Gardeners have been handed a huge boost for 2025 after an announcement by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). In the past year, slug and snail numbers have exploded, with gardeners in the summer of 2024 reporting their worst ever outbreak of the pests which stripped gardens bare of flowers, fruit and vegetables in their millions.
The slugs crisis was so acute that the RHS reported the highest number of panicked calls from worried gardeners since its records began. The issue was caused by several seasons of mild and wet weather in a row, with the UK’s washout 2024 summer a huge contributor to the spiralling rise of slugs and snails eating gardens up in their droves.
But it was announced on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 earlier this week that 2025 is set to see “far fewer slugs” and snails than last year in news which will come as a welcome relief for amateur gardeners.
The programme reported: “The Royal Horticultural Society’s predicting there’ll be far fewer slugs in gardens this spring compared with last year.
“RHS experts believe the drop is because of the cold spells over winter and the recent dry conditions.”
Their reporter, Rebecca Drought, added: “Last year mild wet weather across winter, spring and summer led to the highest number of calls to the RHS about slugs since records began in the 1970s. The lack of any prolonged dry spells meant the molluscs hadn’t gone underground to avoid sunshine and heat.
“But years of high slugactivity are often followed, experts say, by quieter ones, because of increases in predators, disease and competition for food when numbers are up. The RHS prediction is good news for gardeners raising plants such as carrots, lettuce and broccoli from seed.”
Posting on the Gardening UK subreddit, user u/thymeisfleeting welcomed the good news. They said: “The RHS is predicting far fewer slugs than last year. I almost jumped for joy when I heard it on the Today programme just now. Let’s hope they’re right! I nearly lost all my veg to slugs last year, it was so disheartening.”
