How do you Get Rid of Slugs and Snails in the garden please?

Question

Thanks

Answer 1

ORTHO makes a product "slug and snail bait" you just sprinkle it in the area you want to get rid of them. Beer in saucers works too, but I find it both messy and time consuming cleaning up the drowned, wet mess.

Answer 2

An alternative to yukky slug pellets (which also poison anything unfortunate enough to eat it before it's dead) is this:

Dig a small hole just big enough to put a small plastic tumbler in. Pour in a little beer/ale/lager - and leave. Slugs can't resist the smell, slide in and then they're a gonner!! Just empty the cup whenever it's needed and repeat the process. Dot the cups around the areas you see the slugs most.

Answer 3

Grape fruit shells (fresh). After eating the fruit place the empty shells upright in the garden before dark.  Snails and slugs love it. And cling to them. In the morning throw the whole lot in the wheelie bin.  Also if using beer traps it works better if you bury the container in the ground so that the top of the container is level with the soil.

Answer 4

beer,,,place a few shallow containers  around  the garden,,where  you see snail  trails,,,they are  slimey,,kinda  gray  looking,,,snail and slugs  love beer,,,they go in to get a drink,,and drown their self,,,  if it rains  in the beer  ,,you need to replace the beer,,,,also  you can get snail and slug  bait  at gardening centers,,,,

Answer 5

Wow, there are so many ways and methods ....... here are some of them ....... = )

1) Remove slugs and snails by hand. During the day, check your agapanthus, lilies and ice plants, all favorite hangouts for snails. By night, use a flashlight and follow their shiny trails to find them.

2) Squish or drown them in a jar of soapy water.

3) Spread natural or agricultural-grade diatomaceous earth over the soil in flower beds or around individual plants. The tiny, sharp-edged granules cut the soft-bodied slugs and cause them to dehydrate. Reapply after each rainfall.

4) Install barriers of 2-inch or wider copper stripping around plants and flower beds. Do this only after you have removed all slugs and snails from inside the area, because the slimy pests won't cross copper and will be trapped inside to munch away.

5) Position ceramic flowerpots upside-down to trap snails and slugs that will accumulate there to rest in the shade. Overturn them and remove the snails daily until the infestation is exhausted.

6) Set yeast traps in troublesome beds. Sink a shallow jar or store-bought trap so the top is flush with the ground. Fill the traps with beer - regular or nonalcoholic - to 1/2 inch from the top and wait for the snails and slugs to fall in and drown. Check the traps every few days.

7) For those of you who can't imagine wasting beer on snails, try this home brew: Add 1/2 tsp. baking yeast and 1 tbsp. sugar to the water in each trap.

8) Minimize the moist and cool spots in your garden, such as woodpiles and empty flowerpots, which slugs and snails need to survive sunny days.

9) Spread cayenne pepper or garlic oil around your flower beds and near your pots since both of these seasonings ward off slugs and snails.

10) Finally, you can go to your local garden store and pick up products like Ortho Slug and Snail bait which will help you take care of your problem ....... good luck ....... = )

Answer 6

You can deter slugs and snails from areas, as well as kill them, or a combination of the two.

For deterrence,  broken egg shells, with sharp edges, works, as they don't want to slide over such surfaces.  Otherwise there are specific products that do the same, such as one product that comes in granules that they won't move over.  http://www.webbsdirect.co.uk/product.asp... diatomaceous earth works in the same way, and they won't move over it.  

Copper tape / barriers also work,  as they get an electrical charge when their moist bodies touch it.  This comes in adhesive forms, for putting around tubs etc, or just solid layers, that can be bent to shape around plants or an area.  Here's an example of the tape: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/6-Roll-Slug-Snail-...

Here's an example of the rigid copper barriers - http://www.slugrings.co.uk/index.html?gc...

There are chemical poisons too, though I prefer to use a product that is natural, and not harmful to wildlife.  There is a product made by a co. called Growing Success,  see here:  http://www.theonlinegardener.com/product...  Products like this harm nothing other than slugs and snails, unlike the harmful older slug and snail pellets which are not animal/wildlife friendly.

Collecting and removing slugs and snails is possible too, but ensure that you take them as far away as possible, as they will return if close enough.  Take them to a wild area, where they can be part of the natural habitat, and this prevents them being destroyed, which is my final choice.

Nematodes are a natural predator of slugs,  and these can be added to your garden.  They typically come as a powder that is diluted in a watering can and watered into your garden.  These microscopic bugs then seek out slugs, and the slug dies of natural causes.  See such a product here:  http://www.gardening-naturally.com/acata...

You can trap slugs and snails with beer, which attracts them, and they drink it, often falling into the container and can be removed later.

Hope this helps.  Good luck!  Rob

Answer 7

Here's some easy environmentally friendly pesticides/deterrents to get rid of snails & slugs.

You can use more than one of these methods at the same time, such as a slug/snail repelling mulch, plus coffee/ coffee grounds.  I find the coffee grounds, pine needles, oak leaves & crushed eggshells convenient & effective to use because they're always available where I live & they help me recycle what I already have.

1.Strong coffee! A study in the journal Nature found that slugs and snails are killed when sprayed with a caffeine solution. (1) Another study found that "After 96 hours, all of the snails treated with a 0.5% or 2% caffeine solution were dead." (2) Use coffee grounds & your leftover coffee around the base of plants, on mulch & pathways.

2.Chile Pepper. "Capsaicin, the natural  'heat' of the chile pepper, makes snails unwilling to cross materials containing the naturally repelling properties of chile pepper." (3)

3. Galic spray is great for getting rid of slugs, snails, cutworms, wireworms, & whiteflies. Blend well 1garlic bulb & 1 onion add 1Tbsp cayenne pepper & 1 quart water. Steep ingredients for 1 hr, then strain & add 1 Tbsp dish soap and your non-toxic spray is ready to use. (4)(6)

4.Repellent mulches: Wormwood, prostrate rosemary, basil, rue, acacia bark, and oak leaves are disliked by snails and make good repellent mulches. Wormwood is also effective as a spray. (7) (8) (9) Fennel repels slugs & snails. (10)

5. Barriers: Dry, dusty or sharp material can be a barrier to snails, such as hydrated lime, wood ash, sharp sand, crushed egg shells, or diatamaceous earth. A band 20cms wide and 1 cm high is required. The effectiveness of barriers is reduced when wet so locate them away from watering points. Snail fences may also be made from galvanised metal, window screen wire and similar materials. 30 mesh copper screens can prevent climbing, or use steel wool. (5)

6.Traps: Place board on ground & scrape off slugs & snails when they gather on the underside, &/or place shallow containers sunk into the ground and filled with beer or other fermenting substances such as sour milk, or even "a mixture of water and bakers yeast." (5) Combining both methods by covering part of the container with a board should prevent pets & other creatures from drinking it .

Hope this helps & you like reading the research articles as much as I did.

P.S. Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthium) has been used for centuries as a spray to repel slugs and snails, but be careful where you spray it or where you plant it:  "Wormwood leaves contain absinthin... a substance which can be toxic to other plants....Don't plant wormwoods near anise, beans, caraway, fennel, peas and sage & don't use wormwood tea on edible plants" (11)

Answer 8

any slug bait that contains IRON PHOSPHATE will kill them off almost totally.... it's safe around kids and pets and wildlife, it turns to fertilizer if not eaten by a slug... the slugs stop eating and die..... just be sure the ingredient list has IRON PHOSPHATE as the 'killer ingredient'... other baits are not so 'earth friendly', but toxic.....I have a lot of shade plants and hostas and this product saves my garden yearly!!....

Answer 9

get some pie tin stick them in the ground fill them with beer they will crawl in and drowned,spread crushed egg shells around your plants or diatomacious earth works well

Answer 10

put a new bar of soap out like near pots and stuff you can even cut the bar of soap into like 4 blocks so your not using to much soap