Most plants have developed a natural protection against slugs.
They either produce bitter substances or poisons that prevent slugs and snails from eating them, or they have developed a smell that deters and repels them (most shrubs, trees, and grasses, for example, are slug safe).
Slugs dislike hairy plants.
Some plants have covered their leaves with fluffy hairs that do not taste good.
Others have equipped their hard stems with pointy thorns, which make it difficult for slugs to reach the juicy leaves.
Unfortunately, many vegetables are the favorite dish of slugs and some even of snails.
However, there are also many vegetables that slugs and snails are reluctant to eat.
The following list is not exhaustive, and many plant families still have some varieties and representatives that are vulnerable, even though the family itself is usually resistant.
Slugs and snails pick and choose what to eat carefully.
Most slugs and snails are omnivores, but at the same time, they are particular.
But beggars cannot be choosers. If the menu on offer is small, they will eat what they find, even if they dislike it very much.
That is another reason why there are hardly any plants that are entirely safe.
Slugs usually hate vegetables and herbs that are spicy and bitter.
Below is a list of vegetable and plant families that are hated by slugs and under normal circumstances are left in peace:
Some of the above plants should even able to repel snails.
For example, particularly strong-smelling herbs can be planted in stripes to form a kind of protective barrier that slugs and snails are reluctant to cross:
tansy
soapwort
wormwood
begonia
geranium
rosemary
lavender.
These plants can be used to close off gates through which slugs enter the garden.
With the repelling effect/smell of these plants, it is also possible to distract the pests from the sweet aroma of their favorite plants, which otherwise attracts them from far away.
However, the protection is not 100% secure, and it would be negligent to rely on it alone.
Repellent stripes should be as wide as possible.
There are also seed tapes available with a mix of blooms to create protective stripes around endangered plants.
Using the above lists, you could also put together your mix.
Creating these anti-slug stripes in combination with other means against slugs is useful.
How to protect plants?
Natural Slug Control Alternatives
Unfortunately, for many slugs, most vegetables are a favorite food.
For example, the Spanish slug likes to dine on what the gardener has cultivated with great care.
If you would rather not give up these varieties, there are different options available.
Some people recommend home remedies that can be used to deter slugs and snails.
18 thoughts on “Vegetables and Herbs Slugs Do Not Like | Plants Resistant to Slugs and Snails”
Sorry, in my garden I have 3 things that slugs absolutely love, and two are on your don’t like list. The will happily demolish half a leaf of silverbeet (Swiss chard) overnight. They also love my radishes (the red round ones. I’m yet to see how they go with French Breakfast.) They will strip most of the leaves, especially before the root starts to develop, after that, they will nibble at the root for preference. So far they are preferring Cos Lettuce to Iceberg. For seedlings, cut the bottom half of a 2L drink bottle (clear plastic), drill plenty of small holes in the bottom of it to allow air and water to pass. Up-end over the seedling. This gives a barrier that will stop anything but the smallest (and they will often get caught in the sun the next day.) It has the bonus of being a standalone greenhouse during the cold months.
thank you for your comment. It’s true sometimes slugs love even tomatoes. It may depend on the variety and the strength of the plants. Young plants are generally vulnerable. You could try to distract the slugs by putting e.g. lettuce leaves next to the tomatoes.
May you and your tomatoes be strong and healthy, Alex
I don’t have sheep’s wool but I do have plenty of dog hair (we have three heavy shedders, lol). Do you think that would work? I’ve got beer traps set out, and last night I laid a barrier of fresh wormwood clippings around my most vulnerable bed, only to find that the slugs still went in. Copper and egg shells do not work and my chickens aren’t fond of slugs.
I have a huge slug problem behind my house, beside a farmers field and forest strip. They always go after my cucumbers (I transplanted 12 30cm tall plants out between two gooseberry bushes with rings of coffee grounds around the cucs and they were all gone 2 days later – either all the leaves were eaten or the stems were cut), devour my radishes (the same as Peter Bowron, the greens are eaten when young then big bites out of the radishes once they start bulbing), nibble on my tomatos (they especially love the growing tips but also eat the leaves and take chunks out of the stems), love my full grown chard, chomp down on my peas (again strong 10cm transplants that did amazing in the front garden, eaten or filled with holes within a week) and they have even started hanging out on the leaves of my garlic, although I haven’t seen any actual bites taken from those yet, who knows if the bulbs have survived…
I’ve tried sacrificial plants (extra pumpkins, zucchini and mustard – it makes finding slugs easier), I’ve tried planting strips of basil and geranium’s (the slugs ate both within 2 weeks of transplanting them in), I keep the meter of ground between the forest edge and my garden clear of grass/weeds – it’s all gravel, I’ve tried beer traps (a great way to attract slugs and waste beer) and I’m out picking them off 2-3 times per day. Still the plants just can’t grow fast enough to out compete the slugs.
Yesterday I tried adding Nemaslug – I hope it works to give the plants a few weeks breathing room to grow this year. Either way I think next year I’ll be planting more gooseberries and currents back there and leaving the vegetables for the front garden!
I absolutely empathise with you. I have tried all of these methods and can confirm that they are utterly ineffective. Copper is another failure as is wool. The only thing that works for me is blue pellets. Not those more salt-like crystals. I’m sure my slugs enjoy those as a kind of condiment after dining on mint, thyme and basil.
Do you think if I put my basil in the middle of arugula plants it would deter the slugs?
I am now trying vegemite dissolved in hot water, then cooled and poured into a 1 kg yoghurt container which is oiled on the inside walls making it too slippery for the slugs to climb out and it works like a charm. After reading your article though I fear it may also be attracting beneficial leopard slugs and as you mentioned slugs from further afield. Any thoughts?
Our Yorkshire slugs don’t seem to have read this article. All our vegetables have been eaten, the raspberries were half – eaten and weren’t too appetising with silver trails on them. Some of the flowers have survived, but only tough ones like pansy, poppy, peonies and bluebells. Even daffodils have gone. Eggshells and copper tape are useless, slug pellets are the only answer. I haven’t tried metal rings on things, yet, and I shall have a go at some of the herbs, but I’m fed up of feeding the little buggers with (over the past few years) hundreds of pounds worth of previously healthy plants.
No Neil, pellets are not the only answer. They are the lazy answer when people half heartedly tried a couple of things and given up. Pellets can kill other wildlife – even the so called safe ones.
Sharp sand will do the trick, but it needs to be boarded in so it doesn’t just wash away.
Make a sand moat with boarding and fill with sharp sand and you’re pretty much done. Top up here and there. Very cheap to buy from B&Q or wherever.
I find the advice that slugs don’t like thyme extraordinary considering they have eaten mine four years in a row. I am currently trying to save my final one by bringing it back into the house. I don’t hold out much hope.
I have seen slugs on my radishes (eating root) and cucumbers (eating fruit).Yesterday found a teeny slug crawling on the inside of my bag of freshly harvested lettuce and cucumbers.Threw it all out. Last year I found some hiding under my chocolate mint.I am trying sluggo but have only put it around lettuce. Have to put it around everything I guess. Discouraging.
Having read your very useful article – with many thanks – and then all the comments – I share the frustrations of my fellow gardeners wholeheartedly. The snails in my garden even clime on top of chicken wire and balance themselves along over the wire and then pressing their body through the wire downwards to reach the small mizuna, rocket, and coriander plants underneath… It seems to me that there are many factors, type and state of plant, but also maybe type of slug and snail, which might explain why some plants are okay in one garden, but ravished by these pests in another. I try and avoid the blue pellets – I don’t want to risk harming wildlife and rather collect the perpetrators in the morning and carry them to the nearby river bank. When doing this I often wonder, how quickly will they be finding their way back :))
I have cracked it…after losing five tubs of kale overnight. I made a moat out of mini-guttering (and four elbow joints), and filled it with acetic acid and salt water (salt & vinegar). I made sure I levelled the moat (guttering) on a slab of concrete. Works 100%. I found one dead slug in the moat after a week. You do have to keep topping it up every few weeks, as the solution evaporates. I will be posting a YouTube video of it when I have the time.
Dear friend, please be aware that beer traps are attracting slugs from far away. Furthermore, they are harmful not only to slugs and snails but also to their natural enemies, for example hedgehogs and ground beetles. More info here: the beer trap disaster. May you have a peaceful time in your garden, Alex
Sorry, in my garden I have 3 things that slugs absolutely love, and two are on your don’t like list. The will happily demolish half a leaf of silverbeet (Swiss chard) overnight. They also love my radishes (the red round ones. I’m yet to see how they go with French Breakfast.) They will strip most of the leaves, especially before the root starts to develop, after that, they will nibble at the root for preference. So far they are preferring Cos Lettuce to Iceberg.
For seedlings, cut the bottom half of a 2L drink bottle (clear plastic), drill plenty of small holes in the bottom of it to allow air and water to pass. Up-end over the seedling. This gives a barrier that will stop anything but the smallest (and they will often get caught in the sun the next day.) It has the bonus of being a standalone greenhouse during the cold months.
they also devour my rhubarb leaves.
They love my tomatoes.
Hello Liz,
thank you for your comment. It’s true sometimes slugs love even tomatoes.
It may depend on the variety and the strength of the plants. Young plants are generally vulnerable.
You could try to distract the slugs by putting e.g. lettuce leaves next to the tomatoes.
More ideas here: natural slug control.
May you and your tomatoes be strong and healthy,
Alex
I don’t have sheep’s wool but I do have plenty of dog hair (we have three heavy shedders, lol). Do you think that would work? I’ve got beer traps set out, and last night I laid a barrier of fresh wormwood clippings around my most vulnerable bed, only to find that the slugs still went in. Copper and egg shells do not work and my chickens aren’t fond of slugs.
I have a huge slug problem behind my house, beside a farmers field and forest strip. They always go after my cucumbers (I transplanted 12 30cm tall plants out between two gooseberry bushes with rings of coffee grounds around the cucs and they were all gone 2 days later – either all the leaves were eaten or the stems were cut), devour my radishes (the same as Peter Bowron, the greens are eaten when young then big bites out of the radishes once they start bulbing), nibble on my tomatos (they especially love the growing tips but also eat the leaves and take chunks out of the stems), love my full grown chard, chomp down on my peas (again strong 10cm transplants that did amazing in the front garden, eaten or filled with holes within a week) and they have even started hanging out on the leaves of my garlic, although I haven’t seen any actual bites taken from those yet, who knows if the bulbs have survived…
I’ve tried sacrificial plants (extra pumpkins, zucchini and mustard – it makes finding slugs easier), I’ve tried planting strips of basil and geranium’s (the slugs ate both within 2 weeks of transplanting them in), I keep the meter of ground between the forest edge and my garden clear of grass/weeds – it’s all gravel, I’ve tried beer traps (a great way to attract slugs and waste beer) and I’m out picking them off 2-3 times per day. Still the plants just can’t grow fast enough to out compete the slugs.
Yesterday I tried adding Nemaslug – I hope it works to give the plants a few weeks breathing room to grow this year. Either way I think next year I’ll be planting more gooseberries and currents back there and leaving the vegetables for the front garden!
I absolutely empathise with you. I have tried all of these methods and can confirm that they are utterly ineffective. Copper is another failure as is wool. The only thing that works for me is blue pellets. Not those more salt-like crystals. I’m sure my slugs enjoy those as a kind of condiment after dining on mint, thyme and basil.
Do you think if I put my basil in the middle of arugula plants it would deter the slugs?
I am now trying vegemite dissolved in hot water, then cooled and poured into a 1 kg yoghurt container which is oiled on the inside walls making it too slippery for the slugs to climb out and it works like a charm. After reading your article though I fear it may also be attracting beneficial leopard slugs and as you mentioned slugs from further afield. Any thoughts?
Our Yorkshire slugs don’t seem to have read this article. All our vegetables have been eaten, the raspberries were half – eaten and weren’t too appetising with silver trails on them. Some of the flowers have survived, but only tough ones like pansy, poppy, peonies and bluebells. Even daffodils have gone. Eggshells and copper tape are useless, slug pellets are the only answer.
I haven’t tried metal rings on things, yet, and I shall have a go at some of the herbs, but I’m fed up of feeding the little buggers with (over the past few years) hundreds of pounds worth of previously healthy plants.
No Neil, pellets are not the only answer. They are the lazy answer when people half heartedly tried a couple of things and given up. Pellets can kill other wildlife – even the so called safe ones.
Sharp sand will do the trick, but it needs to be boarded in so it doesn’t just wash away.
Make a sand moat with boarding and fill with sharp sand and you’re pretty much done. Top up here and there. Very cheap to buy from B&Q or wherever.
I find the advice that slugs don’t like thyme extraordinary considering they have eaten mine four years in a row. I am currently trying to save my final one by bringing it back into the house. I don’t hold out much hope.
I have seen slugs on my radishes (eating root) and cucumbers (eating fruit).Yesterday found a teeny slug crawling on the inside of my bag of freshly harvested lettuce and cucumbers.Threw it all out. Last year I found some hiding under my chocolate mint.I am trying sluggo but have only put it around lettuce. Have to put it around everything I guess. Discouraging.
Having read your very useful article – with many thanks – and then all the comments – I share the frustrations of my fellow gardeners wholeheartedly. The snails in my garden even clime on top of chicken wire and balance themselves along over the wire and then pressing their body through the wire downwards to reach the small mizuna, rocket, and coriander plants underneath… It seems to me that there are many factors, type and state of plant, but also maybe type of slug and snail, which might explain why some plants are okay in one garden, but ravished by these pests in another. I try and avoid the blue pellets – I don’t want to risk harming wildlife and rather collect the perpetrators in the morning and carry them to the nearby river bank. When doing this I often wonder, how quickly will they be finding their way back :))
Sorry, slugs love Borage and Comfrey/
I have cracked it…after losing five tubs of kale overnight. I made a moat out of mini-guttering (and four elbow joints), and filled it with acetic acid and salt water (salt & vinegar). I made sure I levelled the moat (guttering) on a slab of concrete. Works 100%. I found one dead slug in the moat after a week. You do have to keep topping it up every few weeks, as the solution evaporates. I will be posting a YouTube video of it when I have the time.
By putting beer in an empty ice cream box you can get rid of slugs. The slugs go to drink and fall in the container.
Dear friend,
please be aware that beer traps are attracting slugs from far away.
Furthermore, they are harmful not only to slugs and snails but also to their natural enemies, for example hedgehogs and ground beetles.
More info here: the beer trap disaster.
May you have a peaceful time in your garden,
Alex