Slugs & Snails
Gastropoda
Chewing Insects Moderate Risk 10-150 mm (varies by species)
📖 Description
Slugs and snails are mollusks, not insects, but they are among the most frustrating garden pests. They feed primarily at night or during damp weather, rasping holes in leaves, stems, and fruit with their file-like radula. A single slug can consume several times its body weight in one night. They prefer tender, succulent growth and can devastate young seedlings and leafy crops overnight. Their slime trails are diagnostic, and they are most problematic in cool, moist conditions.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Large irregular holes in leaves with smooth edges
- Glistening slime trails on leaves and soil
- Chewed seedlings cut off at soil level
- Ragged holes in tender leaves and flowers
- Damage concentrated at night or after rain
🩹 Treatment
- Set out beer traps — shallow containers of beer sunk into soil (organic)
- Apply iron phosphate bait (Sluggo) around plants (organic)
- Scatter diatomaceous earth or crushed eggshells as barriers (organic)
- Hand-pick at night with a flashlight (organic)
- Use copper tape or mesh barriers around pots and beds (organic)
- Apply metaldehyde-based slug pellets (chemical — use with caution around pets)
🌿 Organic treatments
- Set out beer traps — shallow containers of beer sunk into soil
- Apply iron phosphate bait (Sluggo) around plants
- Scatter diatomaceous earth or crushed eggshells as barriers
- Hand-pick at night with a flashlight
- Use copper tape or mesh barriers around pots and beds
- Apply metaldehyde-based slug pellets (chemical — use with caution around pets)
🛡️ Prevention
- Water in the morning so surfaces dry by nightfall
- Remove hiding places like boards
- stones
- and dense mulch
- Use drip irrigation instead of overhead watering
- Choose resistant plants for damp areas
- Encourage predators like ground beetles
- frogs
- and birds
🪴 Affected plants
- Hostas
- Lettuce
- Seedlings
- Strawberries
- Marigolds
- Cabbage
- Delicate Flowers
🦋 Natural predators
- Various beneficial insects
🌱 Host plants
- Various plants
🔄 Lifecycle
- Both slugs and snails are hermaphrodites, possessing both male and female reproductive organs.
- They lay clusters of 20-100 gelatinous eggs in moist soil or under debris.
- Eggs hatch in 2-4 weeks depending on conditions.
- Young reach maturity in 3-12 months.
- Adults can live 1-5 years.
- Multiple generations can overlap in favorable conditions.
📅 Season
- Year-round in mild climates, Spring to Fall in cold climates
🔎 Appearance
- Soft-bodied mollusks.
- Snails have coiled shells; slugs do not.
- Both leave glistening slime trails.
- Colors range from gray and brown to yellow and black.
💥 Damage level
- Moderate
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Moderate
🗺️ Geographic regions
- North America
- Europe
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