They approach silently in the twilight to bare ornamental and useful plants. Slugs are a hardened foe in the garden that is difficult to fight. However, plagued gardeners are not defenseless against the voracious pests. These tips and tricks reveal how you can stay true to ecological principles when fighting snails and still gain the upper hand.

Snails are unwelcome in the garden

Defense strategies - how to keep slugs out of the garden

Once slugs have arrived on the property and laid their eggs, you can only get rid of the slug plague with the help of complex measures. By making your garden uninteresting for the pests, you ward off the beasts in advance. The focus is on dry, light-flooded conditions, because the nocturnal snails love it dark and damp. The following strategies have proven themselves in practice:

  • The entire garden or individual beds are surrounded by barriers made of pointed stones
  • Secure the area with a low-voltage electric snail fence
  • Water primarily in the early morning hours so that the garden is dry in the evening
  • Plant young plants with snail collars

When designing the garden, make sure that there are no dark, damp niches. Consistently cut back shrubs and trees so that the sunlight can penetrate to all regions. The more finely crumbly the garden soil, the less attractive it is for snails and their brood. Therefore, rake and rake the soil regularly, even in mild winters.

Protecting aid from the animal kingdom - with beneficial insects against snails

Slug pellets (7.49€) and other poison traps only have a selective effect and affect other creatures. In the naturally managed garden, the chemical club is therefore mothballed and in the fight against snails relies on the protection of the animal kingdom. These beneficial insects fight a plague of snails with a lot of perseverance and enthusiasm:

  • Indian runner ducks in the garden make all other snail control measures unnecessary
  • Allow chickens to roam free to eat the eggs and larvae
  • Ground beetles like to eat the brood of slugs

Other helpers from the animal kingdom are microscopic, which in no way affects their effectiveness against the plague of snails. Nematodes of the genus Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita are spread in the garden with a watering can to decompose slugs within a short time. In order for nematodes to meet expectations as a non-toxic snail control, soil temperatures between 10 and 25 degrees Celsius are required and the consistent avoidance of fertilizers with iron-II-sulphate.

Coffee grounds & Co. - deadly home remedies as a last resort

Under high infestation pressure from a rampant plague of snails, various home remedies are available to rigorously combat slugs. The focus is on two methods that, despite the absence of toxic ingredients, still have deadly effects.

coffee grounds

Even small amounts of caffeine are lethal to slugs. In order to use the home remedy correctly to combat snails, allow the coffee grounds to dry immediately after brewing. Then spread the brown granules thinly on all infested areas. Please note that coffee grounds can lower the pH of the soil. In addition, the household remedy should be refreshed after every downpour. Tea-drinking home gardeners use dried tea grounds because theine has a similar effect on slugs as caffeine.

beer trap

The smell of beer magically attracts slugs. You use this circumstance to construct a deadly trap. For this purpose, dig an old pickle jar or a comparable container into the bed up to the edge. Then fill in stale beer halfway up. The advancing snails fall into the liquid and drown. The beer trap should always be used in combination with a snail fence so that the seductive scent does not lure all the snails from the area into your garden.

Liverwort spoils the appetite of snails

Don't you want to sentence hungry slugs to death, just scare them away? Then Mother Nature has an effective remedy for you in the form of moss, which thoroughly spoils the appetite of the pests for your useful and ornamental plants. As green land plants, mosses do not have thorns, poisonous plant sap or bark to keep predators at bay. As a result, they give off a scent that snails can't stand. How to fend off a plague of snails with liverwort:

  • Dissolve liverwort extract in water according to manufacturer's instructions
  • Spray infested plants early in the morning or after sunset
  • If necessary, double the dose of the natural remedy against a plague of snails

As is usual with all natural remedies, success only becomes apparent over time. You should therefore also use liverwort as a preventive measure on endangered plant species and seedlings. Experience has shown that plants treated with liverwort are not only rejected by slugs. In addition, the plants rarely suffer from fungal infections such as powdery mildew or gray mold.

tips

If you plant garden herbs, sage should not be missing from the planting plan. The valuable spice and medicinal plant exudes an intense scent that has been proven to deter an approaching horde of snails. By associating sage with lettuce, bluebells, chrysanthemums and sedum, the Mediterranean herb makes itself useful as a floral bodyguard against voracious slugs.

Category:

Animals in the garden