Snails do eat vegetables but they are rarely a problem in the kitchen
garden.
More information about the garden snail can be found on Farming Friends
If the number of snails does build up, it is quite easy to control them
down to an acceptable level. There are many natural methods which should
be used together:
Natural methods of snail control:
* Reduce the preferred habitat of snails, which like moist, shady
areas for resting and laying eggs. So keep the garden tidy!
* Add lime to the vegetable plot to prevent acidity
* Plant herbs between rows of susceptible vegetables as snails
dislike spiky or aromatic plants.
* Thin out plants to allow air to circulate around the remainder &
so reduce moist conditions within beds which are favourable to
snails. Weed regularly to keep the vegetation down to essentials!
* Add a thick layer of mulch unattractive to snails such as
materials with rough and jagged edges, like broken eggshells or
loose chippings.
* Create a barrier of vegetation favoured by snails, such as wilted
comfrey leaves, which can be placed around vulnerable vegetation
as a decoy.
* Hand pick snails from the plants in the garden. A good job for
children!
* Collect snails in traps such as under upturned flower pots, wooden
boards, upturned empty grapefruit halves and beer. Beer traps are
ideally made from plastic pots with tight fitting lids, they
should have slots cut into the sides near the rim and buried to
the level of the opening. Lids prevent evaporation, beneficial
organisms falling into the pot and also larger animals (e.g. the
family dog) from drinking the beer. If dead animals are left in
the traps they are more attractive to newcomers. Once collected
the most humane way of destroying snails is by crushing but they
can also be dropped into salty water.
* Deter snails with a barrier of wood ash, coal soot,or dry sawdust.
* Use biological control by encouraging animals that feed on snails
into the garden. These include thrushes, hedgehogs, ducks,
chickens, guinea fowl, frogs and toads.
Chemical methods of snail control:
* Various molluscicides are sold, but they should all be used with
extreme caution. Most are poisonous to cats and dogs & lead to a
horrid death. The pets do not often have a problem when these
products are applied to the garden, the danger comes when they eat
the whole packet before it is used. This often happens when they
are shut in a shed where a packet is stored. Try a combination of
natural methods before resorting to the chemicals.
There are a variety of ways to control snails in the vegetable garden.
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