What Plants Do Slugs Eat?

Every gardener needs to be aware of the amount of plant materials that a slug can consume. Unfortunately, they eat a lot of things a lot of the time, making it difficult to maintain a garden.

Slugs are voracious eaters, eating most of the time, if not constantly. If hungry enough, they will eat almost anything. Slugs prefer young plants and seedlings but also enjoy fruits and vegetables. Favorite foods include: petunias, wild ginger, daffodils, lilies, various bulbs, strawberries, and lettuce.

Some slugs will eat matter that is decaying, such as fungus and dead leaves.  Others will eat dead animals or other slugs. This can make them an important part of their ecosystem.

Instead of asking, “What plants do slugs eat?” you should ask, “What plants do slugs NOT eat?” They don’t much care for vegetation which has a whitish sap or fuzzy leaves. They don’t like:

• Onions
• Zinnias
• Geraniums
• Peonies
• Carnations
• Thyme 

Slugs

A simple definition of a slug is a snail without a visible shell. Slugs actually have a shell, just like snails, but it is hidden under the skin on their back. They have soft, squishy bodies and eye stalks. A slug’s color can range from dark brown to an orange hue.

As they travel around, they secrete mucus, or slime, which protects them from drying out. This slime trail is an indicator that slugs are present in your garden.  Slugs lay eggs, 20 to 30 at a time, which are round and look like gelatin, turning whiter as they get ready to hatch.

They can hatch right away, or even take years, waiting for the right conditions, to hatch. As they grow, their length reaches from one quarter inch to seven inches with some species growing longer. They can stretch out their body twenty times their length to slip through small spaces.

In the United States, there are more than 40 species of slugs. The one seen most often is the common garden slug. It’s about an inch long with a light stripe along the side of its body. It can slither up plants to eat or burrow under the ground to feast on roots. They prefer a very moist environment.  

Slug Be Gone

There are many ways to get rid of these garden destroying pests.   

• Beer can be put in containers at dusk, and by morning, you will find dead slugs in the containers. Using cheap beer is fine, but it needs to be fresh.
• Coffee grounds can be applied directly to the slugs or placed around the plants on the soil. It’s good for the plants, too.
• Iron phosphate in pellets can be thrown around your plants. This is better than poison and good for the soil.
• Copper shocks slugs when they touch it. You can buy copper plant guards or glue pennies on top of containers.
• Diatomaceous earth will dehydrate slugs on contact.
• Human hair will entangle the slugs and they will be strangled. It’s good for the soil, not for the slugs.
• Citrus peels, like lemon, orange, or grapefruit, left out overnight, will be covered with slugs the next morning. Just collect and throw them away.
• Vinegar in a spray bottle works great, but you must take care not to spray the plants.

Barriers and Predators

Another way to be rid of slugs is to put a protective barrier around your garden, especially when its made of copper. If you put out wood boards, slugs will get under them, then in the morning, you can lift the boards and scrape them in the trash. You can grow some plants on the border that repel slugs, like zinnias, begonias, and portulaca (rose moss), to name a few.

One non-pesticide way to get rid of slugs is to introduce to your garden their natural predators:

• Toads need water and shade for the day time. They are nocturnal, just like the slugs.
• Rove Beetles will not eat the plants, but love to eat slugs and their eggs.
• Lightning bugs also like slugs and slug’s eggs.
• Ducks are great because they will eat the slugs and fertilize the garden.

With a little work, slugs will no longer be a problem for you or your garden. So pick your method and go slug hunting.