Mix This Household Ingredient With Water and Slugs Will Disappear Overnight
Slugs and snails are some of the biggest pests in gardens, capable of destroying crops overnight. Fortunately, there are simple and effective ways to get rid of them and protect your plants.
Snails and slugs can be a scourge, feasting on your the plants and fruits that you have spent your time cultivating. Fortunately discouraging these gastropods (the technical class for snails and slugs) isn't too difficult and this homemade solution can work wonders to keep your plants safe.
Gardening experts recommend these methods to quickly and efficiently remove slugs and snails from your plants using the following household ingredients: table salt and water.
Whilst slugs and snails are valuable contributors to a garden's biodiversity, importantly they serve as decomposers, and food for wildlife. However, their appetite for plants can lead to significant crop damage, giving them the reputation of a garden pest. Despite their benefits to the environment, gardeners often try and control their population size to limit their negative impact to crops.
Slugs and snails have a strong dislike to salt. It serves to disrupt their internal balance of water and electrolytes. When they come into contact with salt, it will rapidly dehydrate them, and ultimate kill them. Slugs and snails actively avoid areas with salt to prevent this. That is why a simple salt spray is one of the simplest deterrents.
This is how to make a basic salt spray that will get rid of slugs and snails. You will need:
- 30 g of table salt
- 500 ml of warm water
- A spray bottle
Preparing the salt spray:
- Pour the salt into the bottle and fill it with warm water.
- Shake the bottle thoroughly until the salt dissolves.
Using the salt spray:
- Apply the spray to areas where you frequently see slugs and snails.
- You will see results the next day.
It is recommended that you apply the salt spray in the morning to prevent the sun from hitting the sprayed plants and leaves, damaging them.
If you want to create a trap that will attract slugs and snails away from your plants, then beer is a simple method. Just dig a few small hills in your garden and place plastic containers in them. Burry them so they are only slightly protruding from the ground. Now pour a small amount of beer into the containers. Slugs should be drawn to the smell of beer and fall into the containers.
You can also create a natural barrier to slugs and snails with wood ash. All you need to is sprinkle some on the ground around the plants. The ash creates a natural barrier and neutralizes the soil's pH. Alternatively eggshells work well as a barrier because of their sharp edges.