How to keep slugs away from your dahlias

A few weeks after planting your dahlia tubers, the first green leaves will start to appear! That’s the moment to keep a close eye on your plants – slugs especially love fresh young dahlia shoots. If you catch them early, you can protect your flowers from damage. Here are our 10 eco-friendly tips for keeping slugs under control.

1) Create a natural barrier around your dahlia plant

Protect vulnerable plants by placing a natural barrier around them – try coffee grounds, cocoa shells, crushed eggshells, seashells or sheep’s wool. These make it harder for slugs to reach your plant. Make sure the circle completely surrounds the plant.

2) Use a copper ring

Slugs dislike copper and won’t easily crawl over it. You can buy special copper rings to place around your plants. Or use copper tape and stick it around the rim of a pot or ring.

Important: make sure no slug eggs are already inside the ring.

3) Spray garlic extract

Garlic is toxic to slugs. They’ll avoid your dahlias if you spray them with garlic extract. 

Here’s how to make it: 

Chop a garlic bulb into pieces, pour over 1 litre of hot water, and let it sit and cool for several hours. 

Strain out the garlic. 

Dilute the extract with water in a spray bottle and spray your plants. 

Reapply after it rains, as the solution will have washed away.

4) Set up a beer trap

Like men, you can also seduce snails with beer.... Pour a layer of beer into a glass jam jar and dig it in to the edge of the ground. The snails will crawl toward the beer, falling over the edge and dying. After a few days, change the containers and throw the slugs away on the compost pile or in the green bin.

5) Remove slugs by hand

Yep, this is a wonderfully romantic garden chore.... At night with your flashlight, go looking for snails. You won't find them easily in dry weather, but you will on a damp evening, or if it has been raining. Put on gloves. Collect the slugs in a small bucket, feed them to chickens, or put them down where they can't do any harm. Don't throw them at the neighbors, because if they do the same, you won't have made any progress. You'll be amazed at how fast and far snails can run and thus return to your garden cozily.

6) Introduce natural predators

Lately, we have been hearing regularly that the use of Nematodes helps control a serious slug infestation. These nematodes are microscopic and penetrate its natural enemies through naturally existing openings. Once penetrated, they secrete bacteria, which will kill the snails. This is a natural way of control that keeps the ecosystem in balance. You can buy these nematodes on several websites. You mix them with water and spread them around the garden with a watering can. It does cost a bit but sometimes it's worth it to you.

7) Use organic slug pellets

Use it when the young dahlia plants are just emerging from the ground or during the flowering season. After eating the slug pellets, the slugs stop eating the fresh leaves, retreat to their hiding place and do not return, the remains of the slug are absorbed into the soil. Our organic slug pellets consist of iron and phosphate which is naturally found in the soil. They are not dangerous for children or pets or when other animals eat the snails.

8) Strengthen your dahlias

Strong and healthy dahlias are more resistant to slug infestation. Provide a well-drained soil with organic matter to promote dahlias' growth. If necessary, add lava meal to improve the soil or organic fertilizer to boost both the soil and the plant.

9) Pre-grow your dahlias

The snails are especially fond of the young leaves and if they eat them over and over again, the dahlia plant will not get a chance to grow. Therefore, first put the dahlia bulb in a pot about 20-30 cm big and let them grow up there to about 20-40 cm high. Then plant them in the garden (from mid-May). Check regularly that they are not eaten and then apply one of the other slug tips. Read more about advancing and propagating dahlias here.

10) Keep chickens or ducks 

Having a pair of chickens in the garden is not for everyone, but both chickens and moose love and eat snails! Chickens are very active insect cleaners. They eat all kinds of larvae and eggs from such things as ants and snails, as well as the spider moth and box leaf flea; sometimes they jump up to get at them. You can even let little chickens like bantams roam your garden year-round.

Products to help control slugs: