Detering Snails in Organic Gardens
How to Safely and Humanely Rid Your Garden of Snails and Slugs
Jun 24, 2008
For those of you who like to keep an organic garden without snails, but prefer the little creatures to come to a less grisly end as the Death Methods, the Preventative Methods of pest control are a much more gentle approach to the age old question of how to deter snails and slugs from your gardens. And if you follow the 'Make Love, Not War' slogan, these are the better methods for you.
Organic Blockades
If you have an abundance of sawdust, sharp sand or egg shells, then this method can be quite effective. Basically, you need to sprinkle a thick layer of your abrasive substance around your garden beds. Egg shells will need to be ground up so they are still sharp enough to deter, but not so big that the snail can use them like stepping stones across. Some people claim the snails do not like abrasive substances because they are irritating to their mucilage, while others claim these organic blockades for snail and slug control work because they dehydrate the snail. Either way, it works!
Milk Bottles
You can use old plastic milk bottles as barriers for snail and slug control. All you need to do is use a pair of scissors to cut off the top and bottom of the container. This creates a hollow, square tube that can be placed around each plant. The theory is that snails are lazy and if they can not see what is inside, they won’t make the effort to find out. The sharp top is an extra deterrent if the snail does climb up for a look.
Electric Fences
Yes, you heard it right. Electric fences for snails. Copper strips or wire is used. This creates a very slight electric current when it comes in contact with the mucus of the snail or slug. In effect this creates a snail electric fence. The strips or wire is placed in a continual strip around your garden beds. It can be expensive to set up, but once in place, there is no continual cost.
Dark Places
Snails love to hide. Surrounding your garden bed with a barrier that have places to hide during the day lulls the pest into a false sense of security. Hollow pipes are an excellent choice. They eat your plant the first night then hide in the pipe. The next day you collect up all the snails sleeping in their hiding spots and dispose of them.
Curved Barriers
Most people prefer to use metal strips for this method. You place a metal strip around your garden bed, but curl the top over. This works three ways. Snails can not see over it, they use the lip at the top to hide in and they will not slide over the sharp edge of the metal. Just be careful when checking under the curve with bare hands - not just snails like to hide away there. Also be aware that the sharp or jagged metal can cause you injury while gardening.
So armed with all this knowledge. It can be quite easy to deter snails in a way that is safe for the environment as well as being safe for the snails and slugs.
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