Do Slugs Eat Spinach?

Pests in the garden are a pain in the you-know-what, especially when it comes to slugs. They cannot only ravage certain crops, but they’re also not fun to deal with at all. They are a slimy and unavoidable pests in the garden. And for some crops, such as strawberries, they can be especially troublesome.

Do Slugs Eat Spinach?

But what if you are growing spinach in the garden? Do slugs eat spinach? The quick answer is yes, slugs do eat spinach plants along with other leafy vegetables that are commonly grown in the garden.

But there are also other bugs that might be eating your spinach plants.

How To Tell If Slugs Are Eating Your Spinach Plants

If you are seeing large holes appear in the leaves of your spinach then this is most likely the result of a slug chowing down during the night on your hard-earned spinach.

However, if you see small holes then this could be due to other insects that can eat spinach.

Another way to be sure that it is slugs eating your spinach crop is to go out in the evening or early morning and see if you can find any slugs. It is important to be going out at these times as this is when it is easier to find them since they are active when it is darker and cooler outside.

How To Keep Slugs Off of Your Spinach

The bad news is that you won’t be able to keep 100% of the slugs off any of your crops as you can never get rid of all of them. Slugs do serve a purpose in the garden ecosystem.

But there are things you can do to cut down on the number of slugs that are in your garden and that would try to eat your garden crops.

Remove Things That Help Slugs Thrive

Slugs like damp and dark places. So by removing things in the garden that can provide this type of environment can help cut down the population.

Remove things such as large rocks and decorations that have areas underneath them where slugs can stay during the daytime.

Sunlight and dry areas are your friends if you are trying to keep slugs away.

Copper Tape or Rings

Copper rings and tape are popular for some slug control, but trying to put this around every spinach plant could get out of hand easily.

But if you do want to try this route, copper rings would probably be the best option.

Slug Traps

Slug traps are one of the most popular choice for controlling the population of slugs in a garden.

Beer traps are the most commonly used slug traps. You can also use yeast traps, as it is the yeast in beer that attracts slugs.

Diatomaceous Earth

This is best used alongside another slug control method. Diatomaceous earth acts more as a deterrent than a population control for slugs.

If using this you can put it in a circle around your plants and you will have to redo this each time it rains.

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