The Dirt Cheap Gardener
Garden Pest Solutions
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Controlling Snails and Slugs
Controlling Snails and Slugs
The Brown Garden Snail, the most common garden snail in California, was introduced from France in the 1850's for use as food. Snails and slugs love moisture and are most active at night, or on cloudy or foggy days. When it is hot and sunny, they prefer to hide in the shade, taking shelter underneath decks, stones, low ledges on fences and plants. They feed on a variety of plants, flowers, fruit and bark.Slugs are hermaphroditic, and a single slug produces up to three dozen eggs several times a year. The egg are translucent white, jelly-like clusters resembling large fish eggs. The slugs will mature to adulthood in about six weeks and have a life-span of several years. If their population is not controlled, they can make a serious dent in the productivity of your garden.
While it is probably not possible to entirely eliminate these lawn prawns, there are many approaches to minimizing their presence in your garden. We have found a multi-pronged approach to be most effective.
1. Eliminate Hiding Places. The undersides of ledges, rocks, logs, furniture, etc. Also thick vegetation and weeds. Keeping your garden well weeded will eliminate many potential hiding spots.
2. Handpicking. Take a morning stroll through your garden everyday picking them out of your garden as well as all potential hiding spaces.
3. Copper barriers are another method used for snails and slugs. Vertical copper barriers can be erected around planting beds or you can used copper tape directly on larger plants.
The copper is thought to react with the slime that snails and slugs secrete as they travel, causing a flow of electricity.
4. Crushed eggshells have sharp edges that will cut (and kill) slugs when placed around your plants.
5. Oat bran is toxic to slugs if eaten, and can be sprinkled in your garden.
6. Pine needles, straw, sawdust, and bark will irritate and dehydrate slugs.
6. Make traps.
Overturned pots.
A wooden board placed on two bricks.
Half a cantaloupe or melon overturned on couple of bricks or rocks works well.
Make a beer trap. Push an empty tuna can into the soil so that it is even with the soil level and fill half-way with beer.
Traps need to be checked daily.
7. Watering.
Use drip irrigation. Snails are attracted to moisture--if the soil is dry between your plants, this will discourage them.
Water in the morning. Snails are most active at night and watering in the morning allows your garden to dry out a bit.
Watering in the morning also discourages other problems such as mold and mildew.
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