Protect Your Garden from Slugs
Plants in the garden can fall prey to slugs. There is a secret tip for keeping these voracious mollusks away.
Slugs in the Garden
In a beautifully landscaped herb and vegetable garden, or even in a flower bed, a plague of slugs can quickly become a plant’s undoing. That’s why you should always keep an eye out for them. If there really is a plague of slugs in the garden, it is too much trouble to move them by hand. Fortunately, there is a secret weapon against slugs.
What is the Best Protection Against Slugs?
Especially in wet summers, slugs can drive gardeners to despair. They love to eat the green plants that have been carefully tended and nurtured. From specially purchased slug traps and rings to home remedies, there are a number of methods that claim to help control these mollusks. Some are both environmentally and animal friendly, while others are not. It’s not just snails that are a nuisance in the garden; there are also ways to get rid of insects.
According to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU), the best way to deal with slugs is to create a natural garden and attract natural predators of slugs. A natural barrier of plants that slugs do not like – such as chamomile or savory – around the flower bed will also keep the little creatures away. Slug fences are also very effective, though expensive.
Home Remedies for Slugs
Of course, you don’t always want to change the plants in your flower bed or buy an expensive snail fence. That’s why there are some home remedies that will keep the snails away. The most popular is probably the beer trap. A little beer is poured into a container and placed in the garden. The smell of the beer attracts the slugs. However, this method is cruel as the snails often drown in the beer. Other household remedies include:
- Wood ash
- Coffee
- Salt
- Beer
- Cat food and bran
- Cinnamon
- Eggshells
- Oatmeal
- Litter and lime
Oat flakes are very useful to get rid of snails. They distract them and they don’t die because they can eat the flakes. Beer traps, baking soda and salt, and coffee grounds are household remedies that kill snails in a brutal way. Therefore, these household remedies are prohibited in the targeted fight against snails. Baking soda bloats the snails, salt dries them out and coffee poisons their nerves.
Why Do Eggshells Work Against Slugs?
Snails are very reluctant to crawl over rough surfaces, so it is worth spreading sawdust. It creates a surface on the ground that is uncomfortable for the crawling animals and makes them move on quickly. If you also spread lime, you will burn the soles of the mollusks and injure them. Therefore, it is advisable to use only sawdust. Not only lime can be used to simulate a rough surface. Coarsely crushed eggshells also provide a rough surface that snails do not like to walk on. In addition, eggshells are an environmentally and animal friendly barrier that decomposes over time and enriches the soil.
