I had a great question last week and thought I would revisit the answer for anybody that missed it.
Slugs and Snails are a pain on your vegetable garden particularly when your plants are at the seedling stage, they can devour a small lettuce plant in no time flat. They are extra cunning at hiding as well making it difficult to get rid of them.
Normal baits are quite toxic and can be fatal for pets particularly dogs.
A great natural alternative is beer, simply bury a container with the top level with your soil and half fill the vessel with beer, the Slugs and Snails are attracted by the scent of the yeast in the beer and fall into the liquid basically drowning in it. Change the beer regularly, two or three times a week initially to keep the lure fresh and to discard the pests. If there is no beer in the house then Molasses works well, make up a Brew of about two teaspoons per litre of water and use as per the beer. The sweet scent again attracts the pests to a watery grave.
If you have a Dog with a taste for a good Lager though this may mean replenishing the container a little more regularly than you would like! Cut one side out of an Ice Cream container or similar and place this on top of your beer container with a weight on it to hold it in place. The Snails can still get into the brew via the hole in the Ice Cream container but all but your most persistent mutts won't be able to.
Once you have got rid of them out of your Garden or if you are starting a new Garden lay a trail of sand around the border, it needs to be about 100 mm wide and 5 to 10 mm deep, enough to cover the soil anyway. The Slugs and Snails don't like the sharp silica in the sand and won't venture over it. Keep an eye on the sand though, obviously if the layer is broken up at any stage it may let them back in.
Hope this has helped.
Be Happy
Barry Gregory
Slugs and Snails are a pain on your vegetable garden particularly when your plants are at the seedling stage, they can devour a small lettuce plant in no time flat. They are extra cunning at hiding as well making it difficult to get rid of them.
Normal baits are quite toxic and can be fatal for pets particularly dogs.
A great natural alternative is beer, simply bury a container with the top level with your soil and half fill the vessel with beer, the Slugs and Snails are attracted by the scent of the yeast in the beer and fall into the liquid basically drowning in it. Change the beer regularly, two or three times a week initially to keep the lure fresh and to discard the pests. If there is no beer in the house then Molasses works well, make up a Brew of about two teaspoons per litre of water and use as per the beer. The sweet scent again attracts the pests to a watery grave.
If you have a Dog with a taste for a good Lager though this may mean replenishing the container a little more regularly than you would like! Cut one side out of an Ice Cream container or similar and place this on top of your beer container with a weight on it to hold it in place. The Snails can still get into the brew via the hole in the Ice Cream container but all but your most persistent mutts won't be able to.
Once you have got rid of them out of your Garden or if you are starting a new Garden lay a trail of sand around the border, it needs to be about 100 mm wide and 5 to 10 mm deep, enough to cover the soil anyway. The Slugs and Snails don't like the sharp silica in the sand and won't venture over it. Keep an eye on the sand though, obviously if the layer is broken up at any stage it may let them back in.
Hope this has helped.
Be Happy
Barry Gregory
