Keeping slugs and snails away from your plants doesn’t have to involve complex or expensive solutions. With a few pieces of this fruit, you can easily limit the impact of these pests in your garden.
Slugs and snails, though they’re pretty sneaky, can quickly become a real pain for gardeners, destroying vegetables, foliage, flowers and delicate plants. These little gastropods love moisture and tend to feed mainly at night, leaving slimy trails and nibbled leaves in their wake.
If you want to look after your plants and enjoy a rich harvest, grapefruit could be your unexpected ally in keeping these pests at bay! As well as being a fruit rich in vitamin C and appreciated for its slightly bitter taste, grapefruit has a little-known property: it attracts slugs and snails. Rather than using chemicals that are potentially harmful to the environment, why not try this environmentally-friendly trick?
Simply cut up grapefruit halves or quarters and place them directly in your garden, where pests are most active.
It may seem a simple technique, but it’s based on an effective natural mechanism: attracting pests so you can capture them more effectively.
Grapefruit is a favourite food of slugs and snails for a number of reasons. The pulp and juice are full of water, which is what these creatures are looking for. On top of that, the slugs and snails can hide in the cupped shape of the skin to feed and protect themselves.
Could you tell me how you use this technique? Go for a ripe grapefruit, as it’ll have a stronger aroma. Just cut it in half or into a few pieces. If you want to attract more gastropods, you can remove a little of the pulp to make more juice, which they love. Place the pieces face down, not too far from the infested areas. By the next morning, you’ll likely find a few slugs and snails hiding under the fruit shell. All you have to do is pick them up and move them away from your garden, or dispose of them as you see fit.
This natural method is a great way to keep pests away from your garden without harming the local wildlife. Grapefruit is completely biodegradable and doesn’t affect the health of animals or plants. On top of that, it’s a way of repurposing leftover fruit, which helps to reduce food waste.
