like Little Gem!) direct in the bed keeps slugs busy.   The slugs however don't touch the seedlings I've sown inside, and planted out.

Radishes and Turnips

• Slug traps might reduce the damage next year - I hope.

Back to top

For information on slugs and their control, try these sites. Find out the truth about "peaceful and gentle" gardeners - it's a myth!

• Slug Links on the Internet

If you have any other ideas, let me know please - use the Guest Book link above.