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DIY Slug Trap Tricks! {How to Get Rid of Slugs and Snails}

July 11, 2021 By Heidi 20 Comments

I may get paid for ads or purchases made through links in this post.

Got a slug or snail problem?  Then it’s time to try these DIY slug trap tricks!

How to Get Rid of Slugs and Snails in the Garden

Slugs and snails can wreak havoc on your garden… but these simple DIY Slug Trap Tricks and Snail Tips will help keep them away from your plants!

Now I grew up in Washington state with enormous slimy slugs slithering all over my yard.  Ew, right?  From that childhood experience I can tell you one thing about slugs.  Slugs are not my friends!

I’m not the only one that’s tired of slugs, either.  Frugal friend Melissa asked: “Got any home grown tips for killing slugs?  The slugs out here in Washington are huge… and they’re everywhere!  And they are literally destroying my flower bed… any home grown tips for getting rid of them?”

Don’t just let those snails and slugs eat your beautiful plants.  Get some help to repel slugs and snails with these DIY Slug Trap ideas!  Check out what your frugal friends and I have done to get rid of slugs and snails in our yards…

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DIY Slug Trap + Snail Traps

DIY Slug Trap Snail Traps Tips

Oliver: If you do not want a bunch of dead slugs in your garden I put crushed eggshells at the base of my plants. The eggshells act as razors to the slugs.

Mary Lou said: “I save my egg shells, break them a bit and toss them in the garden. The slugs get cut with the shells so they stay away. Gives lots of calcium to the soil also.”

Liz said: “Make a cornmeal trap. Put a tablespoon or two of cornmeal in a jar and lay it on its side wherever there is slug activity. The slugs will be attracted to the scent, but the texture of the meal is too harsh and will kill them.  Leave the jar out overnight or for several hours; when you spot the slugs in the jar, you can dispose of them permanently to remove them from your garden.”

Karen said: “If you have slugs around your hostas plants, put sand around them and they wont bother them.”

Reba said: “I live in western Pennsylvania, and I have had a problem with slugs, UGH!  I found that using any one of these works well to chase them away from your plants: table salt, ashes from any wood, sand. They cannot cross any of these, it burns their tummy! These will keep them away.  Just re-apply as needed, the sand will stay longer and won’t dissolve with watering.”

Amber said: “I remember my Grandmother sprinkling salt on slugs.”

Stephanie said: “Pour salt directly on the slugs, they almost instantly dry up and die.”

Shelia said: “Yes, salt still works on slugs.”

Dawn said: “A water and salt mixture will kill them…but you would have to spray each one individually. Not sure if that is helpful or not…but the salt causes them to dry up.”

Mahala said: “To get rid of slugs all you need is salt! Just sprinkle a little on their backs and that’s it. You can even sprinkle some where they lay or common areas they are seen too.”

Chris said: “You can put dry salt directly on them.  I used to get them at a house I lived at several years ago.  I would go out with a handful of table salt and sprinkle it right on them (ok, more like making a frenzied toss…  because I hate slugs! ew!) and they would shrivel up before my eyes. Gross, but effective!”

Cheryl said: “I know salt works on slugs, but make sure you don’t put too much, I used to live where we had TONS of snails and I just sprinkled salt on them and they die, and it’s cheap too.”

DIY Snail Trap Tips

Marlena said: “I throw my used coffee grounds in the flowerbed. I cant see them, it helps the plants, and the best part…..slugs hate the grainy feeling! Win Win!”

Kristie said: “I use a mixture of ammonia, Murphy’s oil soap and water to kill slugs. Kills them in seconds and does no harm to my grass or plants. I just put about a cup of ammonia, couple tablespoons of the soap in a spray bottle and fill the rest of the way to the top with water. Go out in the morning when the slugs are heaviest and spray away. Couple of sprays, slug is dead. After I started doing this my slug population is not so huge. Love it!!”

Binny said: “Beer will kill slugs and snails.  Just put a shallow dish near the plants, fill it with beer and they go in and drown themselves. It works!  Salt works, too.”

Holly said: “My father used to put out metal pie plates with beer in them — slugs dry out in the alcohol. He never had a drink in his life and bought beer for the first time for slugs.”

Mary said: “If you have not tried putting beer out, try it. Slugs are bad in South Carolina. Take a can of the cheapest beer you can find and pour it into several old shallow pie pan. The slugs are attracted to the beer like it is a magnet. They crawl into the pan and die.”

Jewel said: “Put out a flower pot dish with high sides and fill with beer. Put it where you see the most slugs and wait. Slugs love the smell of beer and will fall in and drowned…maybe they get drunk on the smell, fall in and drowned, don’t know.  A slug will almost literally melt if sprinkled with salt.”

Danielle said: “If you use the suggested beer tip be sure to use deep slippery sided containers. One spring evening, my friend Marisa set out containers of beer to attract the slugs. It worked a charm!

When she came out in the morning on her way to work there were dozens of slugs in the pots. Grossed out, Marisa decided to deal with the slugs when she got home later in the day. But when she returned from work the pots were dry. No beer and the slugs were all gone. Apparently they’d had their beer fest, crawled out of the containers that were too shallow, and gone home to sleep off hangovers.”

Peggy said: “Just place several jar lids around the border and/or inside the garden bed. Add beer to the lids. There will be a surprise for you in the morning!”

Heather said: “Yup…the slugs will take their last drink in the beer. It totally works.”

Doni said: “Plant some plants in your garden or flower bed that do not attract slugs. There are lots of flowers and bulbs that do not attract slugs and bugs.”

Shari said: “Diatomaceous earth is the very best thing to use for slugs… you sprinkle it under your plants and the slugs get through it and they are gonners.  Diamatious earth is simply ground up shells.”

Jill said: “Save your eggshells. Rinse them, then crush them and sprinkle around the plant base.  They’re good for the soil, and it slices those little buggers right up!”

Dee said: “You can also place crushed egg shells around the garden beds. When they try to slither in they get cut and die or they just stay away altogether. Or, I just thought of this… try crushed egg shells mixed with salt!  Hehehe that seems really devious.”

Lynn said: “Killing slugs is easy – sprinkle a little salt on them. They will shrivel in front of your eyes! My grandma and I used to do it in her garden for a “fun time!”  For Snails, all you have to do is break their shell.  I saw a pin the other day about putting ground up eggshells around your plants to keep the slugs away, because they don’t like to climb over the rough eggshell. I put it out, and the birds came and ate the eggshells! Too funny!”

DIY Snail Traps

Sylvia said: “So here’s a different approach for slugs. I had a sick box turtle that had a badly cut front leg. I had to keep her inside to heal. She didn’t like the dry box turtle food from the pet store so I was trying to think of what she would be eating outside. I went out after dark and since we had tons of slugs, thought I would try one. Well, she went crazy. She gulped it down so fast, I went back out and got a couple more.

I started catching 2 or 3 every night. She was a little box turtle. After about 5 nights, suddenly I couldn’t find any more. We had way more than 15 on any given night and now there were none! I think those little critters sent out the word and they all skedaddled out of our yard.”

So now that you know these DIY Slug Trap Tricks, I’ve got even more handy Gardening Tips and ideas I know you’ll love.  Have fun exploring these ideas…

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So do you have any DIY Slug Trap Tricks or Snail Trap Ideas?

Share with us in the comments below…

Filed Under: DIY, Gardening, Homesteading

Comments

  1. Katherine | Love In My Oven says

    July 16, 2021 at 1:03 pm

    Pesky little bugs are always ruining a good garden aren’t they!? These are some great DIY tricks my friend!!

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 16, 2021 at 1:11 pm

      Aww… thanks so much, Katherine. I’m so glad you liked the tips!

      Reply
  2. Rosemary| thehintofrosemary says

    July 16, 2021 at 12:24 pm

    OMG I need this!! My little garden seems to be the only one in the neighborhood haha.
    Please do one on groundhogs and rabbit repellents next!

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 16, 2021 at 12:58 pm

      Oh I’m so sorry to hear you’re having trouble with groundhogs and rabbits, too. I’ve lost so many little baby plants to bunnies in my yard this year. The one thing that got the bunnies to stay away was simply placing some rocks around each little plant. I think it was just too much effort to get to them, so they moved on. I also plug holes in my block fence with bigger rocks so they can’t squeeze through to the backyard. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Healthy World Cuisine says

    July 15, 2021 at 5:50 pm

    Now, that was an informative post. Not that we have really had an issues with slugs, if I do I am armed with lots of great DIY procedures to get rid of them. Next we need an all inclusive post on how to keep deer from eating your plant, flowers, trees, essentially everything.

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 16, 2021 at 10:10 am

      Haha… I’ve seen the deer in action having a delicious feast on fruit trees! 🙂

      Reply
  4. Josiah - DIY Thrill says

    July 15, 2021 at 3:36 pm

    Using coffee grounds to deter slugs is genius, thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 16, 2021 at 10:10 am

      You’re very welcome… I’m so glad you liked the tip! 🙂

      Reply
  5. Sophie says

    July 15, 2021 at 8:06 am

    I hadn’t heard of any of these other than the salt. We don’t really have much of a slug issue in my area, only the odd one or two. But it’s great to know for future reference!

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 15, 2021 at 1:40 pm

      That’s so nice you’re in an area that doesn’t have too many slugs, Sophie!

      Reply
  6. Caleb - Never Ending Journeys says

    July 14, 2021 at 11:26 am

    These are some excellent tricks! You just can’t beat a slug-free garden.

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 15, 2021 at 1:39 pm

      I know, right? They really can be so hard on your garden.

      Reply
  7. CoCo says

    July 14, 2021 at 6:03 am

    No playing, Heidi, we JUST went to our local home improvement store to buy slug killer because they have gotten so bad in our yard from all the rain. I didn’t think much about them until our rescue Piper ate 2 of them! These tips and tricks are going to be so helpful, thank you for sharing this information. Once you start reading about the parasites they carry it gets scary to think about it having them around your pets! Hugs, CoCo

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 15, 2021 at 1:39 pm

      Oh wow… it sounds like this is perfect timing then! And you’re right… it’s so important to protect your pets! 🙂

      Reply
  8. delphine says

    July 13, 2021 at 9:02 am

    Merci pour tout ces conseils, cela va me servir pour embellir mon jardin
    Bonne soirée

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 15, 2021 at 1:38 pm

      Merveilleuse, Delphine. Bonne soirée 🙂

      Reply
  9. Carol says

    July 13, 2021 at 2:56 am

    I remember slugs from my childhood in Tennessee, but I haven’t seen them here in hot Florida. Lots of other bugs of course. Great ideas – I do remember salt from my childhood. It works!

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 15, 2021 at 1:37 pm

      Yes… it really does! 🙂

      Reply
  10. Christie says

    July 12, 2021 at 3:48 pm

    OMG this is soooo amazing!!!!!! Heidi thank you. I can’t wait to send this to my husband. We have these in our garden and they’re sooo annoying!!!

    Reply
    • Heidi says

      July 12, 2021 at 4:07 pm

      I know, right? So annoying! 🙂 I hope these tips help!

      Reply

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Hey there... it's so nice to meet you! I'm Heidi: a Frugal Girl living in sunny Arizona! I love sharing Easy Recipes, DIY Decor, Style & Beauty Hacks, Gardening Tips, Travel Hacks, and Creative Ways to Live the Sweet Life on a Budget. I'm so glad you're here!
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