Despite their slow pace, slugs have a terrible unexpected habit of munching on plants, thus leaving them destroyed. To avoid search through the garden and picking up a slug, introduce plants that slugs hate will reduce their numbers in the garden.
What makes some plants slug resistant
Most plants have natural mechanisms of protecting themselves against slugs.
How to choose slug resistant plants
Stock your garden with plants that slugs will have no interest. Here are the selection criteria:
Evergreen plants: plants such as lavender and rosemary are pretty though and aromatic, making it difficult for roses to move over.
Glossy, thick and leathery foliage: plants such as London pride, ferns, and hellebores are difficult to rasp and travel over.
Waxy foliage: plants with waxy like thick leaves make it difficult to move over, such plants are the ice plant and plants of the houseleek species.
Rough, furry or hairy leaves: Finding plants with such characteristics will make it difficult for the slug to travel over making them resistant. Such plants include; Alchemilla Mollis, Stachys macrantha, lungwort species, thug lemon palm, hardy geraniums, pelargoniums, and borage.
Bitter plants: plants such as euphorbia have poisonous, bitter and milky sap which can gum up mouthparts making slugs to avoid it. Buy PLAT FIRM Euphorbia ingens seeds to plant in your garden.
Dry and mature plants: dry plants like ornamental glass don’t attract slugs. Slugs also avoid plant with strong scent and taste such as boy’s clove, fennel, and sage. Slugs avoid mature plants because they have strong and hardy stems and branches, making it difficult to feed on their leaves.
Flax: slugs don’t eat flax, and as much as they might hide in them, they can’t eat them; thus when slug get hungry, they will have to escape to look for food.
Borders and companion plants: Most slugs shy away from companion plants; thus, you can plant them around vulnerable plants and be sure that slug won’t go there.
These methods may prevent slug from your farm, but to eliminate slug, you will need other means. Here are organic means of removing slug from your garden.
Making the garden inhospitable
First, you should know the conditions for the slug to thrive, such as dark and damp environments. Keeping your garden tidy and reduce places of comfort. Make sure to check for slug leaves, debris and eggs and avoid using wood chips or mulch more than 3 inches high. This is because slug love moisture making the mulch to attract them.
Avoid plants that slugs love
Be vigilant with plants that slugs love such as cabbages, basil, delphinium, lettuce, and strawberries and avoid planting them in your garden since they will attract slugs.
Make tiny copper fences
Copper shocks slugs thus you can fence your garden with 16 AWG magnet copper wire or strategically place the copper tape in tree stems and other garden entry points.
Sprinkle sand around the garden
Sand makes everyone uncomfortable when walked over barefoot, so imagine how slugs will feel when they encounter it in your farm, and it sticks to their body. Scatter it around the farm to make the slugs disappear.
Use old coffee grounds
Slug does not like the smell of coffee. Scatter coffee grounds around plants that slug flock, once the slugs feel the scent, they will run away. The grounds will also decompose and make your plants nutritious.
Allow natural predators to thrive
Encourage slug eating animals such as ducks, chicken, ground beetles, fireflies, rove beetles, shrews, praying mantises, snakes, turtles, frogs, and blackbirds to inhibit the garden. You will have to attract the animals to the farm; for example, you can provide Kingfisher bronze effect plastic bird bath to attract ducks and blackbirds.
Creating fake shades
Since slugs like dark and damp areas, you can create shade and provide these conditions. The slugs will come to hide then you catch them and throw them away or kill them.
Setting up a beer trap
Slugs are attracted to the beer and thus setting up a beer trap will attract them. Buy containers and fill them halfway with beer, the slugs will follow the beer, and as they try to drink it, they will fall to the container and submerge. Check the trap every morning to clean it and remove the slugs.
Using grapefruit remains
After eating grapes, place the empty peels in different areas of your garden. Slugs will be attracted by the vines, and you will find them around the peelings in the morning. You can remove them and feed them to birds.
Putting out eggshells
Put an eggshell perimeter around plants that slugs love. The sharp eggshell edges will pierce the slugs making them uncomfortable, which will make them die or run away. The eggshells will also decompose and form manure to the soil.
Conclusion
Having slug in your farm is so irritating since they eat your plants and leave uncomfortable pathways. You children may also fear the slugs; thus, it is essential to find proven mechanisms to do away with the plants.