Slugs & Snails 🐛
Terrestrial gastropods
At a glance
- Looks like: Ragged or smooth-edged chewing holes, often low on the plant
- Tell-tale sign: Silvery slime trails and damage that appears overnight
- Severity: Moderate — especially hard on seedlings, tender herbs, and young restoration plantings
How to identify
Slugs and snails feed mostly at night or during damp weather. Look for irregular holes in leaves and flowers, clipped seedlings, damage close to the ground, and silvery slime trails on pots, soil, hardscape, or leaves.
Damage
They can shred tender growth and wipe out seedlings. Established woody plants usually tolerate some chewing, but young habitat plantings can be set back badly.
Treatment (least-toxic first)
Following Integrated Pest Management:
- Hand-pick at night or early morning and remove hiding adults.
- Reduce hiding places: boards, dense weeds, stacked pots, and constantly damp debris.
- Use barriers and traps around vulnerable seedlings.
- Use iron phosphate bait carefully if needed; keep bait away from waterways and follow the label.
- Protect new plantings until they toughen up.
Prevention
Water earlier in the day when possible, clean up damp refuges, and monitor after rain or irrigation. In restoration sites, focus protection around new seedlings rather than trying to eliminate every mollusk.
Affects (in this guide)
Seedlings, herbaceous plants, vegetables, and tender low growth outdoors