What is the best way to get rid of slugs?

A combination works best: encourage hedgehogs, frogs and birds, use wool pellets or barriers around vulnerable plants, go on evening torch patrols, and water nematodes into the soil in spring.

Are slug pellets banned in the UK?

Metaldehyde slug pellets are banned. Wildlife-safe ferric phosphate pellets are still allowed and are far safer around pets, children and hedgehogs.

Slugs and Snails: Organic Control That Works

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The short version

Cause — slugs and snails feast on soft young growth (lettuce, beans, courgettes, brassicas), worst in mild, damp UK spring and autumn.
No silver bullet — stack two or three wildlife-safe methods rather than relying on one.
The fixes — encourage predators (hedgehogs, frogs, thrushes), ring precious seedlings with wool pellets or barriers, and do evening torch patrols after planting out.
For bad infestations — water in nematodes (soil moist and above 5°C, March–October), or scatter ferric phosphate pellets thinly.
Pellet warning — old blue metaldehyde pellets are banned; only use ferric (iron) phosphate ones.
Prevention — clear daytime hiding places, water in the morning, grow plants on bigger before planting out, and sow a few spares.

No single method wipes out slugs and snails, so stop looking for one. What actually works in a UK garden is stacking two or three wildlife-safe approaches together — that protects your crops without poisoning the things that eat slugs for you.

Where slugs do most damage

Slugs and snails go for soft, young growth. Freshly sown and transplanted seedlings are the classic casualties — a row of lettuce can vanish overnight, and so can young beans, courgettes and brassicas.

They're worst in mild, damp weather, which in the UK means most of spring and autumn, and any wet summer. Mature, tougher plants usually shrug them off. So concentrate your effort on the vulnerable few weeks after sowing or planting out, not the whole garden all year.

The methods that work, ranked

1. Encourage predators

The cheapest, most sustainable control is letting wildlife do the job. Hedgehogs, frogs, toads, ground beetles, slow-worms and song thrushes all eat slugs and snails in serious numbers.

Leave a wild corner, add a small pond or a log pile, and cut a 13cm gap in a fence so hedgehogs can roam. Our guide to helping hedgehogs in your garden covers the simple steps. A garden in balance has far fewer slug problems than a sterile one — this is the foundation everything else sits on.

2. Barriers and wool pellets

Around your most precious seedlings, a physical barrier buys time while plants toughen up.

Wool pellets scattered in a ring swell into a fibrous mat slugs dislike crossing. They also feed the soil as they break down.
Crushed eggshells, grit or bran can help in dry spells, though they fade once soaked.
Copper tape around pots and raised beds gives slugs a mild deterrent shock — useful for container strawberries and patio pots.
A cut-down plastic bottle cloche protects individual transplants on the worst nights.

Reuse what you have

Old plastic bottles make free seedling cloches, and a saved wool jumper can be teased into rough pellets. See more thrifty ideas in reuse and recycle in the garden.

3. Evening torch patrols

Unglamorous but genuinely effective. On a mild, damp evening, head out after dark with a torch and a bucket — slugs and snails feed at night, so this is when you'll catch them. Twenty minutes a few nights running after planting out makes a real dent. Move them well away or dispatch them, your choice.

4. Nematodes

For heavy infestations, microscopic nematodes (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) are watered into the soil and infect slugs underground. They're harmless to wildlife, pets and children.

Apply when soil is moist and above 5°C — March to October in most of the UK. One treatment lasts around six weeks, so time it for when seedlings are most at risk rather than spraying speculatively.

5. Ferric phosphate pellets

If you still want pellets, choose ferric (iron) phosphate ones. They're approved for organic growing, break down into the soil, and are far safer around hedgehogs, pets and children. Scatter thinly — a light sprinkle works better than a heap.

The metaldehyde ban

Old blue metaldehyde slug pellets are banned for sale and use in the UK. They poisoned hedgehogs, pets and birds, and contaminated watercourses. If you find old tubs in a shed, take them to your household recycling centre for safe disposal — do not use them. Ferric phosphate pellets are the legal, wildlife-safe replacement.

Check the label

Only buy pellets that clearly state ferric phosphate (or iron phosphate) as the active ingredient. Anything listing metaldehyde is illegal to use.

Prevention

You'll always have some slugs — the aim is fewer of them near your crops.

Clear hiding places. Slugs shelter under pots, planks, weeds and plant debris by day. Tidy these from around vulnerable beds and you remove their daytime cover.
Water in the morning. Damp evening soil is a slug's ideal feeding ground. Watering early lets the surface dry by nightfall, making your beds far less inviting.
Grow on before planting out. Sturdier, larger plants survive a nibble that would kill a tiny seedling, so pot seedlings on rather than planting them out tiny.
Sow some spares. A few extra seedlings mean losses don't wipe out a whole crop.

Stack two or three of these — say, predators plus a barrier plus a couple of torch patrols — and your seedlings will get through. For the wider approach, see our natural pest control guide, and head back to the lettuce growing guide for the crop slugs love most.

PS: don't aim to eliminate every slug — a few in a healthy garden feed the hedgehogs and thrushes that keep the rest in check.