EasyBloom Forum

My hostas are beautiful right now, but it is only a matter of time before the slugs arrive and turn them into lace. Is there a natural way to deal with slugs? We have a dog and the store-bought remedies are labeled as dangerous for pets.

Hey BettyAnn...I do have a remedy that comes to mind, which is pet friendly and relatively easy to do. I learned this trick when I was growing up helping my grandfather in his garden. I was skeptical at first, but I was amazed when I saw the results. This method will not completely eradicate a slug problem (few methods can claim that), but it will definitely reduce the number of slugs/snails that attack your plants. The active ingredient in this little remedy is BEER! My grandfather used to partially bury a pie pan so that the rim of the pan is at the same height as the soil. Then he would pour a beer or two in the pan. He did have dogs and I could not tell you how he was able to keep his dogs from lapping up the the pan of beer, but after a couple of days, the pie pan would be full of snails that have drowned in the beer. You can also bury a Mason jar to make it a bit more difficult for your pup to lap up the beer.

I would likely go for the buried Mason jar method because the snails/slugs are less likely to escape when the sides of the "trap" are steep. Also, this will prevent extensive evaporation. Interestingly enough the snails are attracted to the fermented sugar in beer, you could simply use water, sugar and yeast as a substitute. This may be a bit cheaper since you will have to replenish the trap from time to time.

Unfortunately, this trap only works for the snails immediately near the trap. It won't attract every snail/slug in your garden. I would say that the effective area of such a trap is probably only a few square feet. If your Hosta bed is rather large you may have to install several traps.

Another pet safe method is to use copper foil to wrap plants or planters. Unfortunately Hostas do not have one central trunk that you could wrap copper foil around, but if they are growing in a planter box you could wrap the box with copper foil. I was once told that slugs attempting to cross a copper barrier is very "annoying" to them. I was also told it would be analogous to us chewing on some aluminum foil. I'm not sure if that is true, but slugs/snails usually avoid crossing copper foil. Once the foil rusts, they will cross it though. Copy and paste the following link into your web browser's URL to see a picture of the foil in action! http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/Zoo_p019.shtml

I hope this information is helpful to you. Let me know if you have any further questions. Cheers...Dr. Robby

Thanks for the very creative ideas! I'll try them out and see how it goes.

Hello, I have a hobby gardening site and have nine natural ways to get rid of snails which may interest you. There are photos and simple instructions for each solution. http://www.sustainable-gardening-tips.com/garden-snails.html There are many different ideas around and some work better than others depending on your climate and the design of your garden to name just a couple. At this time of year you will need to have some clever ways to stop them. I really don't like commercial baits as they can cause death and / or illness in other innocent pets, birds and animals. Please have a look and choose from the nine options and try to eliminate them sustainably. Kind regards Robyn (Gardener and Permaculturist)