How To Deal With Snails And Slugs In The Country

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Snails and slugs are quiet and inconspicuous country dwellers, but it can be very difficult to fight the invasion of such guests. As a rule, in dry weather and in the daytime, they hide in damp and secluded corners, crawling out to "hunt" at night and causing irreparable harm to various plants. To get an excellent harvest, it is very important to fight garden pests

Ways to fight

There are three ways to deal with snails and slugs.

An ecological way of fighting. Its essence is to attract natural natural enemies of slugs and snails. Nature is arranged so that for toads and hedgehogs they are very tasty food. Hedgehogs are easy to lure with almost any dog food (making sure that neighbors or stray dogs do not come to treat them instead), and to attract toads it will be useful to make reservoirs of a relatively small size. Well, in order for hedgehogs and toads to become permanent residents of the site and to be its defenders for a long time, they should organize good shelters for them for a comfortable winter.

Birds also do well with slugs and snails. Jays, wagtails, and starlings with blackbirds are always very eager to eat them. Attracting birds will not be difficult - just hang feeders with treats and birdhouses. Having got used to eating on the site in the winter cold, they will continue to do this in the summer. It is noteworthy that sometimes even ladybugs provide all possible help in the difficult fight against harmful mollusks.

Also, snails with slugs absolutely do not tolerate the smell of various spicy herbs. Garlic, sage, rosemary, laurel and parsley planted around the perimeter of the garden will help scare off these pests from the vegetation. Spraying with infusions of mustard, coffee and hot pepper (2 teaspoons are taken for 200 g of boiling water) also helps. And also harmful mollusks cannot stand freshly cut and spread nettles on the beds.

Mechanical way of fighting. With this method, the mollusks are harvested by hand or with tweezers. For snails and slugs, special traps should also be organized, based on knowledge of their physiological need to stay in cool and humid places during the day. For the construction of such traps, planks soaked in fruit juices or beer are laid out on the paths between the beds, old unnecessary bags, various rags, as well as burdock leaves and cabbage leaves. During the day, the mollusks will climb into the shelters they like, and in the evening they can be quickly collected. A similar effect will be exerted by small-depth containers dug in at the same level with the ground, filled with liquid and covered with rags. Strong saline or strong soapy water perfectly neutralizes these parasites.

You can also take advantage of the fact that pests have a soft little body in the fight. To do this, create an uncomfortable and unpleasant surface for the movement of slugs and snails - fine gravel, well-crushed eggshells or absolutely any dry porous material are scattered around the plants.

Shellfish also do not welcome superphosphate and lime, if sprinkled at a distance of 15 cm from each other in 2 - 3 strips. These drugs will help block the movement of snails and slugs, because they quickly absorb moisture with mucus from the surface of their bodies. This method also has a drawback: it becomes not very convenient to water the plants, and the funds themselves stop working after the rain.

Water also serves as an insurmountable obstacle for soft-bodied pests, so it would be a good option to make an artificial barrier for them: for this, plastic grooves filled with water are attached to prefabricated beds. There are two options for the further development of the situation: slugs with snails either do not dare to dare to overcome such an obstacle, or they will not be able to get out of the water after they get into it.

The chemical way of fighting. This is the most extreme pest control measure. For example, a chemical such as metaldehyde lures these voracious parasites and then kills them. “Meta” and “Thunderstorm” work well - blueish granules packaged in small sachets, which process an area of 2 square meters. m. - the mollusks slide down to their last "lunch" and die immediately. However, this method also has a huge drawback: metaldehyde is a poison that is very dangerous for pets and people. Do not allow the appearance of cats, dogs and other pets on the treated areas, and greens and vegetables with fruits must be rinsed with running water before eating them.

Prevention

It is much easier to prevent the appearance of slugs and snails than to deal with it later. The main goal of preventive work is to create an unfavorable habitat for these harmful individuals. To begin with, they should be deprived of their usual daytime shelter: remove from the paths, as well as from the beds, all unnecessary boards, pebbles, as well as weeded out weeds (in the event that they are not planned to be used as bait). Also, on the paths and on the borderlines, you should regularly mow the grass, and dry areas that are too damp. When planting plants, they strictly observe the planting density, and also promptly cut off the lower leaves of lettuce and cabbage. And in order to deprive mollusks of such an attractive opportunity to hide in cracks in the ground, they carefully loosen the soil. It should be especially noted that all of the above activities are implemented throughout the growing season. After the harvest is harvested, plant residues are carefully removed to leave slugs and snails without food and shelter for the winter.