Plants against snails: what really helps?

Snails are among the archenemies of all hobby gardeners, but there should be plants that they can drive away. We show how to fight snails.

When snails (Gastropoda) attack vegetable and flower beds, it is often very annoying, after all, you have put a lot of love and care into your own little plants. Especially salads, but also basil (Ocimum basilicum) are especially eaten by hungry snails - then there is often not much left of the plant. Next to snail-resistant plants However, there are also those who actively deter snails with their smell.

Expel snails by smell with herbs

Snails have a fine nose and can be deterred by different smells. Snails pick up chemical signals through their olfactory and taste cells. These special sensory cells can be found everywhere on the body and are mainly concentrated on the head or the antennae of the snail.

First and foremost, there are different herbs that have a dispelling effect, because the essential oils often smell very intense. But also a few types of vegetables and ornamental plants can chase the snails out of the garden bed. If you grow a lot of such plants in the garden, the little animals will find little food and will hopefully withdraw from the beds.

The following herbs and medicinal plants have a snail-deterrent effect and are not destroyed themselves.

• Wild garlic (Allium ursinum)
• Boarwood (Artemisia abrotanum)
• Real chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)
• Real dost (Origanum vulgare)
• Real lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
• Garden cress (Lepidium sativum)
• Cucumber herb/ Borage (Borago officinalis)
• Curry herb (Helichrysum italicum)
• Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum)
• rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
• chives (Allium schoenoprasum)
• thyme (Thymus)
• Savory (Satureja)
• hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
• Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)

With these herbs there should be little problem with snail feeding. In addition, you can always enjoy the pleasant smell and delicious taste of the herbs.

Also the intense smell of garlic (Allium sativum) and Onions (Allium cepa) partially shows a deterrent effect against snails - how strong this effect is, however, is described differently. In any case, these leek plants (Allioideae) are avoided and not eaten. So you can plant such plants on the edges of the beds and between the rows to spoil the snails' appetite.

tip: In addition to the deterrent plants, it is important to know which plants are eaten by snails. We therefore answer the question "What do snails eat?" for her.

Plant stock against snails

Some plant manure can also drive away snails due to their smell and are extremely easy to produce. For this purpose, roughly chopped up parts of the plant are taken and left to ferment in water for a few days to weeks in order to obtain a liquid manure. When this is done, you can spray the affected plant with diluted liquid manure or water the plants in the beds with it.

Liquid manure and herbal teas made from the following plants have a snail-repellent effect:

• Begonias (Begonia)
• ivy (Hedera helix)
• Ferns
• elder (Sambucus)
• lavender (Lavendula)
• Liverwort (Marchantiophyta)
• moss
• rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
• yarrow (Achillea)
• Black currants (Ribes)
• Pinecone (Abies)
• Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): The at Skinning tomatoes arising shoots are ideal.
• Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)

These plants can not only be processed into liquid manure, but also spread as a layer of mulch around the endangered plants and thus create a deterrent barrier. Since snails do not like to climb over rough and dry areas, materials such as dry lawn clippings, straw, rock flour or sand are also recommended for such barriers.

Tip: In addition to plant broths, manure and teas can also be made from compost in order to use them in the fight against snails.

Other ways to control snails

Unfortunately, a selection of snail-repelling plants is sometimes not enough Slug control. Especially with a high snail pressure you will have to use other control methods to drive the small animals out of the garden and get rid of them completely, for example Slug pellets.

With our Plantura organic slug pellets you can, for example, fight slugs effectively and reliably. Thanks to the highly concentrated power ingredient with iron III phosphate, our slug pellets offer optimal protection and are also rainproof. Once ingested, the slugs withdraw into their hiding spots without forming slime and die there unnoticed. The naturally occurring active ingredient is gentle on pets and beneficial insects.

Another way to combat it is to bait with particularly sought-after plants. This includes besides lupine (Lupinus) and delphinium (Delphinium) even the easy-care ones Marigolds (Tagetes). Snails clearly prefer them over other plants and quickly eat them completely. Sow or plant marigolds in secluded corners of the garden, the voracious molluscs migrate there and hopefully leave the vegetable patches undisturbed.

Mechanical barriers such as snail fences along a raised bed are not overcome because snails cannot climb over the angled side. Individual, particularly endangered plants can also be protected with such snail fences.

tip: More to protect against Snails in the raised bed you can find out in our special article.

But there are other methods of combating snails such as Home remedies for snailswho are good at helping in the fight against nudibranchs. There are also other biological as well as chemical strategies to Fight nudibranchswith which good results can be achieved. A special kind of pest control is the use of Running ducks against snails. You can read with us what attitude the duckbirds have and how they can be used in the garden.