What Do Slugs Eat?

Slugs are a gardener’s worst enemy. Any gardener with hopes for a bunker crop needs to be able to answer the question What do slugs eat? Slugs feed on vegetation of all kinds—plant leaves, fruits, vegetables, fungus (such as mushrooms), and decaying plant material.  A slug infestation can only mean devastation for a flourishing crop or a beautiful flower garden.  Slugs have file-like mouths which grate uneven holes on plant leaves and stems, causing stress on the plant and/or killing the plant over time.  Although they prefer to sneakily munch at night, slugs do not “leave without a trace.”  Rather, they leave behind holes on plants and shiny trails of slime.  They are most active from spring to fall, thriving in moist climates.

Many people know that slugs do not respond well to salt, shriveling up while producing gobs of mucus.  However, salt should not be used as a treatment to kill slugs because salt can damage your soil.  There are more effective and safer ways to handle a slug infestation.  These methods include keeping the garden well-managed (pull weeds, rake leaves, cut grass, prune shrubbery), setting out chemical deterrents that cause the slugs to dry up (such as diatomaceous earth, lime, and sawdust, not salt), and trapping the slugs in beer cans submerged in the soil.  You can read more about slug traps here.