Snails cause significant crop damage by feeding on your plants’ stems, leaves, and roots. They may appear to be harmless, but they will reduce or destroy the yield of your crops.
On average the best way to get rid of slugs and snails is traps, baits and repellants. There are both natural and non-natural methods of removing them. Traps can include grapefruit and beer which attract the slugs and snails. Common repellants are copper, Diatomaceous Earth and grit. Snails and slugs are most common in your garden on rainy or foggy days. On sunny days, snails and slugs look for places they can hide from the sun, and that is how they end up in your garden. Usually, you will notice snails and slugs in your garden because of the long trails they leave on your plants and soil. As a result, you must get rid of them as soon as possible. Fortunately, there are a variety of methods that can assist you in getting rid of snails and slugs before they infest your garden and destroy your plants.
Natural Ways To Get Rid Of Snails In Your Garden
1. Using Natural Predators
Introducing other animals to feed on snails and slugs will help you eliminate them without interfering with your plant’s growth. Birds like feeding on snails, so you can attract them by providing fresh water and giving them somewhere to nest. You can also try insects like the praying mantis, which feed on snails. The good thing is that you can buy the eggs of a praying mantis. Learn more about praying mantis in this post. You can also use other farm animals like geese, ducks, and chickens.
Predator snails are also another option. These snails feed on other snails, but they are harmless to your crops.
2. Set Out a Hiding Place
Snails love to hide in dark areas, especially under dumped objects. You can find a piece of paper, cloth, or carpet, spray water on it, and lay it in your garden. After a few days, you will find some sails hiding beneath the wood plank, cloth, or carpet. You can then remove them from your garden.
3. Use A Beer Container Trap
The bear trap is an effective way of getting rid of snails because it’s safe for people with kids and pets around. You can take a can of beer halfway through or pour the beer into a wide jar. The yeast in the beer attracts the snails. After some time, the snails will crawl to the container and drown in the beer. You can easily throw away the dead snails and put the container back in place. You can also change the beer every once or substitute it for grape juice.
4. Use Grapefruit as A Trap
Using traps Baits are an effective way of attracting snails without using store-bought traps or poison. If you are looking for a cheaper method of attracting snails, you can use grapefruit. Start by cutting the grapefruit in half and placing it in your garden. The smell of grapefruit attracts the snails. Therefore, you will find a lot of snails and slugs in the morning.
5. Kill The Snails Manually
If you are bold enough, you can wear a glove, pick out the snails in your garden, kill them, and dispose of the mollusks. This elimination method is effective, but it’s only effective in a small garden and when the infestation is not severe. Otherwise, you would get tired of handpicking in a large garden with many snails.
Repellent for Snails and Slugs
One of the best methods to get rid of snails and slugs is placing repellant items in your garden. Creating barriers using items that snails don’t like is another effective way of reducing snails without killing them. You can quickly deploy the barrier by using the following items:
- Copper: You can start by placing copper wires or copper fragments in your garden. These copper fragments tend to create an electric shockwave in the gastropod’s bodies.
- Diatomaceous Earth: This barrier is made of non-toxic material with rough edges, making it difficult for snails to crawl. The diatomaceous earth will not kill the snails, but it is an excellent repellant.
- Lay Down Grits: You can place grits in your garden to act as a barrier for snails. Grits like eggshells cut through the skins of the snails and end up killing them. As a result, you can easily pick out the snails from your garden.
- Ashes and Fur: Sprinkling ashes and fur in your garden inhibits the movement of gastropods. The ashes and fur stick to the snail’s body, limiting their movement in your garden. Learn more ways to use ashes in the garden in this post.
- Electronic Fence: You can use an electronic fence as a barrier because the electricity creates an unpleasant sensation on the snail’s body.
- Gastropod Resistant Plant: You can choose some hostas that resist growing gastropods in your garden. Many people also like introducing seaweed because it is salty, and snails do not thrive in salty conditions. Other people grow aromatic herbs like rosemary, lavender, and sage, among other plants. Check out our Lavender Garden Ideas post for ideas on how to use it in your garden.
You could also sprinkle other substances like coffee, mint, and vinegar in your garden to repel the snails. If you would like to know more about garden snails here is an article where we looked at how snails live.
Non-Natural Ways to Get Rid of Snails and Slugs
Non-natural ways of getting rid of slugs are more effective than repellents and natural methods. Some non-natural ways are cheaper than the other methods and consume less time. If you are looking for a fast, effective, and cheaper non-natural method, you can use the following:
- Salt: You can sprinkle salt in your garden or create a barrier. Salt kills gastropods by absorbing water from their mollusks. However, it would help if you were careful because salt is also harmful to plants and other animals or microorganisms.
- Garlic: You can mix garlic powder and water and spray where the snails have infested. Garlic also kills gastropods.
- Iron phosphate: This chemical is the most effective chemical that many people use to eliminate snails. It is safe, and you can comfortably use it around plants.
- Metaldehyde: You can spray this chemical on the infected area to kill the slugs. Metaldehyde is an effective chemical, but it is not safe for use around people, animals, and food. So, if you have pets and children, you should avoid this chemical.
- Other chemicals: You can also use alum (aluminum sulfate), potassium permanganate, and chlorine (bleach). You can spray these chemicals directly on the infected area.
Once you’ve gotten rid of the snails, you have the option of preventing a recurrence of the infestation. One method is to eliminate the hideouts. Remove the weeds, tall grasses, and organic waste from your garden. You can also collect wood, boards, or any other item to create a dark, moist environment in which snails can hide. The other method is to use drip irrigation, which reduces surface moisture and makes your garden unappealing to snails. Finally, you can use the other repellent methods mentioned earlier to keep snails from returning to your garden. Now that you’ve learned how to get rid of snails, you can start by purchasing the items and tools you’ll need to get rid of the gastropods in your garden.