How To Humanely Get Rid of Slugs and Snails from Your Garden

Do you go out to tend to your plants each day and sigh as you discover them munched on by slugs and snails? Perhaps you’ve even caught the slimy little critters in the act and flung them over the fence, hoping they’ll go away and not come back. 

The thing is, as you’re probably all too aware, slugs and snails do come back, seemingly bringing their friends with them too. 

We feel your pain. Whether you’ve got a huge plot out in the sticks, or a more modest garden in a London housing development, slugs and snails can be a source of frustration. 

You might be tempted to go down the route of killing them. Don’t do that, it’s horrifically cruel. Slug pellets cause a slow, painful death and salt binds their bodily fluids, causing the slugs to dissolve. 

Some people think leaving out a beer moat is fun for the slugs as they get to get drunk as they die, but they’re drowning and drowning is not fun. 

Encouraging wildlife such as hedgehogs and frogs who are natural predators of slugs and snails may be a more natural way of getting rid of your unwanted guests, but if you really want to show some compassion, there are many humane ways of getting rid of slugs and snails from your garden. 

Below are a few ways to help keep slugs and snails from your garden, allowing your plants to flourish.  

Take them far away

Slugs and snails have a homing instinct. It’s no good finding snails amongst your prize-winning tomatoes, picking them off and flinging them over next door’s fence, they’ll come back. (We don’t actually recommend you fling them over your next door neighbour’s fence!) 

Slugs and snails like the dark, so gather them all up in the evening and take them on a road trip. Slugs and snails can cover 22 metres a day, so take them a mile away and set them free far enough away they won’t find their way back. 

Over time, you’ll find your garden’s slug and snail population has reduced massively. 

Grapefruit halves

Eat a grapefruit so the peel is empty of fruit and place it cut side down near your plants. Slugs and snails will love this new dark cave you’ve put out for them and will bed down there for the night. 

In the morning, you can take them on a road trip as above and relocate them. 

Broken eggshells

Slugs don’t like the feel of broken eggshells on their soft bodies, so break up some eggshells and scatter them around your plants. As an added bonus, the eggshells will decompose and benefit the soil. 

Coffee grounds

In case you were thinking of inviting slugs and snails round for breakfast but now know they don’t like eggs, they don’t like coffee either. Or, more specifically, the smell of coffee. 

Scatter coffee grounds around your plants and it’ll keep the slugs away. Also, just like the eggshells, the coffee grounds will decompose and be good for your plants. 

Copper

Copper is widely known for its slug-repelling properties. It gives off tiny electric shocks they don’t like (we appreciate ‘tiny electric shocks’ might not come strictly under the ‘humane’ category but we’re not talking electric chair strength shocks here, just a little tingle). 

You can buy copper tape, mesh or wire and put it around pots, specific plants or entire areas. 

Plant things slugs and snails don’t like

Although given the choice of vegetation they don’t like and nothing at all, slugs and snails will eat the stuff they don’t like rather than starve. But what you can do to deter them eating *everything* in your garden, is to plant things they don’t like amongst the things they do. 

For example, slugs and snails aren’t keen on Swiss chard, beetroot and cucumber, amongst other fruit and veg. They’re also not keen on highly scented herbs. In fact, they’re not keen on herbs at all, so consider planting some around your other plants. 

Be wary if you plant lettuce, dahlias and sunflowers which you might need to tie up with Sisal Rope to give them support, as they are the slugs and snails’ favourite!

Keep your garden tidy

Slugs and snails love dark, wet environments so if your garden has a lot of leaves, wood and other debris lying around, clear it all up to make it less attractive to your slimy visitors. 

It’s also a good idea to water your plants in the morning so they’re dry by the evening.

Covers, collars and cloches

To really prevent your plants getting munched, you can cover them with an actual barrier to stop the slugs and snails getting through. Covers, collars and cloches to put over individual plants are easily obtained. 

Of course, if you’ve got a lot of plants, this is going to become costly and time-consuming but aren’t your crops and plants worth it? 

As you can see, there are numerous ways to get rid of slugs and snails from your garden in a humane way. Some methods are more successful than others but keep trying until you find a way that works for you.