Surround with any of the following: Soot, woodash, crushed eggshells, hairclippings, coffee grounds. You’re trying to make a barrier that slugs don’t like walking (sliming?) over basically anything very dry and/or gritty. Set beer traps in empty yughurt pots – slugs and snails love beer and fall into them and have a happy, drunken death but if you leave them festering there dead for too long they smell absolutely foul. Go out at night with a torch and a bucket with salty water, pick up the slugs with tongs and chuck into bucket where they will fizz to death (not nice). Get nemetodes (microscopic things that like to eat slugs) and water into the ground. Cut up plastic fizzy water bottles, put round plants and smear the outside with vaseline. Buy expensive copper tape and put round pots.
Make sure there are no over hanging plants that snails & slugs can launch themselves onto your plants – they are very crafty b####rs and will do anything to get at your tasty, juicy leaves. Encourage hedgehogs, frogs, toads and thrushes to your garden who love eating them. Unfortunately, you need to be totally vigilant with all these methods. Nothing seems to work for me and I usually end up reaching for the toxic slug pellets. I also try to stick to plants that the slugs don’t like – geraniums, busy-lizzies, penstemons etc. I can never grow dahlias or lupins as they get attacked as soon as my back is turned. GOOD LUCK

I use a product called ‘slug stop’ by Growing Success, moisture absorbing dusty granules which work well, particularly in pots and small beds – my hostas in pots have no leaf holes, the ones in the flower beds are well munched! But the non-stop rain is a problem and slugs love the rain, I am learning to like/put up with slugs as one of natures little composters!
http://www.monrobrands.com/growingsuccess/products.php?category=slug_control

Yes Trisha, that’s a goodie. I use the copper tape but it is quite expensive.

Chucho, I forgot to mention putting out ‘sacrifice’ food. I sometimes buy cheap lettuces and put leaves nearish to a plant I’m trying to protect. The subterfuge sometimes works.

I have stumbled upon pine needles as mulch around my many hostas. With some gritty ashes ringing the plant, I have not seen a single slug hole since.
I do see lots of slugs in other beds I don’t want to cover in pine needles!

anyone use diatomaceous earth? I know that you have to reapply after rain or watering, but will it work?

I think my last post may have sounded a bit smug – I have also lived in the country in on a site just oozing with slugs where lots of birds AND snakes were not enough to keep them under control. I had an ongoing experiment to find non-toxic household products that would safely remove quantities of slug slime from a four-year old (I think toothpaste was the winner). I successfullly protected some beautiful species tulips by hand-picking every slug visible in a 30-foot radius every morning and evening. Once the sun was on them they were safe; once they had closed for the night they were safe. But in between the slugs went right for the centers. Unfortunately, gophers got the bulbs later that summer.

It could be that I’m not getting many slugs just because so many people around me are controlling them successfully, with or without poison, and I am benefitting from their efforts. But I’m pretty sure the birds are on beetle patrol for me.

I recommend using beer and like Mimosamargot said, clean your traps out after 2-3 days or the smell will be overbearing. Be sure to dump your cups out somewhere outside of your yard.

Slug Beer Traps Work!

“Here’s ":http://myfolia.com/groups/465-hostaholics/topics/6351-hosta-pests/posts another conversation/suggestion list over in the Hosta-holics forum.

I use copper metallic mesh strips around the stems of new seedlings, looks a bit like this product http://eartheasy.com/non-toxic-pest-control/outdoor/slug-shield .
They are reusable, and good for seedlings and for plants that have a single trunk.

Hostas are more difficult. That is why i dont grow them.

Put out a small glass of beer each night. Slugs love it to death. Sedated, inebriated, dead.