How to deal with slugs in the garden using natural enemies, traps and other methods

how to deal with slugs in the garden
How to deal with slugs in the garden

Good day! I do not belong to the category of some really very squeamish people, but recent fuss in my greenhouse made me grimace.

And the reason for this was a meeting with slugs, which my cucumbers chose.

These vile guests had no right to linger in my greenhouse, so I immediately applied appropriate measures to them. Want to learn how to deal with slugs in a garden? Which is best used first? See the article below for specific recommendations.

Fighting slugs in the garden: all means are good

Slug ... These are pests that you can only wish to the worst enemy in the garden. All kinds of cabbage, peppers, eggplant, strawberries, salads and many decorative crops are annually affected by the invasion of gluttonous mollusks.

Important!
It is impossible to get rid of them once and for all, but there are ways to reduce their numbers, to ward off your favorite beds and reduce the damage done to the crop.

Means and methods of dealing with slugs are many. And this is just the case when more means better. Some people have some effective means, while others are more suitable.

The safest and “environmentally friendly” method of reducing the number of slugs is familiar to any gardener. This is a manual collection of pests in the evening, when they crawl out of shelters to feast on our vegetables. The method is effective, but laborious, especially when there are a million of these gastropods, and you are alone. Therefore, the following control measures are more popular among gardeners.

How to fight with natural enemies

If your site is inhabited by toads and frogs, and sometimes hedgehogs from the nearest forest come to visit you, you are very lucky. Feed the hedgehogs and toads, put a saucer of milk for them, and for dessert they will definitely enjoy slugs from your garden.

In addition to insectivores, parasitic nematode (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita), which is sold in the form of a biological product Nemaslug, is well dealt with slugs.

The tool is not cheap, but absolutely safe and very effective: it is enough to water the beds once every 1.5 months and there will be no slugs at all. One problem is the British drug and you can buy it in Russia only on Ebay.

Lures and traps

Another very popular and safe option for combating slugs involves the installation of various traps and lures in the garden. Slugs gather in such places by "crowds", and to destroy immediately a large number is easier than the lung.

What are the traps and lures? Firstly, slugs are not indifferent to fermented milk products. In the evening, the old board is greased with kefir or yogurt and laid in a damp place on two stones with the oiled side down.In the morning under the board there will be an invasion of slugs that can be easily destroyed.

Advice!
Secondly, beer traps give a good effect. A special trap with a lid or just an old deep cup is dug flush with the soil near cultivated plants. In the evening, beer (or fruit juice) is poured inside, but not to the very edges of the trap.

Over night, slugs crawl into the trap over the smell, fall into the beer and drown in it. In the morning, the cups are emptied so that the whole procedure can be repeated again the next evening.

The cornmeal is more attractive. It is often poured into glass jars that are placed on its side next to the protected plants. Slugs will not be long in coming and run to the bank.

As a trap, peel with halves of grapefruit can also serve. They need to make small holes and arrange them in the beds. Under the grapefruit “domes”, slugs attracted by the smell will certainly fill up at night.

Mulching

Some materials for mulching prevent the movement of slugs or scare them away. For example, sawdust. Sawdust stick to slippery mollusks, making life difficult for them in every way. Coniferous mulch slugs, of course, also do not favor. If it is not possible to mulch the beds of needles, you can arrange several spruce branches around the plants.

Do not like gastropods and mulching nettles. The thick layer of nettles in the aisles will not allow the slugs to get close to the culture.

However, mulching works well when it is ongoing. And the needles, and sawdust, and nettles are caked, dried, rot, go into the soil and the path to the delicious leaves is re-opened. To prevent this from happening, the mulch layer must be constantly maintained and updated.

Mixed slug planting

Like many other pests, slugs do not favor aromatic and spicy herbs, so mixed plantings of crops, flowers and herbs, among other things, do not allow slugs to frolic freely.

For example, cabbage can be planted on the same bed with thyme (savory) or rosemary. To peppers it is good to plant mustard. Along the edges of the strawberry beds you can sow parsley. Also, slugs do not like lavender and sage.

Barriers

One of the most optimal solutions to the “How to get rid of slugs” task is to keep them out of our beloved plants. For this purpose, there are all kinds of barriers.

Attention!
Copper rims, copper self-gluing or copper-coated covering material prevent the mollusks from getting closer. Contact with copper provides him with a small but sensitive electric shock.

On sale there are also plastic grooves designed to fill with water, it turns out that water is also an insurmountable obstacle for slugs. Young plants are protected with plastic rims or funnels, which can be purchased at garden stores or made from plastic bottles by cutting them on both sides.

Tar does not like tar, which means that any rag smeared with tar and spread around the plant will serve as a kind of barrier. If there is no tar, but there is copper sulphate, you can moisten the rope in it, and then spread it around the beds or flower beds.

Many scatter crushed eggshells, fragments of river shells, small gravel, shells from nuts or coarse sand around cultivated plants in the hope that the enemy will not pass. However, such barriers do not always work and not for everyone.

Folk remedies

The easiest way to deal with slugs is hot water. It can be successfully used on cabbage. In the evening, the water is heated to 40 ° C-45 ° C and the heads themselves and the soil are watered.

Hot water is not scary for cabbage, but the thin skin of slugs is extremely sensitive to high temperatures. There are against slugs and folk recipes for infusions for spraying and watering.

You can spray plants:

  • infusion of garlic (200-300 grams of garlic is chopped and poured with 10 liters of water and insisted day, stirring occasionally)
  • mustard infusion (50 grams of mustard powder is dissolved in 300 milliliters of water, insisted for an hour, then diluted 3-4 times)
  • infusion of tobacco (pour 1 kilogram of tobacco dust with 10 liters of water and insist for a day. Add a little liquid soap)
  • brilliant green solution (1 vial per 10 liters of water)

You can water the plants and the soil beneath them:

  1. infusion of dolphinium (1 kilogram of dried leaves, cut and insist for two days in 10 liters of warm water)
  2. mustard infusion (dilute 100 grams of mustard in 10 liters of water and leave for an hour)
  3. hot pepper infusion (1 kilogram of fresh or half a kilogram of dry hot pepper pods pour 10 liters of water, leave for 2-3 days, then boil and leave for 2 more days)
  4. coffee (2 teaspoons of instant coffee per glass of water)
  5. ammonia (4 tablespoons per 10 liters of water)

It is worth noting that such tools are almost useless with a large number of pests.

Pollination of soil around plants

To make it difficult or even impossible for slugs to move towards cultivated plants, the soil under protected crops is sprinkled with:

  • Coffee grounds;
  • Ashes;
  • Hot pepper;
  • Tobacco dust;
  • Chalk;
  • Slaked lime (30 grams per square meter);
  • Superphosphate (20-30 grams per square meter);
  • A mixture of lime with tobacco dust in a ratio of 1: 1 (20-25 grams per square meter);
  • A mixture of iron sulfate with sand or lime.

Beds are usually sprinkled with lime in two doses two days in a row. The first dusting causes slugs to actively secrete mucus to protect themselves from lime. The second (after 10-15 minutes) - actually kills them, because they are not able to give out more mucus.

Important!
However, lime and fertilizers should not be carried away. Otherwise, you can get rid of slugs, but overfeed the plants and even ruin the soil.

Destroying slugs with salt. Salt is a killer of slugs. If you don’t know how to destroy the manually collected gastropods, send them to saline.

Therefore, sometimes beds from the slugs are watered with salt water or sprinkled with salt over the soil around the plants, or sprinkled with salt over a compost heap, where slugs like to flock at night.

Again, a rather controversial method of combating slugs, because not all plants like chlorine that is contained in table salt. Say, beets will only be glad to water with salt water, and tomatoes are categorically against it.

Chemicals and biological products

When the number of slugs is comparable to a flock of locusts and none of the above takes them, it remains to rely on special preparations. Among them are harmless to humans and animals:

  • "Ulicide" - a bait based on iron phosphate. One treatment is enough at the rate of 3-5 grams per square meter and the slugs will disappear, and the remains of the drug will process the soil microorganisms.
  • "Agrozin" - a means to improve the structure of the soil has proven itself in the fight against slugs and snails. The drug is not cheap, but it is enough to apply it to the soil once a season (45 milliliters per hundred square meters).
    Unfortunately, these funds are not sold in Russia. They are produced in Ukraine, there are no problems with their acquisition.

Finally, the most recent instance is metaldehyde-based chemicals - Meta, Thunderstorm, Sludge Eater, etc. They are used no later than 20 days before harvest, at the rate of 4 grams of granules per square meter. Blue granules are laid out at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other.

How to deal with slugs and snails in the garden

Fresh lettuce, cabbage, fruits and vegetables are very fond of garden snails and slugs.

They prefer to hide during the day in damp places: under snags and stones, at night and after rain they get to the surface and eat the ripe crop in the garden. In addition to gnawed fruits and leaves, the damage is from the mucus left by the snails, which contributes to the decay of plants.

At the same time, slugs and snails are a kind of orderlies in the garden that eat rotted plants. It is important to simply maintain a balance and control the numbers of these mollusks in the area.

How to deal with slugs and snails? There are several ways to deal with snails and slugs:

  • mechanical
  • ecological
  • chemical

Mechanically, you can reduce the number of mollusks by simply creating baits for them and collecting them manually. Bait can be regular beer or sweet fruit syrup. You can soak burlap with these drinks and lay on the garden. Snails and slugs will climb under the burlap, you just have to get rid of the mollusks.

Advice!
Hedgerows in the form of marigolds will attract snails, leaving other plants safe. You can also create a barrier in the form of a water ditch. Water is a serious obstacle to snails.

Digging the soil helps to get rid of the laid eggs of slugs, they dry out on the surface of the soil. Because of the love of snails and slugs for moisture, it is recommended to water the plants in the early morning so that the soil has time to dry out in a day.

It is also important to remove any boards and stones from the garden under which slugs can hide.

Environmental methods for controlling slugs and snails are becoming increasingly popular. They help to maintain a balance in the ecosystem in your garden in a natural way. So you can attract to the site of hedgehogs and toads, who love to feast on snails and slugs.

Hedgehogs love dog food, which can be scattered in some places in the garden (the main thing is that all the dogs from the neighborhood do not run away). To attract toads, you can create a small artificial pond where they can settle.

Many birds also will not refuse such delicacies as slugs and snails. These include starlings, jays, blackbirds and wagtails. It is important to simply create bird feeders and houses, and then they will appear on your site more often, hunting slugs.

You can fight slugs and snails in the garden in the most severe way - chemistry. Before fighting slugs and snails in the garden in this way, it is important to remember that chemicals (such as metaldehyde) are very dangerous for humans and pets. These are granules that attract snails for lunch, after such a feast all the mollusks die.

Which method of dealing with slugs and snails to choose, of course, is up to you. But it is worth noting that environmental control methods are becoming increasingly popular and have already proven their effectiveness.

Slugs in the Garden: Ten Ways to Fight

The greatest damage to the garden is caused by slugs in wet rainy weather - this is the most pleasant climate for them, and on rainy days they prefer to breed. Since slugs are very prolific hermaphrodites, their mating alone can produce up to 500 offspring.

Attention!
In the choice of food, slugs are completely picky, and eat almost everything - vegetables and fruits, grass and ornamental plants.

The body of the slug is very soft and sensitive, therefore, to combat them, it is recommended to fence the plants with a sharp "fence" with a height of 5-6 centimeters. For these purposes, a variety of objects and materials may be suitable: a piece of tin, eggshell or nutshell, granite chips.

The most humane way to deal with slugs is to catch them. In order to catch as many slugs as possible, in the evening it is enough to place as many wet objects in the garden in a chaotic manner. Sacks, pieces of plywood and paper, wet boards, and also cabbage leaves are perfect. Already in the morning it will be possible to harvest a rich "crop."

Slugs are very reluctant to be in a clean and dry environment, so one of the most effective ways to deal with them is to regularly clean the garden. Particularly thorough cleaning should be done in the fall - to remove all foliage and plant debris, in which slugs are so fond of wintering.

Direct exposure to the sun is very harmful for slugs, so it’s worth regularly cleaning the garden of weeds, under which a shadow saving for pests is formed.

Eating slugs is very fond of toads, frogs, hedgehogs and many birds. Of course, it’s not worthwhile to arrange a mini-zoo in your garden, but you also don’t need to drive away a lost toad from the plot - if you can, it will help in the fight against slugs.

As already mentioned, slugs simply adore a humid environment, so it is logical that drying the soil by draining the area can be a great way to deal with them. By the way, two birds with one stone are killed - and the slugs will decrease, and the plants will feel better.

Gentle creatures like slugs do not like mineral fertilizers and calcium at all, so experts recommend generously fertilizing the site with these substances. The main thing is not to overdo it - cultivated plants can also suffer from too many fertilizers.

Important!
Gentle creatures like slugs do not like mineral fertilizers and calcium at all, so experts recommend generously fertilizing the site with these substances. The main thing is not to overdo it - cultivated plants can also suffer from too many fertilizers.

In addition to a humid climate and soil, slugs simply love beer. It is a sin not to use this weakness of pests against themselves. Experts advise to bury in the ground a glass half filled with a foamy drink, but so that the slugs have free access to it. The next morning, in a glass, it is guaranteed to find several dozen pests.

Some gardening experts argue that you can permanently drive slugs off the site with fragrant spices - rosemary, dried parsley, basil or cilantro. Spices just need to be scattered around the site. There are no guarantees, but you can try.

Best slug control methods: how to get rid of them forever

Every season we spend time, money and nerves to fight a variety of pests in the garden. And often we achieve a qualitative result, but only if we destroy all opponents.

The slug is perhaps one of the most disgusting pests that can be found in the garden. This is a gastropod mollusk, which, thanks to some evolution and adaptation for effective existence in these conditions, has lost its shell, but has acquired many skills that allow it to live and develop in the respective regions.

If we talk about zoning of the pest, then it can be found almost everywhere, where there is a mild climate, average or high humidity, as well as food sources.

A naked garden slug, or a slug, is a rather strange creature that manages to get into the most incredible places and carry out harmful activities there. We can notice the pest in the garden, vegetable garden, and even in the country cellar, where most often the conditions for its residence are pretty good.

The pest causes serious harm to many summer plants, but prefers young, with large and soft foliage. Apparently, it is easier to eat slugs with plants with low rigidity of greens, well, or they get the maximum of nutrients from them.

It is necessary to deal with slugs, and the solution of the problem should be addressed already as soon as you have noticed the first representative of this type of pest. Otherwise, even in one warm season, the slug will be able to occupy large areas and multiply so that it will be much more difficult to completely destroy it.

Spices as a remedy for slugs

We start with the simplest methods, which, in our opinion, are very controversial. These are ordinary kitchen spices, which some gardeners scatter around the beds or in a young garden.

Advice!
Allspice, rosemary, cilantro and even dry parsley supposedly scare away slugs and do not allow them to move freely around the territory where they would like to eat.

It is quite realistic that spices will help, perhaps, only in one season, since all pests today are perfectly adaptable even to poisons, and are definitely capable of practically not reacting to them after several generations.

But again, we say that this is only a popular method of struggle, the result of which we cannot guarantee.

Beer

It turns out that slugs react to beer in much the same way as the little bears we recently wrote about fighting. It is only necessary to arrange a trap for them, into which the slugs will crawl at night, during the period when they are most active.

Dig in any small container with fresh beer in the evening, only so that the rim of the container is flush with the soil and does not make obstacles, and the slugs themselves come to the bait, where they will find their death at the bottom of the trap.

Such methods seem a little fun to us, like ordinary summer experiments, but each of them has the right to life, because for someone they work!

Slugs cause serious harm to many cottage plants, but are preferred by young ones with large and soft foliage.

Drugs to get rid of pests

Many summer residents who don’t want to waste time setting traps or reading information on effective methods against pests in the garden and garden do simpler - they buy funds for slugs in stores.

Of course, this can be done, and it is likely that this is one of the most effective ways to influence the pest, but you need to be sure that the product works and does not harm the soil and the crops grown on the garden at the same time.

Attention!
Therefore, the drug you have chosen should be carefully studied, read about its contents, instructions for use, assess the possible damage to land and plants, and only then apply.

At the moment, there are many poisons against slugs, there are even complex ones among them, and they simultaneously work against several pests, but we would not advise buying everything in a row. We draw your attention only to drugs, which we know something about. These are Ferramol, Thunderstorm, Meta, Bros Snakol, Schneken Linsen (Etisso), Sludge Eater.

Fertilizers for cabbage

There are no direct fertilizers that are designed to fight slugs, but there are substances that the pests do not tolerate. As an example, we can give mineral fertilizers, and the same calcium, which our enemies do not like.

Often, such fertilizers are needed in the soil where cultivated plants are grown, but just pouring them on the surface of the bed is not recommended, since oversaturation of the soil with certain substances can be worse than poor soil!

You can safely use this method of combating mollusks, especially if plants need feeding during this period. But be sure to read our article on the rationing of fertilizers, and also pay attention to the agricultural technology of plants in order to do everything right.

We drive out uninvited guests with dry soil on the site and other means

Logically, slugs who prefer high humidity will be less fond of dry land. These conclusions were made by summer residents even decades ago, when they began to dry the soil in order to drive slippery guests from the territory.

Many simply sprinkle the top layer with dry soil, thereby protecting the earth after irrigation, some simply ration the irrigation better, for example, by arranging drip irrigation, which we also recommend reading about here. But there are solutions to arrange good drainage under the beds. It can be relevant and even effective, but laborious and expensive.

Frogs and hedgehogs against slugs

Few people love frogs, but here we have not heard of a man who would not be touched by hedgehogs. And so, if nobody starts to breed toads to fight slugs, then it is certainly possible to populate the site with several hedgehogs.

Important!
It is worth remembering that in this case it is not worth feeding the hedgehogs, as children often do, otherwise the fight against slugs in this way will quickly lose its effectiveness.

Such animals in the country - an active enemy of pests, and therefore do not be afraid of hedgehogs, frogs or birds, if such live in the garden. On the contrary, try to bother them minimally, so that they, feeling the natural environment, eat habitually and, accordingly, help you in the war against the enemy!

Clam traps

We have already described one such one in which beer participates a little higher. But on sale there are special traps, tested by time and many summer residents. They are a plastic cup closed on all sides, in which there are only two entrances.

The inputs are a tube, which inside the glass does not have a bottom - bottom. That is, having placed a special bait inside such a glass, and setting it on the bed, one can quite expect that the slug will crawl to the trap, climb over aromatic food, and simply fall into the glass.

So, if you set the traps evenly, you can collect several each day.

Try, maybe this is the most effective method of eliminating slippery pests in the country.

Manual collection

This method of pest control is recommended by many, but it is effective precisely against those representatives of this class of suburban living creatures, which cannot escape from you.

So you can collect the Colorado potato beetle, as well as our annoying slug, which upon detection simply cannot hide from us.

Attention!
Collecting slugs with your hands is much easier, faster and cheaper than buying special poisons for them. Moreover, you will not engage in absurd affairs, for example, to find a slug and spray it with poison, which acts only directly. Well, why then in this case, poison, if the enemy in front of you and can not escape?

Collect pests in a bucket or other container, take them out of the summer cottage, and then invent yourself the most humane way to say goodbye to uninvited guests.

Mollusk invasion prevention

We decided to tell you not only about how to destroy slugs on the site, but also about the prevention of pests, which can simply be prevented from young and immature plants.

You only need to adhere to the measures that we recommend, and you can not only fight slugs in the garden and in garden plots, but also improve our cottage with our tips.

Firstly, the cottage should be clean and well maintained. The minimum number of weeds will create good soil warming and ventilation, and will not give those places where the coolness and humidity will stagnate. But this is a favorite place for slugs - wet, average temperature, shadow, a minimum of anxiety.

The same can be said about the leaves in the garden, which should not just lie in heaps. This is where moisture gathers, and inside such an embankment is pretty cool. Fighting slugs in the country will become much easier if you are ready for it in advance.

Secondly, it is important to prevent pests from eating. In order not to collect slugs on cucumbers and beds with young cabbage, try to protect them with a “sharp” barrier.

It can be old plastic panels, dug into the ground and sticking out only 3-5 cm, thin sheet metal or tin, creating the same fence, well, or even a scattering of walnut shells, through which the slug simply will not climb.

Important!
And thirdly, we recommend that you learn how to mulch the beds, and use fine sawdust as mulch. Slugs prefer to bypass such places, as they simply cannot move for a long time.

Sawdust sticks to the sticky body in the mucus, and the pest becomes almost helpless. Fine dry sand acts well in a similar way, sprinkled with wood ash.

Some preventative methods are very simple, and you can use them against slugs without spending time and money.You must admit that it is much better and more correct than buying poisons and poisoning them not only with pests, but also with soil and cultivated plants.

Slime in the garden

Slugs can become a serious problem, because they are probably the most gluttonous pests in our gardens. They can cause quite a lot of damage, especially on beds with young plants.

Usually their presence is difficult to detect, because in the daytime they spend in shelter and feast at night, leaving behind damaged plants and traces of rapidly drying mucus. Holes gnaw out in leaves, sometimes leaving only stems.

They feed on many types of vegetables and flowers, as well as berry plants, herbs and even grass. Damage leaves, stems, fruits, flowers, roots, bulbs and tubers.

In the gardens, slugs with shells (Snails) and bare (Slugs) may appear. The latter are especially harmful, as they cause the most damage, are very insatiable and quickly spread. Snails breed much more slowly, however, and they do not disdain many delicacies in the garden.

There are many ways to deal with these pests. First of all, it is the reduction of their population and the prevention of damage caused by them in the gardens.

Agrotechnical method of struggle

Favorite habitats for slugs are shady and humid areas where they can hide. To scare them away, one should systematically thin out thickets and lawns, remove weeds on flower beds, not forgetting, of course, about the territory around the site itself.

Advice!
Plant debris should be removed immediately, they should not be allowed to rot, because it will be an ideal place for the development of slugs.

We also remove piles of branches, boards, stone and rubble, which can become a suitable refuge. If there are a lot of slugs on our site, then you need to think about removing the garden composter, it has ideal conditions for living and laying eggs.

Frequent digging, weeding and compaction of the soil is also recommended, this should be done on a warm sunny day. Thus, we destroy adult slugs, throw eggs and young individuals to the surface of the earth, they quickly dry out in the sun.

Barriers

One way to protect a site or a lonely plant from slugs is to place barriers around which they cannot cross.

These can be strips 20 cm wide, sprinkled from sawdust, bark, husks of cereals or pine needles. We can also use coarse sand, gravel, dolomite and brick chips, ashes. This method is effective while the barrier remains dry.

An old and proven method is to sprinkle, in the evening, the paths and the earth around the plants, quicklime or superphosphate. These substances cause dehydration of the slugs and their death.

Use this method carefully so as to prevent the ingress of lime on plants. We can surround the beds and flower beds with copper scraps. This metal repels pests.

Plant selection

It is worth paying attention to the plants that we plant in our garden. If possible, avoid snail delicacies. Especially willingly they eat cabbage, beets, carrots and salad. From berry plants, raspberries, strawberries and strawberries are readily chosen.

Among the favorites can also be attributed many ornamental plants: calendula, Chinese aster, dahlias, lilies, nasturtiums and zinnias, as well as slugs, can bite tulip bulbs. Some plants can help us scare away pests.

Attention!
These include the soap dish, thyme and marjoram. Wormwood, chamomile, savory, mustard, onion, garlic, sage, thyme, millennium, cuff and coreopsis should be added to the flower beds.

These plants repel hunting, in slugs, feast on beds and flower beds. Increasingly, in garden centers, you can buy plants that are less attractive to slugs, these are varieties of red cabbage, marigolds and hosts (function).

Traps

The easiest way to get rid of these snails (slugs) is to manually collect and transfer to places far enough away from our garden or simply destroy it.

However, for owners of large gardens, this can be a rather time-consuming task. In such cases, it is worth using traps for pests. For this purpose, we can take advantage of their natural tendency to shelter in moist and shady places and a huge appetite.

The easiest way to put on pre-moistened ground, boards, tiles, stacked upside down stands for flower pots, or just large leaves of burdock or cabbage. Additionally, we can use the bait of cabbage, carrots, potatoes, beets or lettuce.

Slugs with great pleasure will gather in such places. We spread the bait in the evenings, and in the morning we can review all the traps, collect a large number of pests and remove them from our garden.

You can also dig a rather deep container into the ground, and pour in beer, which slugs love very much. There should be enough fluid to make the slugs drown in it.

Natural enemies

In the fight against slugs, their natural enemies can help us. It can be not only birds and small rodents, such as hedgehogs, shrews, moles, but also reptiles and amphibians. Predatory insects, especially beetles, are also dangerous for slugs.

It should not only protect these beneficial animals, but also provide good conditions for their life in the garden. It is necessary to take care of nesting boxes by providing shelter in a dense shrub or hedge. Stinging nettles in the corner of the garden can attract beneficial insects.

Important!
A preparation containing the parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodit (trademark Nemaslug) is available for sale, is a means of biocontrol over slugs. It occurs in the form of a spray or powder, which we mix with the ground.

It is important that over the next week, the soil is constantly wet, because the parasites are sensitive to drought. Attacked pests die quickly, and nematodes multiply rapidly. This drug is safe for people, it is used to destroy various types of gastropods.

Natural remedies

A good effect is given by spraying the affected plants with a liquid solution of wormwood or fern. It is prepared from freshly picked plants, which we fill with water and mix every three days. The mixture will be ready in a month, after everything is thoroughly fermented.

We can also make a decoction of pepper. It will take 1 kg of fresh pepper, and 10 liters of water, cook everything for an hour. Set aside for two days, then carefully rub and filter. We spray plants with the finished preparation.

Chemicals

Chemicals should be a last resort, since most of them are toxic. During their use, extreme caution should be exercised and always dosed according to the recommendations on the label. However, if the population of slugs is large, we can use ready-made drugs such as Glanzit, BROS Metaldehyde (SNACOL), Mesurol.

It is better to apply them in the evening before the pests leave their shelters. Scatter around the plants, but be careful not to get chemicals on the plant itself. Most drugs are not resistant to precipitation, therefore, after rain it is necessary to repeat the procedure.

There is no single effective method for controlling slugs. It is better to apply several methods at once. Using them, you can reduce the population and keep it at a low level. Slugs can multiply excessively, but in the end, they will not pose a great threat to plants in our garden.

How to deal with slugs

In appearance, the slug looks like a snail without a shell. He moves by contracting muscles and leaves a wet mark. On the head of the slug are 2 tentacles on which the eyes and tactile organs are located. In the mouth of the slug is a lot of small teeth, with which he devours your crop.

Advice!
Slugs are very prolific parasites. In just one season, a female slug can lay up to 400 eggs, laying them in groups of 20-30 in compost pits, cracks in the ground and just under lumps of soil. Slug eggs begin to lay in late summer - early fall.

And already at the end of May, young slugs begin to appear from the eggs in the garden. Therefore, do not delay with sowing seeds, so that the plants have time to germinate before the mass appearance of pests.

The most comfortable conditions for the growth and mass reproduction of slugs are rainy weather. In dry and hot weather, they hide in cool darkened places - under heaps of weeds, stones, large clods of earth. They feed mainly at night or in the daytime in damp cloudy weather.

Prevention It is easier to prevent the appearance of slugs in the garden than to bring them out later. The main preventive measure is the timely destruction of weeds, mowing grass on the boundaries. Shredded weeds and grass should not be left between rows, as it will serve as a shelter from the heat for slugs.

Too thick plantings need to be thinned out. The soil between the rows should be loosened, not have large lumps of earth. Since the slugs cannot stand the smell of parsley, rows of this plant can be planted along the perimeter of the beds.

Manual collection. This method of destroying slugs is the most effective, although it requires some effort and time. You need to collect the mollusks at night with a flashlight or during the day in wet weather, i.e. when they go out for feeding.

You can arrange bait for slugs: put wet grass, rags or pieces of cardboard on a moist area of ​​the soil. Such traps are installed at different ends of the plot at a distance of 3-5 meters.

The next day, the slugs hidden in the cool need to be crushed or collected in a container with a solution of vitriol, washing powder or in water with kerasin. As a trap, you can use a container of beer.

Attention!
It is noticed that slugs, like a bear, adore dark beer. Jars and cut-off plastic beer bottles should be placed in the habitats of the parasites and covered with something, leaving an “entrance”. The maximum effect can be achieved if the procedure is repeated daily for 5-7 days.

Chemical processing. You can fight with slugs using metal hydride. Dry granules act on slugs like intestinal poison. The product must be laid out in the beds no later than 20 days before the planned harvest.

In the evening in dry weather, you can sprinkle the earth with lime or a mixture of lime and tobacco dust. This should be done twice with a break of 10-15 minutes at the rate of 20-25 grams / sq.m.

Folk methods. In order not to destroy plants with chemicals, it is better to arm yourself with natural means:

  • Insist 1 kilogram of tobacco waste per bucket of water for a day, add soap, strain and spray the garden;
  • 100 grams of mustard diluted in a bucket of water;
  • Insist 1 kg of hot pepper in 10 liters of water for 2-3 days, boil, and again let stand.

All of the listed measures to combat slugs in the complex will certainly help you get rid of these parasites and save the crop.

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1 Comment

  1. Hello, I encountered slugs in my greenhouse, but I didn’t touch cucumbers on them, but there were a lot of them on tomatoes. In the first year of installing the greenhouse there were no problems, but in the second year it took my mind to cover the ground with black covering material from weed so that there is less weed. Here then there was a problem with slugs. The material lay for 2 years, but the problems with weeds disappeared, but I didn’t fight slugs. I removed the material in the fall, in the summer I will see if the problem persists using all possible methods, thanks for the article, interesting. The only, many repetitions in one article already written material.

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