Why Your Garden Has SLUGS and SNAILS + How to Prevent Them
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2024
- Slugs and snails can make a meal of your garden in a heartbeat. They are vicious little critters that come out at night and have very few predators. Their slime trails are all that is left of their presence, making prevention and control challenging.
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Oh man it made me have a good laugh when you mentioned beer traps for slugs. It made me remember the time I visited a close friend for the sumer, who moved to Oregon. Him and his new friends tried to get me to drink the beer from thoughs trap. While we were sneaking around late at night. I wasn't having any of that especially after one of them almost swallowed one!!! Oh the things us kids did back in the 80's and 70's. LoL good times good time!!!!!!
Since I started watering my Hosta plants with watered down perked coffee 4 years ago, I have not had any slugs at all, and my plants look fantastic.
eggshells are also a good way to prevent slugs from going after certain plants! I also tried scrubbing my pans with eggshell powder for the first time while making my YT video and I was SHOCKED at the results! 🙌
Whoa. Really?
#5 you don't have a "pet" opossum! Had one live in my shed last year...
Never had slug or snail problems. Love opossums!
I accidentally added slugs to my garden this year by using wet semi-degraded straw as a mulch. It seems the slugs had moved into the wet straw bales over the winter...now I dry the straw out before putting it on my beds to give them time to move out.
I think my problem started with getting free horse manure. It was composting in straw/hay.
😊😊
Slugs were Decimating my rubarb. I took a solo cup. I put a quarter to a 1/2 of it filled with beer. Any kind of beer They like it. I Bury the solo cup so that it's even with the ground level. They go right for it, drop in and drown happy. About every other day I pull up the cup. I empty out the little corpses and I put more beer in and set it back down.😊
I have deer netting around my garden beds and allow my chickens and ducks to free range between. They do a great job of pest control, especially slugs and grasshoppers. They also eat any weeds that come up through the mulch I have on the ground. When I pull up a crop out of the bed I just leave the netting open and they prepare the bed for the next planting. Ducks particularly love slugs and snails.
Lllll loop ppppp
That's a great way to manage things. I'm going to consider that because my current system is just exhausting.
My chickens won't eat slugs. They absolutely hate them lol.
It is a most excellent way to keep the little devils down to a dull roar, especially here in the PNW. We now in fact have a duck that became a pet so she goes absolutely everywhere with me and cleans out the goodies. Including where I don't let my other birds even consider. If you can, a pet duck is well worth it.
😮Recent torrential rains here in Central Florida, brung slugs out. I never seen them this bad before. Thanks ,Luke for all the help to get rid of these little slime critters. 😊
I didn't have a snail or slug problem until I decided to try growing brussel sprouts this year. They were growing so beautifully but suddenly the leaves are being eaten up horribly!! No bugs or worms are visible so I'm assuming they must be coming out at night. (I never thought of that, geez!)
Now I'm eager to get out & see how I can take their environment away from them!
Thanks Luke! Soooo informative!!
It's likely cabbage worms (white butterfly larvae) eating your Brussels sprouts. They hide in the crevace of the leaf stems and can be hard to spot.
Butterflies lay their eggs on cabbage type plants. When they hatch, they will eat the entire plant. Hard to detect them. I now put netting over my kale and don't have any.
A have a pond with frogs, they have made a massive difference in keeping down the slug numbers.
I’m going to try that
you want to get rid of snails and slugs - get a pie pan and fill it with beer and put it in your flower bed or vegetable garden in the evening - the next morning - if there are slugs in your flower bed or garden, the pie tin that was filled with beer will be filled with slugs and snails - I tried it and it works every time. You will be amazed at how many slugs and snails are in your flower beds and gardens, especially if they never have been treated for them.
Perfect timing. We have had so much rain this summer and I all of a sudden have slugs decimating my heucheras
My plants were being attacked by slugs! I used Diatomaceous earth and that worked great. I got food grade. Beer in bowls works great. You can get cheap beer and I have never had anything other than slugs in that beer trap. Nothing else in my garden wants that cheap beer.
Thanks for a very informative video. Copper strips don't have any effect, but two rows of copper wire or strips connected to a 9v battery does definitively work. About 1cm apart. It doesn't kill them but they just give up and try another route.
Firefly nymphs prey on slugs and snails. I'd like to see a video on how to attract fireflies to your garden.
I would love those in my garden! I haven’t seen one before.
@@PorchGardeningWithPassion Look up some photos of firefly nymphs. You probably have seen them around, if there are fireflies present. Same goes for ladybug nymphs, which look nothing like the adult stage, so most people don't recognize them.
Slugs are the bane of my existence. Living in Ireland we have little opportunity to dry the soil out unless we have a heatwave. Then compounded with living next to woods. I'm doomed. I go out in the evening and it's like they are a marching army coming to eat my plants. I usually chuck them into the field but now you tell me they can move 25 feet in an hour. I'm doubly doom! Great video though ❤
I learned from growing my orchids that H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) 3% kills the slugs, the snails AND their eggs. I'd go with caution at first, to be sure the plants are ok with it, but, I just water the plants with the stuff. Close to the base of the plant.
Haven't had any slug or snail damage this season at ALL.
Haha that scared me too! 25 feet in an hour!?! We are all doomed 👀
I’m gonna try the BEER trick
I feel your pain. My yard is mostly shade.
@dorisbedell4099 do you mix the hydrongeon peroxide with water?
Great tips, I look forward to learning more.
Good on, thank you Luke ❤
Beer traps are the easiest and best, in my experience. You don't even need to bury it. You don't need to use expensive beer. I've never seen any other critters in my beer traps other than slugs.
What do you do with your beer trap if you don’t bury the can? Im desperate coz my flower seedlings don’t even have a fighting chance to survive these despicable creatures 😢
@@lelurve I take a shallow dish, like a leftover take-out 8oz shallow dish and just set it on the ground and fill it just over half-way with Miller Lite. Then in the morning you should find some slugs.
@@rogaineablar5608 thank you for this! May your garden produce abundantly this season
Yup... but I been caught in a few of those too though...
Why the beer traps work. I've been at my current place since 2019 and never have I seen a slug or snail in our rental. I just started noticing we have slugs and now they're getting into my potted plants. What could be the sudden attraction?
Thanks! This is great info for me.
I keep a container of salt by both front&back doors for slugs.They go after the poultry food.I bought ducks because they supposedly eat them but they're in the pond when the slugs come out.Country slugs can be a foot long&so gross.So I take a flashlight out&salt them which kills them fast.Now I'm gonna have to check under my weed barriers for slugs.Never seen them back there but I never looked,either.Thanks Luke!!!
A foot long?!?! 😳🤢
Thank you
I just learned in one of Stefan Sobkowiak's youtube videos titled "Reduce INSECT DAMAGE in your Orchard/Garden with THIS" that beetles are one of the best hunters for slugs. Give those beetles a place to call home, like under a rock or a board. I'll give this a try when I finally set up my garden.
Very thorough! Thank you so much :)
Here in the PNW, Western Washington, slugs and snails are absolutely everywhere. They were a huge problem for me last year and I am working on a variety of solutions to reduce their impact this year. The tips in this video will be implemented, in addition to what I already have planned.
I plan to move there eventually, can't wait! I will definitely need to build some long greenhouses.
I have both slug and snails in my garden in the Eastern UP. My yard is clay from the old glacial lake bed. I knew I would have to deal with them because my vegetation consists of rushes and reeds. Keeping the lawn mowed keeps the ground drier and reduces the problem. It still remains never ending!
Manistique I totally agree
@@suzyqakers2418 I'm in Rudyard, about 25 miles south of the Soo.
I miss the U.P. 😢
Wow, you still have nice big greens, most of mine have gone to seed. 😮 Very informative.
Appreciate the information!
I live in the Pacific Northwest on the coast and forest, we get lots of rain and it’s very dark during the day because of the redwoods.
I like to go out at night an hour or two after the sun goes down. I put on a headlamp and look around. Some times I also leave a board out on the ground and make sure it's nice a moist by watering before putting the board down. Then I come back the next morning I lift up the board to see if I got any. The plants in containers can also have them hiding underneath because they get the moisture from you watering the plants. Look underneath your containers and you might find a few.
Last year was a lot dryer and had zero problem. This year I keep finding little ones in my garden. They really like my lettuce this year.
Hello from Dallas Texas! I have some slugs but more snails. I've tried your tips about early spring this year when I started gardening for the first time. 😅
...A tenacious slug... 😄🙌🛑🐌 Maybe a cool band name though.🤔 The Tenacious Slugs.😆🎤🐌🤓 The time-lapse beer spa was awesome! 🍺☠
A toad pond is just a large plant pan for under plants that I have placed in ground about halfway up so it’s level. There are a couple of flat rock in the water so toads can be in water but not always immersed. Fill with water but not all the way up. I also found a small hollow long to put next to it that is partially buried as a toad house. To clean it out i just run the hose in the water to flush. Wish I could send a picture….🐸
That sounds like a great idea! I have a kiddie pool for the frogs, but might try a toad pond as well. I am fond of frogs and toads, and would be grateful if they ate slugs! Peace and Blessings 🌻
What I experienced with the beer trap is exactly what your video showed. The slugs came for the party, drank their fill and went home. Most likely to come out the next night and feast in the garden. There were a few dead slugs, but mostly they drank and left.
Luke here in Europe we have Spanish Slugs which came in some lettuce shipment and they are eating everything. German slugs are smaller and being German, well behaved and follow slug rules. But Spanish slugs? Marauders!
I have slugs living under the brick steps of the house. We have tried to seal any place we see that could be an opening but it is a constant battle!
I wasn’t well last fall and into the winter and had bags of mulch I didn’t open and left all around my6 gardens. Huge huge mistake. I now have hundreds of of hundreds snail slugs I couldn’t figure out why. Because I never had this problem before. Thank you for educating me with this video
Thanks for the info.
Prevention is better than cure, as you imply. I do believe that no matter how many slugs are dispatched that their numbers will never be decimated. Learning to live with them is key. Sure, nematodes and pellets and even big predator slugs work well, but making your crop the least attractive option is probably the best. Great video, thank you!
I have slugs and snails in Western NY. they have destroyed some plants. We use beer traps away from the plants. Like milk jugs they have to climb in to get the beer. It’s working so far.
I am in WNY too Too much rain =tons of snails They keep eating my pole bean seedlings Beautiful row than next day gone
Thank you ,love your seeds ,hope to see more vidios soon .
In new Hampshire here- constant rain for the last month and a half- this is good to know THANKS!
Ugh I have so many slugs this year
Could you do a pest video on how to deal with voles, shrews, field/forest mice? Particularly in relation to protecting newly planted trees and shrubs?
Get a cat?
A vole just ate one of my Jerusalem artichoke roots. Darn cat and dog sniff the mounds but don't chase the buggers.
I really made sure to mulch early and often this year with straw and it seemed to really help with the slimy little creatures. I don't know if it was the straw or the unusually dry spring/early summer here in Indiana but I'll try it again next year. My compost is another thing entirely. I depend on fall leaves for a large portion of my compost pile and even with leaves that are mowed over and thoroughly shredded I still find A LOT of slug activity in the pile every spring.
Here in Michigan with gotten a lot of rain lately getting out of control and hurting the gardens do what you can
I'd like to know how to get the slime off the garage doors. I can't even scrub it off. I had a dog years ago. It was a miniature Schnauzer he loved to eat slugs. He made me so mad. I'd take him out at night to go to the bathroom and we'd come inside and all of a sudden he is chewing something like gum. Or he drops one on the floor and I stepped on it barefoot. It was horrible.
We have had very little rain but we have snails crawling up our vinyl siding on homes. We never had snails before but now we do. Slugs have gotten my flowers but not my veggies. I just use the pellet bait and it has worked wonders.
There's not much I can do about the environment, (rainforest type area), but I encourage leopard slugs. Leopard slugs are carnivorous and don't tyically eat plants, they hunt those pesky little plant eating slugs and snails.
I’ve been cleaning up all the places they could hide and put down bait, but even then, my neighbors’ yards can be the perfect environment for them to live and then they can just stop by my yard for a meal when the time is right. It’s frustrating, but there’s really only so much you can do on your property ❤
We haven't had rain like we did this spring and i've lost a lot of plants this year. Sometimes you just have to go with what you can get. Thanks for the advice. I will have to work on keeping things drier next spring.
So now for the newest issue in my garden. Do you have any recommendations for grasshoppers and crickets attacking the garden?
Thank you for this video because I fought slugs on my cabbage last year and they were such a nuisance.
Ooohhh Luke. Never say never. Lol. Great info about this topic. I have found the only think that worked for me was pine needles spread across the top of my hosta bed. They hate it.
Thanks for the tip, I have lots of pine needles
Oh, pine needles. I will try that too. I never had a problem with slugs until last year. I think it’s due to changes in the weather (a lot more rain). I have a fairly shady yard and have cultivated many different varieties of Hostas. I went on a family vacation and when we arrived home my Hostas looked like skeletons!
I have fighting them since then.
I leave nettles and brambles wild around my beds the reson is I don't like getting stung and they don't either also water through a pipe letting the ground dry happy gardening Richardx
Law, law. Where I live was a forrest since the beginning of time, and a very dense one just two years ago. Even being plowed two seasons now, it’s trying it’s best to reclaim itself. I’ve now laid about 1/16th an acre of weed barrier and am bff’s with neem, BT and copper fungicide. Liking the potato method since I already have them. Maybe over the years it’ll get better.
Thanks for posting Luke. I would have no garden here at all if I did not use slug bait. The stuff just works and it's a must have for me. Slugs Rule here, if I could get a penny.... anyway thanks. The little slimy bastards.
Do you put it in your garden or away from your garden? I was told to sprinkle around the plants they go for...but Luke is saying put it away from the garden.
@@KandBacres I put it right around each plant, but only when plants are small and at most risk of being ate by the slugs. I don't know why you would attempt to draw them out of your garden, never tried that. That's what Luke said. I'll do it my way and it takes very little to stop them, the stuff is expensive.
We have so many slugs this year in Maine. State even posted about it.
I have both. And plenty
No slugs in Texas? Here in N Texas, we definitely have slugs. Wish we didn't, but we do. Thanks for the tips, Luke. ~ Lisa
Is Fine Premium Pine Shavings a good or bad mulch? Thank you for all the great info
Sluggo plus works great!
Thanks for the slug tips. I will know what conditions to look for if I have an issue with them. More than slugs, though, pill bugs are destroying my little shoots as they emerge. I have had to plant green beans 3 times already, because they keep getting eaten. Any tips for ridding the garden of them? Thanks Luke!
I have a huge pill bug Infestation, i live in the city and I'm a renter with a pretty impressive rare big front garden. it's my 3rd summer here and the pull bugs are just literally in every square inch of the dirt. Not an exaggeration. They ATE EVERYTHING I planted this year...btwn the slugs and pill bugs, only 3 sunflowers out of 12 grew. In addition to eating all my zinnia sprouts, Dalias, and sweet peas. I was so excited I saw my sweet pea vines about 4in long, a week later I came out and they were just completely GONE. I've never experienced something like this.
Pill bugs are actually good for the garden. They eat organic matter so if they are bothering your plants, you don't have enough in your soil. Try burying some kitchen scraps in your garden. They also love watermelon rinds a lot, roughly chop them and put around your plants.
When we planted in the ground, we never had a slug problem, then my wife wanted a raise garden made from wooden pallets, and wow, the slugs are all on our cabbage now.
Btw my MIGardener Tomatoes are around 3 feet tall and already have tomatoes. My Brussel sprouts are almost 2 feet tall, and My moon and stars/cucumbers/basil look great too.
I have a major Slug problem this year. I have never had issues with slugs, until this year. They were eating half a squash plant overnight. They loved my broccoli and cauliflower also. I did some research and found copper tape. I do all raised beds, and for me this has worked. But the slugs are still around, I am seeing them daily. Thank you for the tips!
Instead of Beer traps, try yeast traps. Slugs love the fermented smell. 1 cup water, a tsp of sugar, 1/2 tsp of yeast, a tsp of flour. Mix all together and leave in a cup. I multiplied the formula by 3-4x and set little traps all around my garden this spring and rid my garden of the slugs in about a week.
I tried everything under the Sun. I was picking over 100 a night. Only thing that worked was a ring around the garden with coffee grounds. Then after a few nights of picking what was in the garden and killing them I was slug free.
All my veg are in 4’ high stock tanks and this is my first year dealing with slugs but it has been very wet. They were on my peppers then showed up in another tank on my beans. I used crushed egg shells and coffee grounds. They haven’t returned.
@matthewkendall1861 that would be a LOT of coffee grounds for me lol
Where I am we have a really bad problem with slugs. This year for the first time I am using copper wire and so far I only found one big slug in my garden.
Copper wire?
🌿🕊️thank you
I found some copper TAPE and put it all around... much cheaper and seemed to help a bit if they're already there.
Mushrooms are great for breaking down the wood chip
I live in Central Florida and the bugs just destroyed all my cucumber , zucchini and squash plants , completely ate them all . I will start new seeds to plant for fall the end of July. Hopefully I will get a harvest . Which garlic do you recommend I grow here in October ? thanks .
I use lime. If it rains, I replace it once it's dry.
Wd do all these things and still have an issue in oregon. We go slug hunting at night. Really cuts down on the population.
I went out last night and collected 1lb of slugs in the garden my chard looks like lace.thanks for the info i plant my food for my family not snails. I will put a sign out warning them stay out hopefully they can read😅
Thanks for the great info. I got grubs in my 5 gal. potato buckets last year. I used new potting soil and commercial compost. I put the buckets up on 2x4s on my patio so not sure how they got in there. I am concerned they are in my potato buckets again this year. How can I get rid of them? Or how can I prevent them all together?
Grubs are larvae from beetles
What is your opinion of using cedar mulch in veggie and strawberry gardens? Doesn't cedar help to prevent bugs and other critters.
Slugs like beer. Bury a container like a small rectangular take out container so the top is level with the ground. Add beer. (Whatever you have) check in the am. I use a kitty litter scoop. Works pretty well.
I have a huge snail problem including the cities tree assassin's snail (my phrase). The real names are the mexican white snail and the mexican brown snail (same exact snail just different mutations). I live close to a lake and I pray daily that the ducks nearby find my garden.
Can you make a video on pepper plant diseases?
Top reason, I live in Western WA. Lol
I have a slug problem in my misting bed
Need the moisture to root the cuttings.
I have news for you, as far as the mulch, the very mulch you are standing in my slugs and snails love. They are vicious!
Do you agree with using Sluggo Plus? Is it natural eniugh. I resorted to it for pill bugs.
I have no Slugs in my baby garden maybe its the heat 113-117 degrees. I do have grasshoppers huge ones as big adults thumb sizes we have Katydid. Katydid are the ones eating my Basil and Mint leaves. I stopped watering my Herbs in the evening just early morning to pervent moisture i hope that works
I finally bought some sluggo to help but I will go back and double check on these as well. Thank you!
Did the sluggo work for you? Desperate here and will try whatever works
Is grass and weeds good for your plants to use as mulch
Best is to go out at night when dark, with a torch and a bucket with water and a bit of dishwash liquid, pick them up by hand and pop them into the water. Look on the lawn too.
Will a dusting of diatomaceous earth over the plants and surrounding ground get rid of the slugs? I'm hesitant to try it because I think it will harm the earthworms. I've finally gotten them into my garden and don't want them to be incidental casualties while fighting slugs.
I dealt with slugs in early spring when I was growing lettuce & Spinach. I think it’s a little too hot for them now where I live.
No slugs. I was waiting for them as its my 1st year gardening in a new house. No slugs came. I think its very dry here,we're in drought.
Tons of rain this year, the slug population has exploded at my house! I lift the lid of my compost bin and they are everywhere.
Buy bags of salt.
😂😂😂😂
lol How are you supposed to take away the moisture when us up here in the Northeast are experiencing record rainfall. lol
Heavy mulch and watering at plant level. Man it’s hard
This! This never ending rain is tropical and the slugs are living it up
Don't put the beer traps out....from my own experience, sure I trapped a boatload of slugs. ....any every slug in the neighborhood came to my garden...I'm just sayin' beer truly does attract slugs...lots of em
Yeah they like the smell of beer and drown happy. 😂😂😂
I’ve noticed lots of my strawberries has tiny holes, once I noticed a slug on them, so they eat my berries. What should I do?
Nothing is working for me this year! I’ve tried 4 brands of slug bait and beer.
You forgot the salt sprinkling
My strawberry beds have been struggling with two spotted mites for over 2 years now. My new strawberry leaves are burned and crinkled. I found them out this season. I was confused why my strawberries were so sick looking the whole season. This year i lost almost half my strawberries. I had to replace a lot of them. I have been spraying DE every 3 days. I heard insecticidal soap is bad for the soil and plants
I have horse radish that comes back yearly as I can’t harvest it all. The leaves get huge and that’s where I find snails. Do I pick all the leaves?
New favorite word : “mucilaginous” . Thanks !
I live in NW OH and the rain has been coming down in buckets, my tomatoes and potatoes leaves are turning yellow. Anything i can do?
Nutrients may be washing away? Try feeding.
I line the edges of the bed with salt so they do not crawl in and a spray bottle for a light spray on critters.
Get a snack plate with an elevated center, put beer in the center, and line the rest of the dish with salt all around it.
I put mulch/wood chips in my chicken coop area outside of the coop. I don't see any slugs or snails at the surface. So being in an intense garden does not allow the air flow cause it's shaded out ?
It seems like they like to eat peanut butter too.
What predators are there for slugs ?