Safely Kill Slugs and Snails with Commercial and Organic Products ...

With gardening season in full swing, gardeners are once again dealing with a new onslaught of dreaded slugs and snails. It?s a battle every gardener faces, so let?s look at some products and natural ways to rid your garden of these pests.

Your first task is to actually identify and ensure that what you are dealing with is indeed an infestation of slugs and snails. Snails of course are fairly easy to identify as they have shells that are coiled, and are usually not over 1 ? inches long. Slugs on the other hand have no shell and can measure up to one inch long. They normally look a greyish color or darker, and sometimes they look to have a pattern, but they are also known to be green and black. You?ll find a trail of mucus behind them and if you?ve got eggs as well, they?ll look clear, almost round and be encased in what looks like a jelly substance.

Believe it or not, some people handpick these little creatures with the hope that they?ve not yet laid any eggs. If you manage to rid your garden of these adult creatures and there are eggs laid, the babies will do much less damage than the adults. So if you?re up to the task, imagine yourself out in the garden at night with a pair of chopsticks and a flashlight. Once caught just drop them in a soapy container for disposal later.

Trapping snails and slugs is another option, albeit much more complicated than other options. Every evening put down a sheet of particle board and lay cabbage leaves and rinds from oranges or grapefruit. Most snails and slugs will use these to shade themselves from light and heat from the sun. Check every morning and simply put the ones you catch in your trash. Do this daily and you?ll soon have a pest free garden.

Pet food can also help you in deterring these pests. Using a pie pan made from tinfoil, cut out an opening on the rim and place upside down on the ground. Place the pet food on the ground, put the pie plate over it and use something to weigh it down. The next morning you?ll scoop up the little critters, put them in a container and then into the trash. Of course, you?ll have to make sure that skunks and raccoons are not feeding on the food. If you have this problem, resort to other methods.

Last, but not least, snails and slugs hate anything that is scratchy. From sandpaper to wood ashes and eggs shells, these can provide a great barrier from the snails and slugs getting into your garden. Some people use diatomaceous earth, but if you live in a rainy area it?s not cost effective. Sandpaper is excellent as a scratchy material and can be used in a decorative way to accent plants in your garden. Some people use sandpaper from an orbital sander and by cutting a large hole in the center, they actually wrap it around the bottom of plants.

Organic bait is a great way to rid your garden of pests, without hurting your domestic dogs and cats. Containing iron phosphate, a natural compound normally found in soil, it can kill snails and slugs in approximately six days. If they don?t eat the pellets, they simply blend into the ground and act as a fertilizer.

There are a wealth of other solutions, including commercial products and you?re local garden club will be able to provide you with information on what works well in your area.

Source: http://georgeslavov.com/garden/safely-kill-slugs-and-snails-with-commercial-and-organic-products/

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