Wood shavings

[Containergardener]

(As opposed to sawdust)
Other than putting in the compost bin are thy any good for deterring slugs? Anyone tried it?

[mothhawk]

I don't know if they deter slugs, but I think they will certainly encourage ground beetles into your garden as they like to shelter in wood chip, and they will eat slugs, snails, caterpillars and other pests. I am minded of King Charles' hosta collection at Highgrove, it suffers hardly any slug damage, and is heavily mulched with wood chip each year.

[rary]

You will never know if you dont try, it is worth trying such things to see if it works for you

[Nicos]

An old thread Rary…but still of interest!
I’ve never tried it tbh.
I would be cautious and make sure you only used shavings from non treated wood though


If you are thinking the roughness might deter slugs, we’ll, I’ve seen videos of slugs sliding across really sharp knife blades and razor blades with no problem at all

Did you try putting down shavings CG?…if so, were there any noticeable advantages?

[smallblueplanet]

We put down a few bags full of bark chippings in our border, unfortunately it seems to give the slugs somewhere to hide. Maybe if there are no slugs and/or slugs eggs before you put wood shavings down it might help? Or maybe there's something in shavings that's not in bark chips?

[MelanieSW]

I often put a handful of bark chips around seedlings, it does seem to help deter slugs/snails.