Like with any garden pest, sometimes there are ways to avoid infestation. If you don’t have slugs, and don’t want them either, some gardening practices can help. Watering in the morning rather than evening may keep slugs away. These nocturnal visitors love a moist garden overnight.

Get rid of slug habitat in your garden – including shady resting places like unnecessary rocks, bricks, and debris. Of course, this might not be completely practical, since many desirable garden features are suitable for slugs too. Instead, check these areas for signs of slugs. It means looking through spreading vegetation – ivy is popular – and around compost containers.

In most gardens, despite your best efforts, slugs manage to find their way in. And then it’s a matter of removing them. Step one is finding those nice cool slug zones. And step two is taking action. Now that you’ve located those slugs, you can pick them up. It’s a lot easier than removing individual aphids or scale bugs by hand!

Wait until it’s damp in the garden (or help this condition with a hose), and head out around dusk. Use a flashlight to see into all those darker areas. Plop slugs into a plastic bag or bucket of either soapy or salty water. Use gloves if the idea of slug slime is unappealing. Mallard ducks (or local chickens) will eat slugs if you are looking for a disposal method (but avoid those salty or soapy slugs). Start with regular slug harvesting if the population is large, and decrease your frequency as slug numbers go down.

Some gardeners recommend making traps such as small raised wooden platforms that offer shade. These can be checked each day and any slugs removed. Even a simple piece of cardboard or melon rind can be a sufficient lure. Leaving unwanted plant parts and weeds in a damp part of the garden can attract slugs and snails also. Wilted leaves are a tender food supply and may draw slugs away from other plants.

Another option is inviting slug predators into the garden. Small snakes and birds are quite effective. Consider a birdbath or feeder to encourage bird visitors - they will delight in picking off slugs. Garter snakes also feast on slugs. It doesn’t mean turning the garden into a jungle, but simple measures will encourage helpful wildlife.

It’s important to have some tricks up the sleeve for combating slugs. Recent reports suggest that warmer and wetter weather, as predicted with climate change in many areas, may cause huge numbers of hungry slugs. Mild winters and wetter summers create the ideal conditions for a population boom.

Photo credit: zxgirl@Flickr.com