Slugs and snails are widespread backyard pests that may trigger harm to a variety of crops, from greens and fruits to flowers and decorative crops. They voraciously feed on the tender leaves, buds, fruits, and stems, abandoning holes and discolored patches. A big infestation can completely devastate your backyard.
This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Snail and Slug Fundamentals
Slugs and snails should not bugs; they’re soft-bodied mollusks. The primary distinction between slugs and snails is that the latter have a shell which is made principally of calcium carbonate, like egg shells.
Additionally referred to as gastropods, which implies “stomach-foot”, snails and slugs journey on one “foot”, and depart a tell-tale path of shiny, slimy mucus wherever they go. Actually, it’s the presence of this slime that may aid you distinguish slug and snail harm from that attributable to different pests.
Slugs and snails are hermaphroditic, which means every particular person has each female and male reproductive organs. This implies they can reproduce shortly and prolifically, and because of this do a lot of harm should you don’t management their populations.
The most effective method to slug and snail management is to make use of an built-in mixture of cultural, bodily and organic strategies collectively. Listed here are 13 completely different strategies that will help you management slugs and snails naturally in your backyard.
Cultural Controls
The way in which you domesticate and keep your backyard can have a big effect on stopping pest populations.
Scale back Slug and Snail Habitat
Slugs and snails feed primarily at night time, so in the course of the day they cover in moist, darkish locations underneath leaves, pots, planters, thick groundcovers like ivy and ice plant, and mulch. To make your backyard much less slug-friendly, you will want to both cut back and take away their hiding locations, or use them as a entice (See under):
- Transfer soggy leaf or straw mulch away out of your crops as quickly as they arrive up within the Spring. Wait to mulch once more till early summer season when the soil and air is drier.
- Take away lifeless or broken leaves out of your crops year-round to encourage good air circulation and take away hiding locations, particularly across the root zone.
- Within the fall, clear up backyard particles and transfer it far out of your backyard beds to make it harder for slugs to put eggs and overwinter.
- Put away your unused pots, planks of wooden, and different backyard muddle that might present hiding locations for slugs, snails and their eggs.
Water Within the Morning
One of the best ways to assist stop slug and snail harm is to maintain plant and soil surfaces as dry as doable in a single day. At all times water very early within the morning moderately than within the night, so surfaces are dry by the tip of the day.
Keep away from overhead watering, as moist leaves are extra susceptible to break from slugs and snails in addition to from fungal illness. In areas with excessive rainfall or humidity, give crops further house within the backyard to advertise good air circulation.
The most effective apply is to modify to drip irrigation on a timer. This does three actually good issues on your backyard. Drip irrigation:
- saves water by irrigating instantly on the root zone, by means of any mulch, saving you water and cash. With a timer in your system, you’ll be able to water at dawn with out even getting off the bed!
- eliminates overhead watering, which reduces moist foliage, stopping pests and illness
- vastly reduces the period of time that the bottom is moist, which makes your backyard far much less liveable for moisture-loving pests like snails and slugs.
Select Slug Resistant Crops
Leaves with tender, delicate leaves and fruits are typically slug magnets, together with basil, beans, cabbage, dahlia, delphinium, hosta, lettuce, marigolds, strawberries, and small seedlings of every kind.
Leaves which might be thick, leathery, bushy or waxy resist their assaults, as do crops which might be very fragrant. The place you’ll be able to, select crops that slugs don’t take care of, like cyclamen, ferns, geraniums, lavender, nasturtiums, poppies, rhodededrons, rosemary, or sage.
Use Companion Planting
Some fragrant crops, corresponding to rosemary, chamomile, chives, and garlic naturally repel slugs and snails. Planting a lot of these crops close to or round different crops which might be liable to slug and snail harm can assist to discourage them, in case your downside is mild.
Different crops are very enticing to snails and slugs, and may be planted subsequent to the backyard to distract and entice them. Good entice crops for slugs embody chervil, marigold, and thyme. Mix entice crops with handpicking to successfully management average slug and snail populations.
Bodily Controls
Handpicking
One of the crucial fundamental and efficient strategies of controlling slugs and snails is by merely hand-picking them out of your crops. That is greatest accomplished at night time when the pests are most energetic. Use a flashlight or blacklight round their hiding locations and favourite locations to feed and it is possible for you to to identify them and their slime trails. (You’ll be able to typically acquire caterpillars, hornworms and different pests extra simply at night time, too!)
Utilizing gloves (to keep away from the slime), decide off and drop any pests you discover right into a bucket of soapy water to kill them, or hold them in a closed container to feed to your chickens, geese, or opossums. Alternatively, you can harvest garden snails to eat yourself! Snails and slugs have a pure homing intuition, so should you don’t destroy them, you’ll have to take them very far out of your yard, or they’ll simply come again.
Handpicking for a number of nights in a row will vastly cut back pest populations. As soon as the inhabitants has noticeably declined, weekly hand-picking must be adequate.
Backyard Cloches
Cloches are small plastic or glass domes that go over particular person crops to guard them from backyard pests in addition to from frost. They’re nice at guarding small seedlings in opposition to slugs and snails, in addition to birds, squirrels and rabbits, as a result of the pests can’t crawl up and over them.
Needless to say backyard cloches are like mini greenhouses, and they also create further warmth and condensation round your crops. Ensure that to elevate them off or keep away from utilizing them on scorching days, so that you don’t overheat your crops.
You should buy pre-made cloches, or make your personal DIY cloches from repurposed plastic 2-liter bottles or milk jugs with the bottoms lower off and the caps eliminated.
Wooden Traps
As a result of snails and slugs like to cover in cool, darkish, moist locations in the course of the day, you’ll be able to entice these pests beneath board traps or flower pots that you just place all through your yard.
You’ll be able to construct board traps by elevating 12- by 15-inch boards (or any easy-to-handle dimension piece of scrap wooden) off the bottom with 1-inch runners on two sides, like a really low desk. The runners elevate the board simply excessive sufficient for slugs and snails to crawl beneath. Ensure that each the board traps and the soil are good and moist while you lay them down.
Raise boards each day and scrape off any snails and slugs you discover. Destroy them away out of your backyard in a bucket of soapy water, feed them to your chickens, or harvest them for dinner. (see Handpicking).
Bread Dough Traps
Latest research from Oregon State University has discovered probably the most profitable attractant for slugs is bread dough. Affiliate professor Rory McDonnell stated, “They actually, actually prefer it. Bread dough outperformed all the pieces.” In a single occasion, over 18,000 snails have been trapped in 48 hours.
You can also make bread dough utilizing the researcher’s recipe and hand-pick the slugs from the dough, or flip it right into a slurry to draw the slugs who then drown within the liquid.
Bread Dough Slug and Snail Entice
This “bread dough” recipe is irresistible to slugs and snails, making it tremendous straightforward to entice and take away them out of your backyard.
-
Combine collectively the flour, water and packet of yeast. Knead right into a dough for handpicking traps, or add extra water as wanted to make a slurry for drowning traps.
-
Put your dough or slurry into ready-made slug and snail traps you should buy at backyard provide shops, or make your personal out of a mason jar or giant, plastic yogurt container with a number of snail-size holes lower into the lid.
-
Bury the entice on the sting of your backyard in order that the opening of the entice is degree with the highest of the soil. That method, slugs and snails can fall simply into it.
-
Verify the container each morning and take away slugs. Preserve your slurry or dough moist and refreshed for greatest outcomes.
Beer Traps
Slugs and snails are interested in the yeast in beer as a lot as in bread dough, so putting a number of small bowls of low-cost, yeasty beer as traps on the perimeters of your backyard may be an efficient approach to management a small pest inhabitants.
As a result of each bread dough and beer are so enticing, you wish to place your traps on the perimeters of your backyard beds, in order to attract the slugs and snails away from your tender crops.
Your entice have to be deep sufficient to drown them, and have vertical sides to maintain them from crawling out. Additionally, you will want a lid of some type to scale back evaporation and forestall rain dilution.
Be sure you bury the traps in order that they’re practically degree with the soil, and alter the beer each few days to take care of its effectiveness.
You should buy ready-made slug and snail traps at backyard provide shops, or you can also make your personal by burying a mason jar, small bowl, or giant, plastic yogurt container so the rim is at floor degree, and putting a lid with one or two snail-size holes lower into it over the container.
Where to find slug/snail traps.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE)
Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a pure powder constructed from the fossilized stays of tiny aquatic organisms referred to as diatoms that slugs and snails (and most hard-shelled bugs) discover troublesome and dessicating to crawl by means of.
Obstacles of dry diatomaceous earth heaped in a band 1 inch excessive and three inches vast round your crops have been proven to be efficient at deterring slugs, in addition to earwigs, mites, ants, fleas, tablet bugs and different pests which have an exoskeleton.
Nonetheless, diatomaceous earth loses all effectiveness as a pest management the second it turns into moist, making it impractical as a slug barrier in most backyard conditions. Nonetheless, it really works nice as a non-toxic pest management mud utilized instantly on infestations of aphids, ants, fleas, and many others. each within the backyard and round your own home.
Where to find food-grade diatomaceous earth.
Organic Controls
Encourage Pure Predators
Frogs, toads, snakes, birds, raccoons, opossums, turtles, geese, and even chickens will eat slugs, snails and their eggs. Most terrestrial snail species make nice escargot! Encourage pure predators by giving them habitat, like a small pond or water characteristic in your yard, or a small log and brush pile in a secluded or distant portion of your property.
You can even let your geese or chickens unfastened in your backyard or orchard to make fast work of slugs and snails there, in case your crops are giant sufficient to deal with pecking and hopping round them.
Use Helpful Nematodes
Nematodes are a category of tiny, helpful worms that may be utilized to the soil to manage many forms of pests. They are typically voracious predators for his or her particular prey of selection, and make fast work of any that are available in contact with them. Every species of nematode assaults completely different species of pests, so you will need to select the suitable nematodes for the job you want them to do. The nematode varieties referred to as Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita and Phasmarhabditis californica, specifically, kill slugs and snails. They’re the one styles of nematode which might be confirmed to take action.
Nematodes are utilized to your soil by mixing them in water and making use of them to your backyard beds or planters in line with instructions on the package deal. As a result of they’re residing creatures, after you purchase them, they’ll should be saved in a darkish container within the fridge, and used shortly.
Slug-killing nematodes may be bought from gardening provide shops in Europe, however should not but obtainable within the U.S. (Though many different species of pest-control nematodes can be found within the U.S.)
Where to find slug-killing beneficial nematodes in Europe.
Chemical Controls
Chemical controls for snails and slugs may be efficient when used along side an built-in pest administration program that comes with the opposite strategies mentioned above. Baits alone will not successfully management snails or slugs in the long run.
Copper Obstacles
Slugs and snails expertise an uncomfortable chemical response to their slime touching copper, so copper boundaries may be an efficient approach to deter them—although they have an inclination to work higher in small functions like potted crops, moderately than giant backyard beds. Right here’s how you can greatest use them:
- Make protecting collars on your seedlings by wrapping them with a strip of 2-sided copper tape or flashing that’s at the least 3 inches vast so you’ll be able to bury a portion of it 1 or 2 inches under the soil to stop pests from crawling beneath the barrier.
- Nail or glue 2-inch vast copper foil or tape across the base of your pots and patio containers. Be sure you take away any pests current within the soil earlier than making use of the barrier, so that you don’t undermine your efforts.
- Shield your timber by wrapping a 4-inch vast band of copper foil or mesh across the trunk, permitting for an 8-inch overlap across the trunk. Staple one finish into the trunk, then join the opposite finish to itself with paper clips that can permit the copper band to slip outward and increase because the trunk grows.
To be efficient in opposition to slugs and snails, copper boundaries should be at the least 2 inches vast, and made with a excessive proportion of copper. Most copper tapes offered at backyard facilities are too slender and too low in copper to be very efficient, so search for thicker, wider copper tapes which might be particularly made for shielding electrical guitars and different electronics.
Copper boundaries are efficient till they grow to be tarnished. After they do tarnish (which can range based mostly in your area and local weather), you’ll be able to clear them with a vinegar resolution.
Where to find high-quality copper tape.
Iron Phosphate Bait
Iron phosphate bait pellets—obtainable underneath many model names, together with Sluggo and Slug Magic—will trigger snails and slugs to cease consuming, nevertheless it might take a number of days to every week for the snails to die.
Iron phosphate is a pure mineral, and subsequently it’s acceptable to be used in natural farming. Nonetheless, iron-based slug pellets should not utterly non-toxic to different animals. These pellets can kill earthworms and hurt animals or those who ingest giant portions of them, so hold the package deal locked away from youngsters, pets, and compost bins. However iron phosphate slug pellets are nonetheless a a lot safer various to metaldehyde slug baits.
Sprinkle snail bait pellets over the backyard soil, close to, however not on crops which might be enticing to them, or close to their favourite hiding locations, corresponding to underneath planters and irrigation bins, near partitions and fences, or different moist, protected areas.
Apply the bait within the late afternoon or night to make the most of the nighttime feeding habits of those pests. Making use of bait repeatedly in the identical areas is greatest, as a result of snails and slugs are likely to return to meals supply websites.
Mild watering after utility helps these pellets to work higher, as a result of it encourages snails and slugs to forage. Nonetheless, don’t water closely after bait placement, since you may bury the pellets in soil, wash them away, or make them moldy.
Where to find iron phosphate slug pellets.
AVOID: Metaldehyde Bait
Slug and snail baits containing the energetic ingredient metaldehyde are straightforward to seek out in backyard facilities, and they’re extremely efficient. Nonetheless, metaldehyde baits are toxic, significantly to canine and cats, and the pelleted type may be very enticing to canine. Some metaldehyde merchandise are formulated with “carbaryl”, which is poisonous to earthworms and soil-inhabiting helpful bugs.
Metaldehyde will not be accepted for natural farming. Don’t use metaldehyde snail baits the place youngsters and pets may encounter them. Keep away from getting metaldehyde bait on crops, particularly vegatables and fruits.
AVOID: Salt or Ammonia
Each slugs and snails may be killed very successfully by both sprinkling them with salt or spraying them with an ammonia resolution. However these chemical compounds additionally kill crops and soil life fairly readily, and so they can accumulate in your soil, so they don’t seem to be advisable for slug and snail management within the yard and backyard, or close to storm drains, creeks, lakes, rivers or different waterways.
What Doesn’t Work to Management Snails – Widespread Myths
Opposite to in style backyard folklore, crushed egg shells, espresso grounds, wooden ash, pine needles, shredded bark mulch and wool pellets have all been tested and shown to be ineffective at deterring slugs and snails.
Actually, some experiments show that snails and slugs don’t appear to thoughts espresso grounds or egg shells one bit. And since calcium is a necessary a part of a snail’s weight loss program (to take care of their shell), they might truly be interested in egg shells!
Put your espresso grounds, wooden ash, and egg shells to raised use in your compost bin. Pine needles, shredded bark and wool pellets make excellent mulches, however don’t rely on them for slug management.
