One of the most common issues confronted by gardeners is the one of slugs and snails.
Even experienced gardeners want to tear their hair out on the destruction these creatures can cause.
So I thought I might come up with a few attempted and tested suggestions, and a few others possibly not so well known, that will help you deal with them. You probably won’t eliminate all of them together, but at least you will be capable of keep them under some type of control!
A lot depends on simply how bad the problem is wherein you stay – but it is really worth trying a few if not all of them.
So how to get rid of slugs and snails?
Use obstacles and barriers:
These methods can be more useful towards snails than slugs, as slugs live on the ground and can therefore avoid barriers.
Build obstacles around plants, use crushed eggshells, grit, bran, or wood-ash. The idea is that snails are reluctant to cross those materials and could consequently wander away someplace else to search for their next meal. Make sure you placed plenty down without any gaps.
Petroleum jelly smeared thickly round the rims of pots also has a deterrent impact on snails.
You should buy copper tape with an adhesive backing, which you may stick around the pot facets – this will give the snail a small electric powered shock as it tries to cross.
Use a trap
Use beer traps – very powerful at coping with slugs and snails, and you can purchase these from a garden centre. Place the trap, filled with cheap beer, in a hollow with the top at soil degree. You may also use out of date fruit juice, or milk. If you are crafty make your own by using a plastic drink bottle.
VIDEO: How to make a slug trap (Youtube – Gardenmagik)
Gather all the slugs and snails you can find and drown them in a bucket of heavily salted water. The best time to find them is a few hours after sunset or at night time, that’s when they are more active.
Use their natural predators:
For an organic way to manage slugs, you can use nematodes – microscopic parasites that kill the slugs above and underneath ground. Acquired from organic garden suppliers, you mix the powder with water and spray directly to the soil. This method can be effective for around six weeks.
In case you are able, adopt some chickens or ducks – they simply love eating slugs – and you get to have a few eggs for breakfast too.
Make your lawn wildlife friendly to encourage the natural predators of slugs and snails to return. Dig a pond to encourage frogs and toads, leave food for hedgehogs and put up bird feeders. This doesn’t offer an instant relief to the slug problem, however in the long run it will provide you with a slug and snail free garden.
