Build your own snail trap: Beer traps & Co

Nobody likes to see slugs in the bed. Therefore, many snail traps or instructions for DIY are offered.

Nudibranchs happily feast in the lush beds of hard-working gardeners. In order to get some of the harvest yourself, it is advisable to set up snail traps. It's quite simple, especially if you know what snails like: protection from predators and dehydration. Traps that offer these two baits work best. With some models the snails can be collected alive, with others they die.

tip: Snail traps are generally most effective in the spring, when the other food supply is still scarce and this prevents a large snail population from developing.

Snail trap: pros and cons

Snail traps can be divided into live and poisonous traps.

live traps

Live traps aim to attract snails with scents or to provide them with an attractive shelter. From there they can be collected and resettled in a new habitat. The problem here is that the snails may return to you or your neighbors. On the other hand, it is positive that no animal is tortured and no beneficial organisms such as snails are harmed.

However, attractants that are too strong, such as beer, only attract more of the reptiles. Cooked food could attract unwanted rats. Live traps are quick and easy to build yourself - we'll explain how later. Since snail traps are often not very visually appealing, some variants can even be buried in the ground.

poison traps

Using poison baits will kill snails, eliminating them permanently. In addition, scattered slug pellets in the bed are relatively inconspicuous. However, the duration of the effect depends on the weather. Such metaldehyde-based granules, like most conventional ones, are harmful to the environment and also endanger other animals and small children. If you want to avoid this and sliming snails lying dead in the bed, you can go to Iron III phosphate slug pellets To fall back on.

At a glance: advantages and disadvantages of snail traps

• live traps: Insensitive to weather and self-made, but no reliable snail elimination
• Poison traps with metaldehyde: Reliable snail control, but sensitive to weather conditions, cannot be made by yourself and is of concern to pets and the environment
• Poison traps with ferric phosphate: Reliable snail control, gentle on pets and beneficial insects, not sensitive to the weather, but cannot be made by yourself

tip: For a 100 square meter garden you need about 20 to 30 snail traps. Places under dense bushes, perennials and ground covers should be chosen as the location, especially at the edge of the garden, just where the snails like to hang out.

Beer trap for snails: does it really work?

Probably not, because beer has an enormously strong attraction for snails. They can smell the yeast in the beer from a distance of up to 200 meters. That seems practical at first. However, this also attracts snails from a wide area that would otherwise not have come into the garden at all. Therefore, beer traps should be avoided.

Build a snail trap yourself: instructions

If you want to build a snail trap, you should consider the following: slugs love it dark, damp and warm. Food is an added bonus that no slug would refuse, of course. The molluscs are best attracted with moderate attractants from plant parts that snails like to eat. Lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, apples and some other fruits are effective. Kitchen leftovers can be used, but nothing that has been cooked or seasoned, otherwise rats will be attracted. Ornamental plants such as marigolds or dahlias are also used. Moist wheat bran is also recommended.

Below you will learn how to build a snail trap yourself from home remedies.

Dark and humid oases

Snails are almost 90% water. It is therefore essential to protect yourself from dehydration. Where is the best place to go? In a dark and humid place, of course! So give the slimy companions an inviting shelter. You can do this, for example, by placing a moistened wooden board, preferably with grooves, in a shady spot. The snails will soon arrive there and can be removed. In a slightly sunnier spot, a moistened wooden board on the ground with some space underneath can also serve as a hiding place for snails. A moistened tree stump in the shade is just as attractive. The advantage of this method is that it really doesn't take much effort or expense to set up a hideout.

tip: The portals of entry into such containers should be small, only around 1 cm in diameter. This way no snails can get lost in it.

Gathering Container Live Trap

Live traps for snails are collection containers that the little creatures can get into easily, but only with difficulty or reluctance to get out again. Snails avoid brightness because it is associated with predators and with solar radiation that leads to dehydration. Therefore, the center of the trap is dark, while the way out is getting lighter and brighter. There is therefore a clear reason for the snails to remain in the trap.

You can collect snails in different containers. A popular option is to make a snail trap out of a milk carton. To do this, rinse the box properly, remove the lid, fill in kitchen waste as described above and off to the garden with it. It is best to dig it a little into the ground with the opening facing upwards. Of course, other tetra packs can also be used, as well as other containers that create a damp and dark environment. The opening should be large enough for snails, but prevent larger animals from entering. It is advisable to collect the mollusks before dusk and to change the location of the trap every two to four days.

Important: Intensive attractants such as beer or brewer's yeast should be avoided at all costs, as these also attract numerous snails from a long distance.

Collection trap with slug pellets

Slug traps can also be filled with slug pellets instead of kitchen leftovers. Such traps are made a little differently.

To prevent the slug pellets from coming into contact with the ground, the pellets can be sprinkled and glued into bottle caps, for example. For stability, the cork should then be glued to a base. The base with the snail shell corks is covered with a dark colored shell of the kind found on food packaging such as yoghurt pots. However, small openings must be cut in the cup so that the snails can get in. These should be about 1 cm in diameter - big enough for slugs to fit through, but not snails. The traps are placed where the risk of snail damage is greatest: between new plantings or other particularly susceptible varieties. Bait stations should also be placed in typical habitats, for example ground cover such as cushion perennials or natural stone walls. We recommend changing the location of the trap after two to four days.

Alternatives to snail traps

If you don't want to set up any of the snail traps described in your garden, you have other options snail protection to disposal.

slug pellets

A common tool is slug pellets. In the past, it usually contained the active ingredient methiocarb, which is no longer approved due to its environmental impact. Another substance used is metaldehyde, which is just as toxic to pets, but is gentle on beneficial animals and therefore approved for use.

Better, and even approved for organic farming, is the active ingredient iron-III-phosphate. Snails that consume this remedy stop feeding, retreat to their hiding places and die there. There is no danger to other animals or people. Therefore ours is also based Plantura organic slug pellets on the environmentally friendly iron-III-phosphate. Over time, this is converted into the nutrient elements iron and phosphate and is completely harmless to the soil and the environment.

You can find out in detail what needs to be considered when spreading the grain in our special article about slug pellets Experienced.

Plants against snails

There are many plants that snails hate. These include herbs such as wild garlic (Allium ursinum), Real Dost (Origanum vulgare) or thyme (thymus spec.). But also bait plants such as marigolds (tagetes) or delphinium (delphinium spec.) keep snails away from fruit and vegetables. You can find out which other plants are helpful in our article on the subject Plants against snails.

snail fences

Even snail fences can be used. These should be anchored at least 10 cm deep in the ground and also be 10 cm high. It is important that no plant parts stick out over the fence and that the snails are collected regularly, preferably every evening after dusk. Coffee grounds can be used as a further barrier. Read our article to find out what to look out for Coffee grounds against snails after.

Encourage natural enemies

Natural predators decimate the snail infestation. These include many birds such as magpies, blackbirds or starlings, as well as hedgehogs, shrews, toads and slowworms. Anyone who offers these animals a natural habitat makes the work of plant protection easier. Create piles of leaves as hiding places or hedges and shrubs for nesting sites.

Properly mulch and watern

Mulch is designed to prevent beds from drying out. However, moist wood and bark are also popular with snails. In order to keep snails out of the bed, it should not be mulched. Regular watering every two to three days, or more often in particularly hot weather, is more effective against snail infestation than mulch. Timing is also important when watering. Morning watering is beneficial as it allows the soil to dry out before the slugs appear in the evening. So they find an area that is less appealing to them.

Fight snails in time

In the fall or early spring, hatching of the next generation of snails can be avoided by destroying their pinhead-sized eggs. Hundreds of these can be found in nests in the ground, but also under planters, moss, mulch, loose stones, between flagstones and in piles of leaves. When eliminated, gardeners receive from the snail and the tiger slug Help, because these eat the eggs of other snails. The scrim can also be positioned where it is exposed to the sun so that it dries up. The remains are eaten by birds and hedgehogs.

Those who pay attention to the environment and animals sometimes find it not so easy to practice crop protection. You get some support from the plants themselves, because some of them the snails don't like at all. You can find out which plants you can cultivate in your garden without having to be afraid of a snail infestation in our article on the subject slug resistant plants.