This ultimate guide on how to control snails and slugs will help you to control snails & slugs in your farm & garden. Learn easy, step by step to guide to save your plants from them.
Snails are cute little creature that often fascinates kids but they can damage seedlings and small plants very badly. Previous year my plants also suffered because of them. They destroyed 5 to 6 young bottle gourd seedlings.
But later on I got successful in controlling them by trying out simple yet effective control methods. And in this article I will be discussing those effective methods that you can also try to control snails & slugs.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Snails as well as slugs are from Mollusca phylum and can cause heavy damage to the plants. They prefer to feed on succulent foliage, flowers, seedlings or herbaceous plants. Whenever you notice irregular holes with smooth edges then it can be because of snails or slugs.
They can destroy young seedlings completely. Moreover these pests can also feed on ripening fruits that touches ground soil. That’s why it is very important to control snails and slugs in the garden or farm.
But you can also get confused in the damage symptoms. This is because damage symptoms of caterpillars, earwigs, or other chewing pests are nearly similar. That’s why to confirm you can either look for their direct presence or you can find mucous trails.
Mucous trails indicate that damage causing pests can be snails or slugs. Generally you can find these pests during rainy season.
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How To Control Snails & Slugs?
To save your plants from snails and slugs you can try these effective methods one by one.
Physical and Cultural Methods
You can pick the snails with the help of tools or gloved hands and throw them away. Or you can also dip them in hot water or salt solution.
If snails or slugs are in pot soil then you can repot the plant in new potting mix. And sun dry the affected soil for 7 days to control this pest. Sun drying kills snails and slugs.
Growing plants like garlic, lavender, sage, or rosemary that repels slugs and snails also helps in keeping these harmful pests away from the main plant. Moreover using traps is found to be effective in controlling them up to a good level.
You can use sugar-water, or yeast mixture traps to attract slugs and snails to fall in the trap. For this you can take a glass jar and fill 3/4th of the jar with a packet of yeast, 2 cups of warm water and one teaspoon of salt and sugar.
Mix them well and dig a hole near susceptible plants and place the jar in the hole. Make sure that the jar opening should be at the ground level. Snails and slugs will get attracted and fall in this trap.
Every morning keep removing them and refilling the jar with new mixture.
Organic Methods
You can use coffee grounds, egg shells, wood ash, or diatomaceous earth to control snails and slugs. However using diluted salt spray also helps but excessive use can increase salinity of the soil. This can result in poor plant health.
You can sprinkle or apply coffee grounds, or egg shells, or diatomaceous earth around the base of the plant. Try any one of them and it will help to repel snails and slugs away from the plants.
Inorganic Methods
If you are farmer then this method can work at its best for you. You can broadcast the snail kill i.e. the poison bait (Metaldehyde) @ 25 to 35 Kilograms per hectare.
Author’s Note
I guess now you will be able to save your plants from snails and slugs. If you have any queries, ideas, or suggestions then comment below. You can also connect with Agriculture Review on Facebook, Instagram, and Koo.
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