Slugs are finding their way into my garden container and wreaking their slimy havoc. I put a beer trap out for them to see if that will work. Does anyone have a tried-and-true effective method to keep slugs away? Prevention would make me the happiest.
Though fall will soon bring an end to the season here in Massachusetts, I want to be prepared for next time.
Frogs!
And/or hedgehog.
Tried pellets. Tried beer traps. Tried going out at night with a torch and a bucket of salty water.
Nothing worked effectively. Until the frogs took over the small pond we have. Since then, zero problem. I hope one day we get a hedgehog as well.
Thank you for the realistic perspective, Harters. I may try putting a band of copper mesh around the top of the container. I heard that slugs don’t like crawling over copper. If I attempt the copper mesh, I’ll report back.
We have tried sand paper (they aren’t supposed to like crawling on that either). I don’t really know if it was successful. I like to think it was but it was a long time ago.
Tried that as well. With the same dismal lack of success.
Diatomaceous earth?
Beer trap doesn’t work for sure, it seems to attract even more coming.
Torch and light at night required too much work and drove me nuts instead of the slugs.
I have some success with the organic anti slug grains.
This year, a relative hot summer with few rain, there are less slugs.
Makes sense. This summer we have had fairly regular rain, following a drought last summer. Probably why the slugs did not attack last year. We also used to live on property that had very sandy soil, so slugs are something I hadn’t dealt with until we came to this house.
I think chicken works too.
I tried to train my cat to kill slugs in their past time, he just glazed elsewhere.
Day 1 results: Beer trap is utterly untouched. No surprise to any of you.
More promising: I also moved the container into a sunnier, hotter spot. The little slimers seem to have departed.
We shall see.
Maybe try to water in the early morning, than the afternoon.
A flock of wild turkeys forages in our yard. I just read that turkeys eat slugs as well. Apparently I ought to encourage snacking. 
I’d be thrilled to get one myself but I’d have to import it to this continent. Skunks, on the other hand, love to eat slugs too …
I can tell you what not to do and that’s using slug and snail bait. It worked but there was a huge worm kill off. The garden still thrived probably due to the copious amount of compost I worked in for my veggies.
We have a local flock of turkeys, but our neighborhood used to share a single semi-wild Guinea hen which ate up everything in sight. They are the best!
Great tip. The slug and snail bait might work for me because container gardening is all we can do, vegetable-wise. Veg or herbs that we plant in the garden either get eaten by the abundant various critters or tromped on by wild turkeys. Chili peppers are the only thing that nothing seems to touch–except the one time a critter took a single bite of a ripe red cherry pepper and cast it aside. Wish I had seen that surprised chomper in action.
I like the benz-o-matic method.
While it does nothing for long term control, it is viscerally satisfying to torch the little buggers.
Garlic and shallot butter is optional.
Be careful what you wish for, we have a couple of large ground hogs.
They have developed a taste for heirloom tomatoes.
LOL, I actually own one of those. Yet I will try to resist so that I don’t overshoot the goal and burn the house down by accident.
I love the smell of burning slugs in the morning…
Nothing else smells like that. Smells like victory.
