5 Natural Slug Deterrents.

Here is a list of 5 natural slug deterrents. None will completely eliminate slug damage but hopefully it will make the majority of them decide to go somewhere else to eat.

1. Coffee grindings.

Caffeine is a pesticide so  it tends to poison little animals if used in high enough concentrations. Even people do not feel too good if they have lots of cups of coffee and the reason is caffeine is not good for you in large quantities.

If you sprinkle your used coffee grindings over you garden you will encourage slugs to stay away from that area. For anything but a couple of plants you are going to need plenty of coffee grindings. At least one coffee shop (Starbucks) regularly has a bags of used grindings in the shop that you can, for free, take home and put on your garden.

2. Chilli powder


If you put some hot dried chilli powder on you tongue it is not a pleasant experience. Sprinkle this lightly around the plants you want to protect and it does a really good job at keeping the slugs away. I regularly use this to protect small young plants that seem irresistible to those slugs.

Unfortunately, like coffee granules, if it rains it tends to wash away the the powder and you often need to reapply.

3. Crushed Egg Shell


Now I admit this is not one that I have tried. The idea is the sharp jaggy nature of the dry crushed shell is not something slugs like sliding over so they tend to go off somewhere else to find their food

4. Garlic
Garlic has been use for hundreds of years to deter slugs (Are slugs and vampires related?). You can plant garlic plants with the plant you want to protect to help deter the slugs.

Others take a slightly more proactive approach to using garlic. They blend up a couple of bulbs of garlic with a litre of water and spray it on the area they want to protect. Often they mix in chilli powder to give it a little bit of an extra kick or washing up liquid to keep the green fly away.

5. Copper Tape
I am not sure if this can be considered as natural, I suppose copper is a naturally occurring metal :)

You can buy copper tape in many DIY stores and it lets you create a protective perimeter around you plants. Make sure the take is at least 2 inches (50mm) thick to make sure the slugs do not want to cross over it.

Apparently copper has a drying out effect on the slugs as it causes the slugs to start producing more mucus. Slugs don't like this and get of the tape fast.

Because it only stops the slugs from crossing the barrier any slugs that are already inside the area are not effected so it does had limited application but works well with other forms of deterrents.

Conclusions
I am not a fan of putting down slug pellets and can accept some slug  damage on large plants as just a part of nature. If we killed all slugs, toad and hedgehogs would loose a tasty meal!
The critical period is when the plant is young and not able to recover from a large slug feasting on it. These deterrents really help the plant during that period.