# How To Control Slugs and Snails in Your Yard and Garden

- Link: https://lifeandwork.blog/how-to-control-slugs-and-snails-in-your-yard-and-garden/
- Published: 2026-07-10T19:37:55-05:00
- Author: Bert Swope

## Slugs can be very destructive pests in your garden.

Slugs and snails can be quite damaging to both ornamental and edible plants. Here’s
what you need to know to keep slugs and snails under control in your garden.

## About Slugs and Snails

Slugs and snails are one of the most difficult garden pests to control. Because 
they’re hermaphrodites (both male and female), they can all lay dozens of eggs up
to six times a year.

Slugs are active from spring through fall, then hibernate over the winter.

## To identify a slug or snail problem in your garden, look for:

### Adults:

To find slugs or snails, look after dark, before dawn, or on cloudy days. Check 
underneath plants, on the bottoms of boards and rocks, and on low growing foliage,
especially in shady areas.

### Eggs:

Look for colorless eggs, about the size of a BB, in clusters under dirt clods or
on the underside of large leaves near the crown of plants. Egg laying occurs during
warm months, especially in the fall.

Damage: Slug damage is apparent in irregular chewed out spots on leaves.

### Plants:

Slugs are especially fond of lush or succulent plants like basil, beans, cabbage,
citrus trees, dahlias, hostas, lettuce, and strawberries.

### Trails:

Slugs and snails secrete a mucous that lubricates surfaces to help them crawl, then
dries to a silvery trail.

## Controlling Slugs and Snails

Here are some tips for controlling slugs and snails:

### Abrasive Barriers:

Discourage snails and slugs by surrounding planting beds (or individual plants) 
with a scratchy, slug deterrent barrier. Popular barriers include gravel, crushed
eggshells, coarse sand, cedar chips, wood ashes, lime (if your yard needs it), and
diatomaceous earth. Eliminate any slugs that might be trapped inside the barrier
and reapply after wet weather.

### Garden Clean Up:

Because slugs and snails thrive in moist, decaying plant matter, keep your garden
free of debris. Be particularly vigilant underneath decks, porches, and in shady
areas. Add leaves and grass clipping to your compost pile, rather than using them
as mulch around plants. Also, you will want to keep your compost pile well away 
from your garden, id possible, so that the compost pile does not act as an attractant.

![slug with commercial slug pellets](https://i0.wp.com/lifeandwork.blog/wp-content/
uploads/2020/03/b6de9-depositphotos_174664294_s-2015.jpg?w=790&ssl=1)

 slug with commercial slug pellets

### Commercial Baits:

A variety of slug and snail baits and poisons are available, but most of them – 
such as metaldehyde – are highly toxic to humans and pets. For a safer solution,
look for baits made of iron phosphate. Scatter baits evenly in slug-prone areas 
in the early evening after watering.

### Copper:

Thought to repel snails by giving them a mild electrical shock, copper foil or flashing
can be wrapped around the bottoms of planters, edges of raised beds, and plant trunks;
or as rings around low growing plants. When standing flashing vertically, bury it
a few inches in the soil to prevent slugs from burrowing under. You can also paint
a band of copper sulfate on the trunks of susceptible plants.

### Eliminate Hiding Places:

Slugs and snails are notorious for hanging around the undersides of boards, branches,
rocks, decks, and ground covers. Eliminate as many of these hiding places as you
can, and use others as targets for your traps and baits.

### Hand Removal:

Handpicking and destroying slugs and snails is one of your best defenses. Wear gloves
or use chopsticks to make the job easier, or flick the pests into a container of
soapy water. Water your garden thoroughly before handpicking to draw the critters
out, and destroy any eggs you find.

### Homemade Traps:

Attract slugs by putting boards, wet newspapers, cabbage leaves, or citrus or melon
rinds upside down around the garden. Check back the next morning and destroy the
slugs and snails that have gathered. Another popular homemade trap involves sinking
a vertical-sided bowl or jar in the ground and baiting it with beer. Homemade traps
aren’t particularly effective at getting rid of slugs or snails over large areas,
so you’ll probably need multiple traps and applications.

### Keep Soil and Plants Dry:

Slugs lay eggs in moist soil and around damp plants. Increasing air circulation 
and reducing watering can help discourage the pests.

### Mulch Carefully:

Keep mulch several inches away from the crown of plants. Don’t pile mulch directly
against plant trunks, and limit it to a few inches thick.

### Natural predators:

In fenced areas, a few ducks, chickens, or geese will happily help keep your slug
and snail problem under control! If that’s not practical, try introducing beneficial
nematodes or decollate snails (Rumina decollata) to your garden as natural predators.
Toads are also a great way to control slugs and snails.

### Sharp Barriers:

Line the edges of raised beds with hardware cloth cut to extend over the edges in
a slug deterring, spiky border.

### Snail-Proof Plants:

 If the problem is widespread, focus on filling your garden with plants that slugs
tend to leave alone, such as begonias, California poppies, fuchsias, geraniums, 
impatiens, lantana, ornamental grasses, scented herbs (like rosemary and lavender),
along with stiff or woody plants.

### Solarize Soil:

Covering the ground with clear plastic for a couple of months in summer will kill
everything, including hibernating slugs and eggs, other pests, and weed seeds.

### Till or Cultivate:

Turning the soil in early spring will help kill hibernating slugs and their eggs.
It can also bring the pests to the surface where birds, frogs, and snakes can snack
on them.  Also in the very late fall or very early spring, when the ground is thawed
but hard nightly frosts still happen, cultivation can turn up kill snails and slugs
through freeze exposure.

### Trim Low Growing Plants:

Low branches, and plants that rest against fences or walls, should be trimmed so
that they don’t touch the surface.

### Water Carefully:

Rather than overhead watering, which gets everything wet, consider drip irrigation
to target water just on plant roots.

## Caution

Use salt in the garden to kill snails and slugs is not recommended. While it will
damage and kill snails and slugs it will also harm your garden soil quality.

Battling the Slimy Invaders A Guide to Slug and Snail Control

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