- 1). Rake up leaves from the garden weekly to remove damp hiding places for the slugs. If you see slugs on your strawberries, put on garden gloves, pick the slugs off the plants and place them in a bucket of warm, soapy water to kill them.
- 2). Lift growing strawberries off the ground and slide metal racks, like oven trays or cake cooling trays, beneath them so that they stay raised. This helps keep them out of reach of slugs, as well as preventing rot as they grow.
- 3). Dig holes, sized to fit glass jars, every couple of feet around the strawberry plants. Fit the jars into the holes so that only 1 inch of the rim remains above ground. Pour beer into the jars until they are around three-quarters full. The beer attracts the slugs, which climb onto the jars, fall in and drown. Leaving an inch of rim above ground prevents beneficial insects like ground beetles that help control slug populations from becoming caught in the traps.
- 4). Sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth all around the strawberry plants. The tiny particles in diatomaceous earth cut slugs and cause them to dehydrate. The diatomaceous earth stops being effective when damp, so apply it after the sun has dried up dew and reapply after rain or watering plants.
- 5). Plant marigolds between your strawberry plants as a "sacrificial" trap crop. Slugs are attracted to marigolds, and any that make it through the hand-picking, beer trap and diatomaceous earth will go for the marigolds instead. Marigolds also help protect strawberries from harmful nematodes in the soil.
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