5 sustainable tips for organic slug control

Slugs can cause problems in the garden, eating holes in leaves, stems, flowers, tubers and bulbs. They cause damage throughout the year on a wide range of plants, but seedlings and new growth on plants in spring are most at risk, so to help you protect your garden we have come up with five handy sustainable tips for organic slug control.

 

• Watering – slugs are active at night and love wet soil / wet surfaces, so try watering first thing in the morning so that the soil can dry out before nightfall to reduce slug activity

 

• Mulching – try ‘mulching’ around you plants with ‘rough’ material such as ‘Blooming Amazing’ or bark mulch: slugs hate crawling over those rough surfaces (plus the mulches will improve you soil and help your plants)

 

•  ‘Slug gone’ wool pellets – made from processed sheep wool and approved for organic use, spread these pellets on the soil surface around plants to discourage slugs from crawling over the soil.

 

• Organic approved slug pellets – these now contain Ferric phosphate, which stop the slugs feeding, and in RHS trails have performed very well when used as per the instructions.

 

• Grow plants that slugs are less attracted to, the following are slug resistant plants (conditions and degree of resistance may vary)

  Begonia sempreflorens
  Nasturtiums
  Alchemilla Mollis
  Alstromeria
  Anemone japonica
  Astilbe
  Astrantia
  Ajuga
  Aquilegia
  Campanula
  Crocosmia
  Cyclamen
  Dianthus pinks
  Echinacea
  Euphorbia
  Ferns
  Fuchsia
  Hardy Geraniums
  Heuchera
  Hydrangeas
  Foxgloves
  Hellebores
  Lavender
  Penstemon
  Roses
  Rosemary
  Rhododendrons and Azaleas