table of contents
- Collecting
- Barriers
- Eggshells
- Falling
- Short lawn
- Mulching
- Pour properly
- plants
- Dry environment
- Remove hiding places
- cinammon
- frequently asked Questions
Snails can quickly spoil the joy of gardening. The voracious mollusks can almost completely destroy plants within one night. Some natural home remedies offer quick relief from a snail plague.
In a nutshell
- Lay out traps and collect the snails
- insurmountable barriers protect young plants
- Mulch as a snail-unfriendly environment
- Water only in the mornings and as required
- Cinnamon is a powerful but expensive home remedy for snails
Collecting
A simple and effective home remedy for snails is to collect them at dusk. At this point, they like to come out of their hiding places and are easily visible. However, the question then arises, what to do with the voracious animals.
A snail can cover a distance of up to 40 meters per day. If you want to release the snails back into the wild, you have to release them several hundred meters away from the bed. In an acute plague, however, you should kill the snails so that the population is decimated.
When it comes to killing methods, there are often techniques that are not without long suffering for the snails. The snail's nervous system works a little differently than in mammals, for example. They also still suffer if, for example, they are cut up. If you want to put an end to the animals quickly, you should kill slugs.
Note: There are also useful snails, such as the tiger snail, which also has no house. If you cannot clearly identify the slugs as a pest, give preference to the exposure of the slugs.
Barriers
Quick home remedies for snails are different barriers. Different methods are available for this. A simple way of repelling the snails is to protect the plants with a bell. Put the protection over endangered plants.
There are a few vessels in the home that can easily be turned into a mini greenhouse:
- large transparent plastic cups
- cut open plastic bottles
- big glasses
The greenhouse not only protects against snails, but also promotes growth. However, ventilate the plants during the day so that it doesn't get too hot under the mini greenhouses.
Eggshells
Eggshells are available in almost every household. You only have to coarsely chop the quick home remedy and sprinkle it around the beds in a wide band. Snails do not like to crawl over the sharp-edged shells. However, the bowls only help to a limited extent. When it rains, the snails can also overcome the eggshells.
However, the natural home remedy has a positive side effect. During the decomposition, lime becomes available, which the plants can use. The useful shell snails need the lime to build their shells. Shell snails, such as the Roman snail, also eat the clutch of harmful slugs.
Falling
There are different ways to catch snails. You can use simple traps to attract the snails and collect them later. To do this, lay out small wooden boards in the affected beds. The snails like to hide under the boards.
A mixture of bran and cat food has also proven itself as a lure. Both are mixed in a ratio of 1: 5 and placed in small bowls where the snails can crawl into. The advantage is that this agent concentrates the snails in one place, but does not endanger beneficial insects.
You can easily collect the slugs and remove them from the garden. Also check the lowest leaves of the plants, as the slugs like to hide there too.
Short lawn
Who around the beds race should mow it regularly. Nudibranchs prefer tall grass, which offers them protection from predators. If the area around the beds is short, nudibranchs do not like to crawl over them. The short lawn is also ideal for predators. If a snail should dare to crawl across the short lawn, the enemies will see it more quickly.
Mulching
Mulching is an underrated home remedy for snails. Many suspect that the mulch layer provides a hiding place for snails. However, the rotting mulch creates an environment that slugs don't like. This quick home remedy is available in many gardens.
When using mulch, keep the following points in mind:
- fresh Lawn clippings use
- approx. Apply a 10 cm thick layer
- Spread the mulch evenly
- Renew the mulch cover regularly
Tip: In the mulch layer, you can also incorporate plants that will deter other pests. Tansy, for example, is a good mulch against the leek moth and at the same time keeps snails away.
Pour properly
A home remedy for snails is to water them at the right time. Often it is poured in the evening. At this point, the plants will not benefit from it. The moisture creates a good environment for snails and ideally prepares them for the vegetables.
Avoid watering in the evening and water your plants preferably in the morning or at the latest in the morning.
Also note these points when pouring:
- water close to the ground
- Water selectively near the root area
- Pour based on demand
plants
If you are consciously trying to lure snails away from important plants, give them tempting ones Eat alternatives. The marigold is particularly popular, for which the snails even leave the tender salad. If the snail plague is severe, you may need several plants and replant them repeatedly.
An alternative to feeding popular plants is to repel the snails with plants. There are some species that snails avoid because they have an intense smell or are poisonous to snails.
Selection of plants against snails:
-
rosemary
- thyme
- Monkshood
- thimble
- fern
You can plant these home remedies for snails as a border around your flower beds. Herbs have a dual purpose because not only do they ward off snails, they can also be harvested.
Dry environment
Natural home remedies for snails are often just methods that can be used correctly. A popular home remedy is to clean the area around or keep dry between the beds. Snails avoid crawling over dry surfaces as it is very energy consuming to produce slime. If you don't have a lawn around the beds, you should keep the areas dry. For example, you can pour sand or gravel. Both of these dry up quickly even after it rains, which means that the snails do not like to crawl over them.
Remove hiding places
Not only can you provide targeted hiding places to attract the snails and collect them later. By deliberately removing the hiding spots, you create an environment that is not snail friendly.
Try to keep the areas around the endangered plants as free of hiding places as possible. Small things such as a coaster that the snails use as a shelter are often enough. Nudibranchs also like to hide under flower pots. If the pots are in the garden or in the beds, dig them a few centimeters deep. In this way you deprive the snails of the opportunity to hide underneath.
cinammon
There are some natural home remedies that snails are reluctant to overcome due to their consistency or smell. For special plants, quick home remedies are usually used on a small scale. Therefore, you can also use somewhat more expensive home remedies, such as cinnamon. Tests have shown that preferred plants will not be eaten if they are surrounded by a wide strip of cinnamon.
In the case of special plants, it is definitely worthwhile to distribute the expensive cinnamon around the plants. However, you should only use this on a small scale due to the cost.
frequently asked Questions
Yes, beer traps attract snails. However, beneficial organisms such as small frogs or insects often perish in these traps. Therefore, you should avoid beer traps and use other natural home remedies.
Yes, the edges of the snails prevent the snails from entering a bed. However, if they come into the bed via plants or with the soil, the edge of the snail is also ineffective, as the slugs are already in the bed.
Spruce needles and sawdust also work to a limited extent. However, if these become damp from rain or irrigation water, they can be more easily overcome by slugs. It is therefore important to water in the morning rather than in the evening when the snails come out of their hiding places. In persistent rainy weather, you should resort to alternatives to repel snails.