How to Get Rid of Slugs in Your Garden without Using Pesticides

Here in the Pacific Northwest there plenty of slugs crawling around. I swear I always manage to step on one every time I go for a hike. Yuck! Not only are they squishy and gross, they can wreak havoc on your garden. It wasn't until the damage had been done (see picture above) that I decided I needed to take action.

Now, the actual best technique for getting rid of slugs in your garden is to have chickens. My neighbor has chickens and boasts a beautiful, slug-free garden as a result. She also gets the bonus of fresh eggs every day. However, for those of use who don't have the energy or desire to hang out with chickens all day, the next best thing is beer.

Believe it or not, slugs are attracted to the yeast in beer. Actually, believe it because I have proof! In the past two days, I have caught over 15 slugs in 1 tuna can full of beer. They slime their way over to the beer and then drown in it. Personally, it sounds like a better way to go than by slug bait. We're going to have tuna something for dinner tonight so that I can put more cans out in the garden.

The trick is pretty simple. Just take an empty tuna can, dig a hole in your garden, somewhere around where the culprits like to hang out. Stick the can in until it's about level with the ground. Fill it up with beer and wait. The picture below shows the tuna can I placed in our garden that was getting devoured by slugs.

The great thing about using beer is that it is non-toxic (as long as it's not over-consumed) and pesticide-free. You don't have to worry about kids or pets playing in the garden. My daughter, Sophia, helped make our slug trap.

I took this picture a couple of hours after Sophia and I had made our slug trap. There were already three dead slugs in the can, one at the can and you can see one more following not too far behind. It's not in the picture, but there were three more additional slugs on their way to the can of beer. I was impressed.

The most environmentally safe and the most economical way to get rid of slugs in your garden is to use beer. It is a very simple and very effective technique. Tonight we're eating tuna and tomorrow, escargot! (I know, escargot is snail, but humor me)