Snails are a nuisance. You can destroy half the vegetable harvest or any number of perennials in one night. In some years it is particularly bad when hundreds of snails appear in the garden and you can hardly keep up with collecting them. A snail fence can help protect the plants. Often snail traps such as the beer trap are recommended, but they also attract the slimes from the neighboring gardens and tend to aggravate the problem rather than help. Chemical agents for vegetables are rather counterproductive and those who do not use poisons for vegetables usually do not want to have them elsewhere in the garden. Snail fences are a safe way to keep the pests away.
Snail fence for prevention
Prevention is always better than cure. It is ideal that snails do not even reach the herbaceous plants they love. While the commonly used remedies against snails are only used when an infestation has been detected, the fences do not even get that far. No snail has to lose its life.
Requirements for a snail fence
The task of snail fences is to prevent snails from climbing over them. You have to meet certain criteria to be effective.
- A snail fence must be smooth and level
- Have steep walls
- It is ideal if the upper edge is angled outwards
- Fence height at least 15 cm (above the ground), higher is even better
- Plastic and metal are good materials
- The snails find little or no support
- The protection must be complete. Every opportunity to slip through is used.
- The lower edge of the fence must be deep enough in the ground to give the fence a hold
- If necessary, give the construction more support with cords or wire
- Plastic fences are inexpensive, but hardly effective
- Metal fences are more expensive, but usually also more reliable
Metal snail fence
Metal snail fences are effective, but unfortunately they are usually quite expensive. You need a fairly high piece of sheet metal, because in order to have a hold, it has to be neatly inserted into the earth and the upper edge also bent outwards. Hot-dip galvanized sheet steel with a zinc coating is ideal. The sheet metal must be 35 to 40 cm high. 10 cm are put into the earth, the fence should then be 15 cm high, the rest is bent outwards to prevent climbing over. It is bent before being put together and inserted into the earth. Bend the sheet outwards at a height of 25 cm, fold it, as the expert says. The ideal is then to bend the last cm inwards again, this makes it much more difficult to overcome. Brackets are attached to the corners to connect the individual elements. They only need to be 25 cm, 10 cm in the ground and 15 cm high. So will the fence
- It is best to have sheet metal cut to size in a hardware store or then cut to size yourself
- Four parts all around, which are screwed together by angles, necessarily from the inside
- Bend a straight palatinate outwards at a height of about 25 cm
- Connect all parts
- Bury the fence 10 cm deep so that the snails have no way of digging under the fence
Copper snail fence
The copper snail fence is not going to win a beauty award, but it serves its purpose. The advantage of this fence compared to the plastic fence is that it is not glued. Brackets are used and they hold much better. The individual fence elements remain connected.
Roman snails and all snails react best to the copper fence. Brown slugs can also be deterred quite well. It gets more difficult with the red nudibranchs. Nothing scares them so quickly. Some shrink back, others crawl over it.
Tip: What you have to know is that the fence only works when a patina has formed on it. This keeps snails off. In the first year this is not the case and the snails simply climb over it. Either you use older copper sheet or you have to let it oxidize outdoors for a year. Once the dark patina has formed, the snail fence is in place.
Most users describe copper wire as ineffective, regardless of whether it is laid out horizontally or installed vertically. But there are also positive reports. The only way to do this is to try it out.
Advantages of the copper fence
The copper strip contains substances that oxidize with the snail's mucous membranes. A narrow strip of copper is enough to keep the snails away. You don't even try to climb over it. However, when the fence is freshly erected, it is ineffective. As described above, it takes time.
Build up the snail fence
The metal plates for the copper fence are available from hardware stores. There you can also have them cut to size. With the copper fence, a much narrower strip is enough to keep the snails away.
- Put the metal plates together, depending on how large the fenced area should be.
- Apply retaining clips for attachment.
- Place the strip completely around the bed and fix it in place. It does not have to go so deep into the earth, but it must not fly away in the wind and not be washed out when it rains.
- Smooth copper foil should also have a positive effect. You can get these in the craft shop or in a plumbing shop. Snails would not crawl over them either.
Attention: Copper contains substances that are not harmless to humans and pets. Dissolved copper is toxic even in small amounts. Over time, small amounts of copper can be washed out and end up in the soil. Especially with vegetable patches you should therefore consider whether it really has to be a copper fence.
Snail collar
In contrast to the snail fence, a snail collar protects individual plants. It is particularly useful during the budding season for plants that are particularly popular with snails. In this way, individual plants in the perennial bed can be prevented from being “eaten away”. Plastic is often used for these rings, but copper is also suitable. An open ground is important so that the snails cannot get over the fence via neighboring plants. It must be set up freely. You need one collar per plant.
- Bend a strip of copper so that a ring is formed.
- Close this with retaining clips.
- Place the ring around the plant and press something into the soil
- The ring should be generously dimensioned so that parts of the plant do not soon protrude beyond it, which of course will then be eaten off.
Snails can quickly become a nuisance. Especially in wet years they multiply en masse and can spoil the gardening season. Snail fences can be of great help here, as can snail collars. They are easy to build yourself, whether made of plastic or metal. Copper snail fences help against snails as soon as they have developed a proper patina. Copper costs a lot to buy and if you are unlucky the fence will be stolen from you. There have been more and more copper thieves lately. In addition, a copper fence should be considered around the vegetable patch, because copper particles can be washed out over time and get into the earth. From there, the way to the vegetable plants is not far. So, as with most things in life, there are two sides to consider.
