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An electric fence for slugs and snails

What fights off slugs and snails and what doesn't?

To get right down to it: almost everything you can find on the internet to stop slugs and snails from eating up your garden either works a little or doesn't work at all.

In the end, we found only 1 thing that really works: an electric fence. Since we couldn't find a good one on the market, we made it ourselves:

*Electric slug fence on an MM-Hero raised bed*

Made for anyone whose raised beds are being taken over by slugs and snails.

It gives slugs and snails a shock. But you, your kids, and your pets won't feel a thing.

To the shop

Why make a slug fence?

Our goal is to get rid of the cons of growing your own food, so only the pros are left. And we got pretty far:

You only need a small amount of space, thanks to our growing system.
With our special soil mix, everything grows well: from lettuce to tomatoes.
You don't need any experience: the app helps you every step of the way.
There is no heavy lifting. And you can maintain it in almost no time.

The Makkelijke Moestuin app helps you from sowing to harvesting

So, there's just one thing left to drive us all nuts: slugs. Or snails.

Slugs and snails 🐌🐌🐌

And yes: for 80% of MM gardeners, slugs and snails are not such a big problem.

If you garden on a balcony, you usually do not have slugs. In a city garden, maybe a few. You pick those off now and then, and the app helps remind you.

If there are more than that, the slug tips overview has enough ways to limit the damage.

The slug zone

But the other 20% of us live in slug zones.

Like my parents. Their garden is in the middle of an orchard. During the growing season, full slug armies are born there.

Makkelijke Moestuin raised beds in the orchard — *Our old raised beds in the orchard*

Unfortunately, our Makkelijke Moestuin raised beds were right in the middle of that breeding ground.

In a slug zone, you spend 90% of your Makkelijke Moestuin time trying to keep slugs and snails out of your raised beds and catching them.

And that's no fun.

Almost nothing helps sufficiently

Over the years, I tried everything. Copper tape, beer traps, eggshells, and slug brushes: clever ideas but hardly effective:

*Copper tape, beer traps, eggshells, and slug brushes do not deter slugs*

Nematodes - worms that eat slugs from the inside out - and eco-friendly slug pellets are also not effective enough.

What worked?

The only thing that worked reasonably well at that time were copper wires that I electrified with a 9-volt battery. So I continued with that, together with an (expensive) design agency.

*Our first electric fence against slugs*

Attaching it to the raised bed

Unfortunately, assembling this device on the raised beds was quite difficult, the battery compartment was not 100% waterproof, and the screws started to rust over time.

That's why we stopped selling it and started working on our own:

we created a new design
learned how to use 3D printers
started with chains and then switched to wires
and began producing all the materials

Development of Makkelijke Moestuin slug electric fence 2022-2023 — *Development of slug electric fence 2022-2023*

We developed and made this electric fence all by ourselves. We are super proud of it, because it was more challenging than we initially thought.

Working with new programs and designing the right chips: all things we had never done before. And that's just the beginning. Because once the first device is finished, testing in practice begins. Then you have to deal with weather and wind, condensation in the box, snails that still manage to get over it: you name it.

But if you just start - and learn from all the mistakes you make - you will get there eventually 🙂 So after a long period of testing - adjusting - testing again - and adjusting again, we now have a great device.

Long story short: it works like we want it to.

In April 2023, we already sold a small batch through the community and used the users' experiences to make some final adjustments.

Now we can confidently say: if you mount our slug device on your Makkelijke Moestuin raised bed, it will keep out almost all slugs. (Almost, because very clever slugs sometimes find a way around the electric fence, although that fortunately rarely happens 😐)

Furthermore, we have made it into a nice ready-to-use package:

Electric slug fence for a Makkelijke Moestuin raised bed

a housing with the electronics
four 1.5-volt batteries
shock wires with springs
a clip to hang the box
parts to keep the wires at the right distance
and clear instructions

Once you assembled it on your box - that will only take you about half an hour - you're set for years. The materials last a long time and you replace the battery once a year*.

*This is the only thing we're not completely sure about yet.

The electric fence keeps them all out: slugs and snails, big and small.

So why choose this electric fence?

We all agree: when your seedlings come up beautifully and then disappear soon after because of slugs, that is not only frustrating, it also costs you a lot of harvest.

If that has happened to you, this electric fence is a good solution.

For example, AGHoef says: 'Extremely happy with the electric fence. Our garden is a paradise for slugs. Our plants were struggling, especially the spinach. And look now! Since we have the electric fence, we have beautiful spinach again 😍'

No slug damage in a raised bed with an electric slug fence — *The undamaged spinach of AGHoef*

MM-Sofi says: 'I have tested it... it really works! Super happy.'

And Onderdeberk: 'Extremely happy with the electric fence! All my peas were eaten (and I didn't even dare to put anything else in that bed) and since the electric fence, no slug damage at all for a whole week. I can hardly believe it.'

Personally, I prefer 2 beds with slug electric fence than 4 beds without: