Tips for dealing with slugs and snails in the garden

Want to know how to start gardening? Confused about where to start? Let Fran help you easily follow the tips and advice. This article provides practical suggestions on how to reduce slug and snail damage in your lawn!

One of the most common problems that gardeners face is the problem of slugs and snails. Even seasoned gardeners are ripping their hair together in the devastation these creatures can cause. So I thought I would give you some tried and tested advice, some of which may be not very well known, to help you deal with it - you won't get rid of it altogether, but at least you'll be able to keep them kind of in control!

They may not all work for you - a lot depends on how bad the problem is where you live - but it's definitely worth trying some if not all of them.

Barriers

These methods will be more effective against snails than slugs, as slugs live in the ground and so can avoid barriers.

On the borders of your lawn, you can use barriers around plants, such as crushed eggshell, gravel, bran, wood ash, or soot. The theory is that slugs and snails do not want to cross this material and will, therefore, wander elsewhere to find their next meal. Make sure you put in a lot without any gaps.

Spread oat bran around your plants - slugs love them, but if they eat enough, they expand and die!

Petroleum jelly smeared heavily around the edges of the pots has a similar deterrent effect.

You can buy the copper tape with an adhesive backing, which you can tape around the sides of the saucepan - this causes an electric shock to the snail as it tries to cross.

Traps:

Use beer traps - these are very effective for dealing with both slugs and snails, and you can purchase them at a garden center. Place the trap of inexpensive beer in a hole with the top of it at the soil level. You can also use old fruit juice or even milk at the turn. Instead, make your own by cutting about 3-4 inches off the base of your plastic beverage bottle.

After eating half of the grapefruit, cut a small hole, and place the skin upside down on the soil. Slugs love them and will gather inside, and you can collect them every day.

Collect all the snails and slugs you can find late in the evening when you get active and submerge them in a bucket of heavily salted water. Ordinary water will not work - they will simply swim to the surface and crawl! Or, if you know where to hide, you can collect them during the day - try looking under logs or bricks and bushes, any dark, damp corner.

And what do you do with the slugs you've collected? If you put live slugs or snails in your compost heap, they will likely stay there, as there is a lot more to feast on. You can also put the dead ones in there, too, those in beer traps including beer - but get the dead slugs and snails out of the saltwater first.

Predators

For biological control, you can use nematodes - microscopic parasites that kill slugs both above and below the ground. Obtained from organic garden suppliers, you can simply mix the powder with water and spray onto the soil with a watering can. This can be effective for about six weeks.

If you're lucky enough to have space, use some chicken or ducks - they just love to eat slugs - and you can get some free eggs in the bargain.

Make your garden wildlife-friendly, to encourage natural predators of slugs and snails to come and visit. Dig a pond to encourage frogs and frogs; Leave the food for hedgehogs. Put up bird feeders. This will not provide an "instant solution" to the problem, but in the long run, it will give you a healthier garden with fewer pests.

Until next time, Happy Slug Hunting!

Gardens, gardening, slugs, snails, pests, nematodes, organic, wildlife

Tips for dealing with slugs and snails in the garden