Slugs in Home Gardens

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Jeffrey Hahn, Assistant Extension Entomologist
Jody Fetzer, Integrated Pest Management Coordinator

Copyright © 2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.
Slugs can be very damaging pests in moist, shady gardens. They feed on the leaves of many plants, especially seedlings. Later in the season they can feed on ripening fruits and vegetables. Slugs are especially numerous during rainy seasons and in well-irrigated gardens. If slugs are abundant one year, it does not mean they will be as common the following season; the relative number of slugs in a given season depends on how moist the growing conditions are.

Identification
Slugs are best described as snails without shells. They are a type of mollusk, related to clams and oysters. Slugs are soft bodied, generally brownish or grayish, with eye stalks. They vary in size from 1/4 inch to two inches or longer. Slugs leave a silvery slime trail that they secrete as they move.

Slugs use file-like mouthparts to rasp and chew plant tissue. Because of their mouthparts, they create irregularly shaped holes. Feeding damage can be cosmetic, however extensive feeding can result in plant stress or even death.

© 2012 Regents of the University of Minnesota. All rights reserved.