The All-Natural Way That Can Help Catch & Remove The Slugs Lurking In Your Yard And Garden

Are you dealing with a nasty slug problem in your garden? Those slimy little plant nibblers love to sneak around at night, leaving behind chewed-up leaves and gooey trails. But don't worry, you don't need chemical pesticides and elaborate traps to get rid of slugs in your garden. There's an all-natural and super simple method that gardeners swear by in their war against slugs: grapefruits. Using this hack is a fantastic way to lure slugs away from your beloved crops.

Slugs are a true headache because they love to eat seedlings, fruits, vegetables, and just about anything that has leaves. They'll work through your tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, and lettuce overnight and leave you with a nasty surprise in the morning. If they snack on your garden too much, it can result in a lost harvest, and no one wants that. One method to prevent this from happening is to simply handpick them off of plants, but that's a time-consuming and annoying task. In addition, slugs love to work at night, while you're asleep. That's where grapefruits come in. 

The idea behind using grapefruits to fight against slugs is that they'll love them even more than whatever is in your garden. They'll gather on the grapefruit and make it easy for you to catch them and toss them out all at once in the morning. And no, it doesn't require that you sacrifice ripe and juicy grapefruits. All you need is the shell of the grapefruit (whatever is left after you eat it) to attract slugs into this trap.

There are two ways to make a slug trap out of a grapefruit, but both start with the same essential steps: cut your grapefruit in two halves, and eat the flesh. All you should be left with are two empty shells to use as traps. 

The first method is to make a hole in each grapefruit half and then leave them in the garden upside down, like a dome. With this method, the slugs will come in through the holes and get trapped inside the grapefruit shell, which you can toss into your compost in the morning. Some other gardeners use another method and skip making holes, simply leaving the grapefruit halves out with the opening facing upwards instead. You can try out both methods to see which one gathers the most slugs. Either way, leave the grapefruit shell out in the evening, and near the plants you want to steer them away from. 

If you want to keep slugs off your crops for good, you'll need to make this trap every day. If you find it too time-consuming, look for other ways to reduce the slug population in your garden. For example, you might be making common gardening mistakes that are attracting slugs to your yard, like watering plants in the evening. In general, slugs like wet and shady environments, so you could switch to a soil mix that drains more easily to avoid creating that overly wet and moist environment. In addition, consider growing some mint, which is a companion plant that can help keep slugs away from your garden.