Slugs are common garden pests that can cause damage to plants and crops. Slugs are notorious for being attracted to Hosta plants because of their tender, lush leaves. The damage they cause to hosta plants can be quite frustrating for gardeners.

Slugs prefer damp and moist environments and are most active during the night. Remember to regularly inspect your garden for slug activity and take appropriate measures to keep their numbers in check.

Handpicking:  You can manually pick off slugs and dispose of them. This method can be time-consuming but can be effective for small infestations.  

Our experience:  They are very gross to handle and it is very difficult to figure out where they are hiding.

Good Housekeeping:  Keep your garden area clean and tidy. Remove debris and fallen leaves, as these can create hiding places for slugs. Increasing the air circulation around plants by spacing them out when you plant them can also make the environment less favorable for slugs.

Our experience:  Regardless of a slug problem or not, this is great advice!  It will deter other insect and mold problems.

Barriers: Create physical barriers that deter slugs from reaching your plants. You can place materials like crushed eggshells or diatomaceous earth. These materials can be uncomfortable for slugs to crawl over.

Our experience:  The eggshells can look weird sitting on top of your flower beds.  One of the best barriers we have seen used was by a local gardener that would take fallen spruce needles and use that as mulch.  That seems to have worked great for him.  He had a ton of hosta plants and we couldn’t find any sign of slug damage on any of them.

Beer Traps: Sink shallow containers (like saucers) into the soil near your slug loving plants and fill them with beer. Slugs are attracted to the smell of beer, and they will crawl into the containers and drown.

Our experience:  Very mixed results for people.  Most find that it only slightly reduced slug populations. But it’s a great excuse to buy a 6 pack of beer.  (Just kidding)

Organic Slug Control Products: There are organic and pet-safe slug control products available, such as iron phosphate-based baits. These baits are generally less harmful to the environment and other animals compared to traditional chemical pesticides.

Our experience:  This is the best solution!  We usually have a product in stock called SLUGGO®.  There is also a SLUGGO® Plus which Kills earwigs, cutworm, sowbugs, pillbugs, crickets and ants organically.