How to remove snails from your garden using natural methods

by Rachel Maniquis on June 29, 2015 { 0 comments } Gardening

Although they play an important role in our ecosystem, snails can be devastating for crops and gardens. For this reason, it is important to know how to remove them using safe natural methods.

Those who are passionate about gardening know just how potentially dangerous snails and slugs are for the health of their plants. This is particularly true during the spring, when fresh delicate sprouts begin to grow and attract many types of pests. If you are searching for ways to protect your plants from snails without using contaminating chemicals, try these simple methods.

Placing containers filled with bran in your garden can work as snail traps

How to remove snails from your garden using bran and beer:

The presence of snails in your garden is easy to confirm because they usually do their damage during the evening, invading gardens especially when temperatures and humidity are low. To eliminate snails, you have to familiarize yourself with their habits and “tastes.” Snails love not only sprouts and leaves, but also bran and beer. If hunting them down at night is not an option, you can insert several containers, such as plastic bottles, in the soil with a handful of bran inside them.

The next morning, after successfully trapping some snails, you can take them out of your garden without harming them. You can obtain the same result by substituting bran with dried dog or cat food. However, it is important to remember that the bottles must be taken away promptly or else the snails could utilize them for creating nests for reproducing.

Another DIY method of removing snails from your garden involves the use of beer. Snails are very attracted to the odor of beer and placing several bottles or other containers filled with beer could be a useful way of trapping them. However, using this method will cause the snails to drown, so we would suggest this method only in times of severe infestation.

How to remove snails from your garden using repelling substances:

Other than knowing what snails are attracted to, it’s also useful to know what repels them, and to use certain substances to drive them away from your garden. Snails do not like sand, salt, sawdust, and ashes

You can recycle coffee grounds for this purpose too. These substances tend to dehydrate their bodies, which are made up of 90% water.

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Therefore, it’s useful to create barriers made up of theses substances around your garden. The barriers need to be replaced every time it rains, but they are an effective way of keeping snails away without using chemicals. Snails also hate copper, and you can place copper wire around your plants and gardens to protect them from invasions.

Cute, isn’t it? However, snails can be really devastating for crops and gardens…

How to remove snails from your garden using herbs:

There are also several herbs and plants that snails absolutely detest, such as sage, garlic, nettle, and chili pepper. Preparing a mixture with a base of one of these components, and moistening the soil with it, will keep snails away at night. This method also works for ants and aphids.

If you decide to use crushed chili pepper, the best way is to place 2 chill peppers in 1 liter of water, blend them together, and leave them to sit for 12 hours before filtering. This mixture should be poured in surrounding soil, and never directly onto the plants.

We hope these all-natural methods will help you to keep your gardens healthy and snail-free!