If you’ve ever battled it out with slugs in your garden, you know just how persistent and damaging this common garden pest can be. There are a few gardening tricks to help get rid of them, like putting down eggshells around your garden or placing trays of beer out for the slugs to fall into. But slugs are probably most famously known for dying if exposed to salt. Why is that though? Why does salt kill slugs? And is salting slugs actually a good idea? Before we answer that question, it helps to know what slugs are.
What are slugs?
Slugs are a shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. Slugs can be found on both land and in the sea, but land-dwelling slugs are the ones we come into contact with the most. Slugs thrive in gardens and other places like fields and woods.
Slugs will do well in any environment with lots of wood and rocks to hide under, vegetation to eat, and moisture. The garden is a pretty perfect environment for these slimy little pests.
Slugs often wind up being the bane of a gardener’s existence because of their propensity to eat our cherished plants. This is why so many slugs come in contact with salt, either as a deterrent or as a way of killing them.
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Why does salt kill slugs?
Throwing salt on a slug is one way of killing them. But why do slugs dry out and die when exposed to salt? The slugs die because of a process called osmosis, which occurs when a solution meets a permeable membrane.
As you’re likely aware, slugs are pretty moist, sticky, slimy, water-filled creatures. The cells of its skin are extremely permeable, so when you sprinkle salt on a slug, it easily mixes in with the water that the slug continuously secretes.
As the salt and water mix to create salt water, the slug will secrete even more water from its body in an attempt to dilute the salt water solution covering its body. If you use enough salt, the slug will secrete too much water and die of dehydration. This is why salt kills slugs.
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How to get rid of slugs
Getting rid of slugs doesn’t necessarily have to involve going around and salting them. In fact, we don’t recommend salting slugs at all. The experience is likely painful, like sprinkling salt into your eye, and is an unfortunate way to go. Salting slugs is simply inhumane and unnecessary. There are other natural ways of getting rid of slugs that don’t involve long, painful deaths.
The beer trap is probably the most commonly heard of slug trap. All you need to do is crack open a beer and bury the can so the opening is at the same level as the soil. Slugs will creep in for a sip and wind up falling in where they drown.
My personal favorite method of getting rid of slugs is feeding them to my ducks. A great way to do this is by “trapping” them using a half a grapefruit. Once you’ve eaten your morning grapefruit, set the empty half-skin out in your garden overnight. Slugs will be attracted to it and likely post up overnight. In the morning, give your ducks the slugs as a snack! Delish.
We hope this article about why salt kills slugs is informative and helps you keep your garden slugs at bay.
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