Use this guide when holes appear in leaves overnight, seedlings disappear or you see slime trails. You will need a torch, a bucket, and some of the following: copper tape, wool pellets, grit, containers for traps and wildlife-friendly slug pellets if you choose to use them.
Step by step
Confirm it is slugs
Go out with a torch after dark on a damp evening and look on and under the damaged plants. Slime trails and ragged holes in soft leaves are typical signs. This also shows you where they are coming from.
Remove them by hand
Collect slugs and snails into a bucket during night checks, wearing gloves. Relocate them to a wild area well away from your plants. Regular evening patrols in spring make a big difference to numbers.
Protect vulnerable plants
Surround young plants with barriers such as copper tape on pots, wool pellets, or a ring of grit. Grow seedlings on in pots until they are larger and tougher before planting out. Water in the morning so the soil surface is drier at night.
Set simple traps
Sink a small container into the soil with the rim just above ground level and part-fill it with beer, so beetles are less likely to fall in. Lay upturned grapefruit halves or boards on the soil and check underneath each morning. Empty traps regularly.
Encourage natural predators
Frogs, toads, hedgehogs, thrushes and ground beetles all eat slugs. A small pond, a log pile and a gap under the fence for hedgehogs help bring them in. Avoid chemicals that could harm these animals.
Use pellets only as a last resort
Metaldehyde slug pellets are no longer legal to use outdoors in Great Britain. If you use pellets, choose ones approved for garden use, follow the label exactly and scatter them thinly rather than in heaps. Biological controls using nematodes watered onto warm, moist soil are another option.
Ready-to-use checklist
- Night check done to confirm slugs
- Evening hand-picking routine started
- Barriers around vulnerable plants
- Seedlings grown on in pots first
- Watering switched to mornings
- Traps set and emptied regularly
- Habitat added for natural predators
Practical tips
- Grow a few plants that slugs rarely bother, such as many herbs, alongside favourites like lettuce and hostas.
- Clear boards, pots and debris away from vegetable beds, as these make daytime hiding places.
- Check under pot rims and in the gaps of raised beds, where slugs and snails often shelter.
Common problems
Barriers do not seem to work.
Barriers work best when combined with other methods and kept intact. Check for gaps, overhanging leaves that act as bridges, and slugs already inside the barrier.
Slug numbers are high every year.
Focus on spring and early summer when seedlings are most at risk. Nematode treatments applied as soon as the soil is warm enough can reduce populations, alongside regular hand-picking.
I am worried about hedgehogs eating pellets.
Avoid pellets entirely and rely on hand-picking, traps and barriers. If you do use them, use only approved garden pellets sparingly and follow the label.