Among the pests of agricultural crops there are quite interesting representatives of wildlife. These are slugs; their appearance in the garden poses the question of how to deal with them? And to find correct solution For this very difficult task, you need to know the biology of the pest. This is where we will begin our acquaintance with these representatives of the animal world.
Slugs, which are especially important to combat in rainy years, belong to the family of gastropods. In the process of evolution, they adapted to life on land and for some reason lost their shell. But this did not prevent them from acquiring many new skills, which allows them to thrive in regions with a mild climate and high humidity.
This strange, slippery and unpleasant creature can be found in summer cottages and agricultural lands. They, despite their apparent clumsiness, are able to get into the cellar and even into the house. And they prefer to live where it is always dark, cool and damp.
Appearance and reproduction
In our gardens, we most often encounter representatives of the naked slug species - this is a rather serious opponent, the fight against which in the garden promises great difficulties.
The appearance of this mollusk is unattractive, like most of its species. Its body is a slippery, earth-colored mass. Moreover, the belly is lighter, and the back is darker and with a scattering of black dots.
They feel best at night and in the evenings when the humidity rises.
How can slugs reproduce on summer cottage. After mating, the female makes several clutches of eggs, 20-30 eggs each. In total, she is capable of bringing up to 500 eggs. The clutches are usually found in soil or moss in shady and damp places. After 3 weeks, young slugs hatch from the eggs and when they appear in the garden, you again have to look for ways to fight them.
After all, the development of this pest proceeds very quickly and after 1.5 months the young animals become sexually mature and begin to mate. Under favorable conditions for this species, the number of individuals can increase significantly over the summer.
Clutch of slugs
Eggs laid in autumn calmly survive winters in mid-latitudes and in the spring they hatch into new eggs. This is how slugs reproduce.
As for adult individuals, not all of them will be able to survive to warm days. But those who wake up greedily pounce on young plant shoots, causing them enormous damage.
They carry various plant diseases. Their body is always wet, rot, bacteria, and infections attach to the tissues.
Mollusks crawl out to feed at night. They are most active between 9 pm and 2 am. They prefer to spend a hot day in damp and dark places, under heaps of garbage, fallen leaves, and plant tops.
Signs of the presence of this pest in the garden
You can find out whether pests have settled in your garden and how to get rid of slugs in your garden, you just need to carefully examine the damage on the leaves.
These pests leave characteristic marks on plants:
- Large irregular round shape holes in the middle of the sheet;
- Similar holes on fruits;
- Mucus and excrement.
These are the main signs that there is a mollusk in your garden. In addition, you can see characteristic paths of mucus on stones and paths, and in the evening the pests themselves travel through the beds without hiding.
Threat to crops
The harm caused by these representatives of the animal world is enormous. Indeed, in addition to the fact that they spoil the presentation of the fruit, there is another threat. These mollusks are carriers of various plant diseases. By eating greens infected with fungi and passing them through the intestines, they spread pathogenic spores throughout their habitat. Thus causing an outbreak of one or another plant disease.
Therefore, at the first signs of the appearance of slugs in the garden, you need to urgently look for ways to deal with them. Otherwise, you may lose not only the harvest, but also many plants.
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Slugs: methods of dealing with them
Vegetable growers have come up with quite a few ways to get rid of this voracious mollusk on garden plot. They involve the use of a variety of means:
- Natural enemies;
- Baits and traps;
- Physical barriers;
- Mixed plantings and mulching.
There are many so-called folk ways getting rid of the pest. Let's look at the most effective of them.
Natural enemies
The absence of a shell makes these mollusks a tasty morsel for many animals and birds. Hedgehogs love to collect pests. By placing rotted wood in the shady corners of the garden, you will help them quickly collect all the pests. Once a family of hedgehogs settles in the garden, you can destroy the slugs in a few days. And besides, these small, prickly orderlies will rid your plants of pests for a long time.
If toads and frogs live on your site, and sometimes hedgehogs from the nearest forest come to visit, you are very lucky.
Other inhabitants of suburban areas will not refuse such a treat:
- Lizards
- Medyanitsy.
All of them will be happy to help you deal with slippery and unpleasant misfortune. To a lesser extent, but still do not refuse the delicacy and poultry. And many insects are the worst enemies of slugs, including centipedes and spiders. But so that they can protect your soda, try to create for them favorable conditions for habitation.
The advantages of this method are:
- Absolute safety for humans
- High efficiency
- Easy to use.
By diluting the purchased product with water, you can awaken microorganisms to action, and by watering the garden beds with this solution you will be able to get rid of the pest for 1.5 months. The only drawback is short term shelf life of the drug, not exceeding 4 weeks from the date of release.
Popular chemical agent against pests
Lures and traps
Remedies for this type of slug are widely available in the retail chain. Most often they come in the form of metaldehyde granules. The most popular brands of this drug are Groza and Meta. They are the most effective and are used as bait for the pest, leading to its destruction.
In the evening, pour beer, but not to the brim of the trap. At night, slugs crawl into the trap based on the smell, fall into the beer and drown.
However, the disadvantage of the drugs is their toxicity to people and pets. Therefore, when using these granules, it is necessary to observe safety precautions and also store them out of the reach of children.
If you decide to use Groza on your site, do not forget to thoroughly wash the vegetables before use and make sure that the granules do not get on the green parts of the cultivated plants.
Various traps are safer for people. In most cases, they resemble a bowl, which is covered with a special lid resembling an umbrella. Beer or fruit juice is poured inside the trap, the smell of which will attract shellfish from all over the garden.
Once every 2 days you need to check the traps, remove any pests and add juice.
Physical barriers
They are plastic gutters. By strengthening them around the perimeter of the beds and filling them with water, you will prevent the pest from accessing your plants.
Fine gravel, crushed shell rock, egg shells, or special granular material that can be purchased at a retail chain have similar properties.
Copper rims or copper-plated covering material keep pests from getting close.
Video tips: Fighting snails and slugs in a summer cottage
Folk methods of struggle
Competent gardening will not only help get rid of this slippery creature, but is also an excellent prevention of its occurrence in the future.
Every gardener and gardener is familiar with such uninvited guests on personal plot like slugs. They worry absolutely all gardeners. Slugs are considered the most unpleasant pests. They can destroy the entire harvest - these include fruit and berry crops, various vegetables, root crops and even ornamental plants. Of course, slugs can be considered worst enemy owners of personal plots. And the question of how to get rid of pests is very important for landowners. Why is this mollusk dangerous? What are the best slug repellents to use?
Who are slugs?
Slugs are land gastropods that do not have a shell. Photos of the slug can be viewed in any information publication. The body of a mollusk has three parts: head, mantle and leg. His skin is thin, bare and always covered with mucus. In autumn, slugs lay white, translucent eggs about 2 millimeters in diameter in fertile soil. Slugs are usually active at night; during the day they can only come to the surface in rainy weather or after it has rained. Optimal temperature air for them is from 15 to 19 degrees, they also need high humidity. Slugs breathe with their whole bodies, and high temperatures may cause their skin to dry out. If the summer is dry, slugs hide in the soil and hibernate. Mollusks can not only damage the crop, but also introduce various infections.
Preventive measures
To reduce the slug population, preventive measures must be taken. These include timely plowing of the garden, mowing excess grass, and regular removal of weeds and plant debris. Thinning of plantings can be considered a good prevention against slugs in the garden, since slugs do not like open areas. There are many plants with a persistent, rich aroma that these mollusks cannot tolerate. These are lavender, chicory, mint, parsley, garlic. They can be safely planted between the beds and along the perimeter of the site.
Manual collection
Collecting slugs by hand is an effective method, but quite labor-intensive. It does not require any costs or specific skills, but it takes a lot of time. Slugs can be collected in the early morning or late evening, or after rain. Produce this work It is necessary to wear gloves or tweezers.
Folk remedies for pest control
There are quite effective folk remedies from slugs, without chemicals. The most effective are:
- soda;
- vinegar;
- mustard;
- needles;
- salt;
- slaked lime;
- wood ash;
- beer;
- ammonia.
Wood ash
Wood ash helps successfully fight slugs. It is used in the evening (slugs are active at night) and only in clear weather. Dry ash is taken and scattered around plants, beds and bushes. Ash sticks to the wet body of the mollusks and makes it difficult for them to move. Usually slugs avoid this place. To improve the effectiveness of this method, slaked lime or crushed tobacco can be added to the ash (in a 1:1 ratio). Repeat treatment after a week.
Mustard
Many gardeners use mustard against slugs. This is an excellent assistant in pest control. Dry mustard powder is scattered between the plants. Or you can use an infusion for spraying plants.
To prepare it, take 100 grams of powder, dilute it in a bucket of water and leave for 24 hours. Then add more water - in a ratio of 1:2 - and add 1/3 of a piece of laundry soap (grated) per bucket of solution. You can spray flowers and vegetable crops as needed, bushes - in early summer, and fruit trees - two weeks after flowering.
Salt
A simple but quite effective remedy for slugs is ordinary table salt; it corrodes the slug’s body. In the beds between plants, it is better to sprinkle salt on some material (for example, film). The fact is that salt, when wet, can dissolve and be absorbed into the ground, this leads to salting of the soil and can destroy the plants themselves. It is best to sprinkle salt on compost heaps, as slugs often choose such places.
Beer trap
A fairly effective remedy for slugs is a beer trap. It’s not very easy to take any container small size, dig it in a little so that the edges of the container are flush with the ground, fill it with any beer (not to the brim). If the container is open, you need to make an awning on top to prevent water from getting into the beer. Slugs are very attracted to the smell of this drink. Once in a container with beer, the shellfish simply drown in it. There are also special slug traps on sale in the form of a bowl with a lid. The beer in the container should be changed every 2-3 days.
Obstacle course
In the garden and in the garden you can make a kind of obstacle course for slugs: garden paths sprinkle with fine gravel, and mulch the beds with crushed eggshells or needles from trees such as larch or pine. This will make it much more difficult for slugs to access the plantings.
Hot water
The most inexpensive, but no less effective way to combat slugs is irrigation with boiling water. For shellfish hot water is fatal, and some plants, for example, cabbage, are quite resistant to hot shower. Water for these purposes should have a temperature of about 60 degrees.
Ammonia
Skilled gardeners use ammonia in their plots to combat slugs. To prepare the solution, you need to take 1 liter of 25% ammonia and dilute it with 10 liters of water. The resulting product should be used to fill cracks in the ground, where pests can hide. The beds should be watered with extreme caution, carefully ensuring that ammonia does not get on the leaves of the plants. Otherwise, they may get severely burned.
Assistants
Fine in early spring release poultry, especially ducks, into the garden or vegetable garden. They are capable of eating slugs in huge quantities. If possible, it is recommended to have hedgehogs or frogs in your garden. These are also big lovers of shellfish.
Chemical remedies
Chemical slug repellents are undoubtedly the most effective. But still experienced gardeners It is recommended to resort to them in extreme cases. Treatment against slugs should be stopped 2-3 weeks before harvest, so as not to harm your health.
"Thunderstorm" ("Meta")
The drug "Thunderstorm" for slugs was originally produced in Switzerland, it was produced under the name "Meta". It has been the most highly productive and safe for almost 100 years. In addition, the drug is affordable. They begin to use it in early spring to preserve young shoots. Available in small packages of 15 or 60 grams of the drug in the form of blue granules (on the package there is a photo of a slug). The main substance of “Thunderstorm” is metaldehyde. The drug acts upon direct contact with the body of the slug, since it is intestinal and contact. The granules absorb all the moisture, thereby drying the skin of the slug, preventing them from moving further. The slugs themselves eagerly eat the pellets and die from poisoning within 2 hours. The drug is effective for about 3 weeks, the shelf life is 24 days. The drug "Thunderstorm" is moisture resistant, it can be used even in the rain.
Scatter granules in areas near young shoots. Use 30 grams of the drug per 10 square meters. meters or 15 grams per 5 square meters. meters. It is enough to treat the area 2-3 times per season. Hazard class - 3 (moderate dangerous substance). "Thunderstorm" is a very poisonous drug for children and adults, as well as for pets. After harvesting, all products must be thoroughly washed, especially if “Thunderstorm” was used nearby.
"Slug Eater"
“Slug Eater” is an ultra-modern drug for slugs and snails Russian production. Sold in the form of granules, in packaging with printed instructions for use of the “Slug Eater”. The drug protects fruit and berry, vegetable, citrus crops, as well as flowers and grapes. Highly efficient, has long term action, easy to use. Consumption of the drug - 30 grams per 10 square meters. meters. The active ingredient is 60 g/kg of metaldehyde, in the form of granules. Shelf life - 2 years. Scatter the granules over the top layer of soil between the rows and along the paths. Before starting work, you should carefully read the instructions for using the “Slug Eater”. Precautions must be observed:
- Do not treat with the drug if children or pets are nearby;
- use special clothing;
- be sure to wear glasses and gloves;
- strictly follow the rules for storing the chemical;
- avoid contact with food, medicines, as well as animal feed;
- choose storage places that are inaccessible to children and animals.
“Slug eater” does not need to be mixed with other substances for chemical treatment.
Superphosphate
Superphosphate is poisonous to slugs. When using it, we get a double benefit: the plants receive nutrition and get rid of slugs. Superphosphate is mineral fertilizer, obtained as a result of the decomposition of natural phosphates. Phosphorus is the main component of the formula. It is important that phosphorus oxide is in a water-soluble form. This allows you to deliver this component to the roots of plants much faster and provide them with complete nutrition. Thanks to this macroelement, plants enter the fruiting period faster, the taste of the crop is significantly improved, the aging of vegetables is slowed down, and the product significantly affects the development of tubers and plant roots. Plants take only as much phosphorus from the ground as they need. If the leaves have acquired a dark green color and a reddish tint appears on them, all this indicates a lack of phosphorus. In order to properly fertilize your garden plot, you need to read the instructions for using superphosphate. This mineral fertilizer can be applied to the soil in spring and autumn, the rates are the same. For lands already participating in crop rotation - 55-70 grams per 1 sq. meter, for processed ones - 40-50 grams per 1 sq. meter. This is the consumption for continuous application. Upon landing fruit trees feeding will be approximately 500 grams per hole. If it is already a growing tree, it needs to be fertilized after flowering; 40-70 grams will be needed per trunk circle. To feed potatoes and tomatoes, with continuous application, take approximately 20 grams per square meter. In protected ground, when digging, 75-90 grams of superphosphate per 1 square meter. meter is added along with potassium and nitrogen fertilizers. Superphosphate is not added along with urea, ammonium nitrate, and chalk. You need to wait at least a week.
- gastropods, which in the course of evolution have suffered a complete reduction or partial loss of shells. Slugs are one of the most unpleasant pests in the garden, so it’s a good idea to know how to deal with them.
Did you know?Slugs lay eggs for the winter, which is something you need to remember if you don’t want to get a new batch of pests in the spring.
Slug: description of the pest
The slug has an elongated body, ranging in size from 30 mm to 30 cm. Its surface is pale brown in color, but there are bright varieties: scarlet, orange-red. The body merges with the head, on the back of which there is a mantle covering the genitals. The pulmonary opening is located on the right. Young individuals hatching from overwintered eggs have a pale transparent color and a body length of up to 5 mm. For the first 2 weeks of their life, they use soil humus as food, and then they begin to feed on plants, thereby harming them. How to destroy slugs irrevocably? This is a question that garden owners constantly face.
Reasons for the appearance of slugs in the garden
Many gardeners, puzzled by how to get rid of slugs in the garden, sometimes wonder where these mollusks came from there in the first place. In nature, they live in a balance of field and forest communities, from where they move to cultivated plants, often being brought into the garden along with infected specimens. Their appearance is also facilitated by warm, humid spring and mild winter weather, stagnant, unloosened soil, and a large number of fallen leaves in the area where pests can find a convenient place to sleep. Therefore, without proper care, slugs will constantly appear in your dacha and you will have to puzzle over how to get rid of them again and again.
What damage do slugs and their natural enemies cause to the garden?
Fighting slugs in the garden often takes a lot of energy and nerves from the gardener due to the excessive activity of the pest. Slugs damage a wide range of crops: winter wheat, rye, potato tubers and leaves, colored and white cabbage, root vegetables, lettuce, pea and bean leaves, cucumbers, tomatoes, and from garden crops - strawberries and wild strawberries. Slugs are less harmful to parsley, onions, garlic, cucumber leaves, spring wheat, oats, flax and buckwheat.
Slugs gnaw holes in the leaves, leaving only the largest veins and leaf stem intact; in potato tubers, tomatoes and cucumbers, cavities expanded inward are made, in cabbage, depressions are made in the head of cabbage, and in cereal grains, the endosperm and embryo are gnawed. Therefore, it is not surprising that such a variety of damage makes you wonder how to get rid of slugs in the garden. After themselves, slugs leave traces of mucus and soil, and they also contaminate crop products and cause them to rot. Slugs often change location, spreading various diseases among crops: cabbage blight, potato late blight, downy mildew.
How to deal with slugs, we study methods
Slugs are very dangerous in their insatiability and unpredictability, which means that fighting them immediately after their appearance is on the agenda for any gardener.
Fighting slugs: mechanical method
Setting traps, perhaps the best remedy from slugs. Between the beds and on the paths you can lay cabbage leaves soaked in fruit juice or beer, burlap, boards or rags, where they will crawl during the day, and you will collect them in the evening. You can also dig a small container in the evening so that its rim is flush with the ground. There is also this type of trap: you need to bury several small containers at ground level with a soap or saline solution, which kills the slugs, and cover them with burlap. Today, recommendations for constructing such traps are available to all gardeners without exception who are bothered by slugs in the soil, but do not know how to deal with them.
Did you know?You can purchase special copper self-adhesive tapes or rims, from contact with which the mollusks will receive an electric shock.
Phytomethods: which plants will repel slugs
Try to plant slug-repellent plants in close proximity to pests. The aroma of herbs (laurel, rosemary, caraway, santolin, sage) is destructive for pests. Plant them around the perimeter of the beds and you can protect your harvest. Also use phyto-infusions of onion, garlic and mustard to repel uninvited guests. Don't forget: slugs are insidious and the fight against harmful mollusks can take a long time, but you need to make every effort to achieve good results.
Use of drugs
Blue granules "Thunderstorm and Meta" are an effective remedy for slugs in the garden. It copes well with pests, however, a significant disadvantage of using this particular control option is that this chemical composition it is very toxic to humans and can cause certain problems if inhaled (it is often inhaled when scattered on the ground in small piles). Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, it is better to use folk remedies for the garden. A good result is obtained by spraying the soil and plants with a 1% solution of ferrous sulfate.
Traditional methods: how to use them to fight slugs in your summer cottage
Fighting slugs in the garden with folk remedies involves spraying the plants once a week in the evening with a weak solution citric acid(25 g per 10 liters of water) or 9% table vinegar (25 ml). Some gardeners advise sprinkling the soil around the plants with salt or watering the plants with an aqueous 0.1% caffeine solution
Important!Cornmeal is lethal to shellfish.
Pest prevention
Naturally, you need to know how to deal with slugs in the garden, but this attack is much easier to prevent. For preventive purposes, unnecessary stones and boards and weeds should be removed from the site, as well as periodically mowing the grass on the paths and drying wet areas. You should also try not to plant plants too densely. It will be useful to tear off the lower leaves of cabbage and lettuce, as well as regularly loosen the soil.
What could be better and healthier than vegetables and fruits from the garden, which are rich in various vitamins. Every summer resident encounters a variety of pests every year. vegetable crops. Especially in rainy summers, many gardeners suffer from infestations of slugs and snails. These insects are capable of destroying not only green mass cultivated plants and their fruits. If small abrasions are found on the crops in any part, as if on a grater, and the earth around the beds shines, it means there are slugs in the garden. How to get rid of these pests using traditional methods will be discussed below.
Description
Benefits of insects
Before you get rid of slugs in your garden, you should familiarize yourself with the positive aspects of their life on the site. In addition to cultivated plants, slugs can eat various lichens, mushrooms, fallen leaves and other unnecessary vegetation, acting as a kind of orderly in the garden plot.
Many fishermen know how to get rid of slugs. After all, they simply collect these invertebrates for bait, and sometimes they specifically breed them for these purposes. Domestic chickens also love slugs, so many owners of farms with these birds also collect and specially breed slugs to feed chickens.
Insect damage
Before getting rid of slugs in your summer cottage, you need to correctly identify their favorite gathering places. Since insects are predominantly nocturnal, they are not easy to spot. You can determine where the pests were by the silvery trace left on the ground and leaves from their mucus, as well as by the crops they ate.
Food for slugs can easily become:
- tomatoes;
- strawberry and wild strawberry fruits;
- cucumbers;
- cabbage;
- Sweet pepper;
- any young shoots;
- harvest of fruit trees.
The need to fight
In addition to aesthetic damage to the crop, slugs can also pose a danger to the health of humans and their pets. The fact is that these pests are capable of spreading fungal spores and worm larvae. That is why, when you find traces of invertebrate activity on a site, you need to ask yourself as soon as possible how to get rid of slugs in the garden.
Prevention measures
In order not to be interested in information in the future on how to get rid of slugs in your garden beds, it is better to secure your garden in advance and prevent their appearance, because doing this is much easier than later removing established pests from the area.
The main preventive way to get rid of slugs is to reduce and, if possible, completely remove too wet and shaded areas in the garden.
They are localized at night precisely:
- in heaps of weeded grass;
- in places where organic residues accumulate;
- under boards or other shelters.
All places on the surface of the earth where sunlight does not penetrate should be carefully checked and, if possible, removed.
How to get rid of slugs in the countryside yet? In the fall, it is necessary to carry out deep digging of the soil so that their eggs freeze out in the winter, because pests lay them in the ground. By the way, this preventative measure will help get rid of many other pests.
It will also be useful to attract natural orderlies to the site in the form of frogs, hedgehogs and birds. Slugs are food for them in their natural environment, so by luring them into the garden, you don’t have to worry that invertebrates will appear in large numbers. Birdhouses are usually made for birds, a small pond can be made for frogs, and a wintering area should be prepared for hedgehogs. The animal will definitely appreciate such a house, but you will first need to lure it with milk or another treat.
Ecological methods
If a slug appears on a pepper, nature itself will tell you how to get rid of it. In such a situation, it is best to manually collect pests every morning from the beds and other places where they are located.
Most often they gather:
- near iron watering cans;
- in places where water is collected;
- under watering hoses;
- under the porch;
- in the depths of the beds;
- at the roots of plants;
- in places where condensation accumulates.
This method is very effective, but also very labor-intensive, since not everyone can devote a lot of time to collecting pests every early morning, and not everyone has the desire. That is why there is also an ecological way to get rid of slugs. To do this, you just need, along with sowing or planting seedlings of crops, to place nearby beds with herbs, the aroma of which repels invertebrates. You can use mint, garlic, rosemary and other herbs for these purposes. It is best to place them around the entire perimeter of the beds.
Protecting young shoots
To protect young seedlings of cultivated plants from being eaten by pests, it is necessary to spray their leaves from time to time. special solutions. To do this, table vinegar or ammonia can be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:6. It is very important to treat all surfaces of the seedlings without exception, even the leaves on the back side.
There are other ways to get rid of slugs on seedlings. For this purpose, mixtures for spraying are also prepared, only based on instant coffee or mustard powder. The latter should be taken no more than 6 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. After each rain or watering, the procedures must be repeated.
How to get rid of slugs in a greenhouse? Spraying with caustic compounds in the created microclimate can harm crops, so in greenhouse conditions it is better to use dry soil sprinkles around the plantings. To do this, take the same dry mustard powder, slaked lime or wood ash. Pests avoid such areas because these dry substances damage their bodies. For prevention, it is enough to scatter 30 grams per square meter of beds.
Slug Traps
In the case where pests have already taken a fancy to the garden, it is necessary to act more radically. To do this, you need to place special traps for slugs around the site, which can be purchased ready-made or easily made yourself, because the preferences of mollusks are known to everyone.
The easiest way is to spread large wet plant leaves, pieces of roofing felt, linoleum or boards around the perimeter of the plantings in the evening, and in the morning simply collect slugs from under them. To increase efficiency, it is recommended not to water the garden for several days beforehand. It is important to do this with gloves or special accessories, since their mucus is very difficult to wash off and may contain harmful microorganisms.
The deadliest and most effective trap for invertebrates is cornmeal or grits. With its smell, it attracts slugs to feast on it, after which they all die. To prepare, flour or cereal is poured into a jar and placed on its side near the garden bed. At night, invertebrates gather in it, overeat and die; in the morning all that remains is to collect them and throw them away. This will help rid any crops of pests.
How to get rid of slugs on cucumbers? In addition to the method described above, you can place beer traps around the perimeter of the beds. The smell of fermentation also attracts mollusks, so kvass or beer, preferably dark, is poured into plastic bottles cut to 1 cm or other shallow containers and placed around the garden. Slugs crawl into jars and can’t get out again, so in the morning all that remains is to collect them and throw them away.
You can use kefir in the same way. For these purposes, by the way, there is no need to pour it into containers; it is enough to leave an open empty bottle of fermented milk drink in the garden overnight. The peels of fruits, even exotic ones, also have a unique attractive aroma for shellfish.
Leftovers from:
- watermelons;
- melons;
- pumpkins;
- grapefruits;
- oranges and other citrus fruits.
For this, the peels should be from half of the entire fruit, in the form of a hemisphere with a hole made in the center. This peel is placed on the ground outside up and leave overnight. The slugs climb into the hole and cannot get back out along the slippery inner walls, so in the morning they are simply collected and neutralized.
One more in an effective way is mulching beds with cultural plantings. This method is especially relevant during the fruiting period of berries such as strawberries and wild strawberries, since using chemicals is strictly prohibited at this time. Sprinkle the rows of crops with any sharp and small materials that can damage the body of the mollusk. Salt is ideal for this, since it additionally destroys the mucus of the invertebrate. In addition to it, you can use crushed eggshells, broken shells, small pebbles and even pine needles, the aroma of which will additionally repel pests.
Chemicals
If none of the listed loyal methods worked, and pests continue to attack the plantings, then three weeks before harvest it is allowed to use a chemical mixture. They are made in the form of granules for scattering between rows.
Popular ones are:
- "Meta".
- "Storm".
- "Ferramol".
- "Anti-slug".
Almost always the dosage per 1 square meter is 3 grams of the substance, but when used this method One should not forget about the dangers. The fact is that the drugs contain components that repel birds and are not harmful to them, but they can be dangerous for other pets, especially cats. Also, the active substance can accumulate in plant fruits, which is not very good for the person himself. Always after using such drastic methods, the resulting crop should be thoroughly washed under water before use. hot water.
Favorite delicacy
To do this, young seedlings should be placed at a great distance, at least half a meter, so as not to thicken or shade the bed when the heads of cabbage begin to grow. Additional security for each sprout can be provided with a kind of fence. To make it, you need to cut a ring out of a plastic bottle and perforate it from the top edge with tweezers or small scissors. Sharp, uneven edges will damage the body of the mollusk if it wants to get to the seedlings.
As soon as the head of cabbage begins to grow, and lower leaves fall to the ground, they should be torn off immediately. The spaces between the rows of plantings can be sprinkled with various fine mulches or fragrant wormwood or wormwood can be placed around the heads of cabbage daily. stinging nettle. To be effective, herbs must always be fresh.
Interestingly, for prevention, cabbage can be watered in the evening with hot water (no more than 50 degrees) over closed leaves. This procedure does not threaten the plant at all, but it will burn the pests well.
An infusion of hot pepper is often used to treat garden crops against slugs. To prepare it, the hot spice powder is infused for two days in a liter of water, after which it is boiled. The heat-treated solution is infused for another day, only after that it is used for its intended purpose. It's important to take ready mixture only 100 grams per bucket of water, otherwise you can burn the plants. The finished product is stored in a cool, dark place. To preserve it on the leaves for a long time, you can add a soap solution to the mixture.
Finally
In fact, getting rid of slugs is quite easy, you just need to block their access to favorable habitats. Of course, the most effective means the fight will be fulfilled preventive measures to prevent their occurrence, especially since currently there are a huge number of specialized stores that sell drugs for eliminating pests.
Greetings friends! The next article on our blog, this time, is devoted to the topic of how to get rid of slugs in the garden. These are small creatures that look like snails, but evolutionary changes have deprived them of a hard shell and now they do not have a shell shell. Once in the garden, they become pests that can completely destroy the harvest of vegetables and berries: lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, wild strawberries. Young plants of these crops are completely destroyed by slugs in the garden, not allowing them to develop into full-fledged plants.
Overview Description
Slugs, like their closest relatives snails, belong to the class of gastropods. In nature, there are still individuals that partially preserve a rudimentary shell - these are half-slugs. IN wildlife their diet consists of fallen leaves and unhardened plant parts. The garden is a haven for them. The arable slug or grape snail is most often found on individual properties.
Scale of threat
For beginning gardeners, the fight against slugs in the garden often begins at the stage when their population reaches alarming proportions. The insidiousness of this uninvited garden guest lies in the fact that its activity manifests itself at night. During the day, it skillfully hides in the grass, under lumps of soil, and in cabbage heads. And at night it crawls out in search of food, and the next morning traces of “activity” appear in the form of shiny, drying marks on everything - on fruits, on leaves, on stems. In addition, slugs are carriers of spores of fungal diseases, which is also fraught with big troubles. And finally, these mollusks are carriers of helminthiases that affect animals. How to deal with slugs in the garden? The best and cheapest protection is prevention.
You can try to prevent the threat
- The beds should be loosened every time after watering.
- Needs to be cleaned up from the area possible locations accumulations of the “enemy” - stones, garbage heaps, large clods of soil, boards on paths, etc.
- In spring it is necessary to dig up the soil or fluff it up deeply. This manipulation will help destroy the eggs that the female slug lays in the ground at a depth of 5-8 cm.
Important! On a 5-point scale, such preventive measures show effectiveness at the level of 3 points. On the one hand, there is a possibility that the pest will be destroyed and expelled from the site. But we cannot exclude the possibility of their penetration from the neighboring garden, where the owners preventive measures were not carried out.
Biological means of combating slugs in the garden
Traps
One of the cheapest and effective ways resisting the slug. It turns out he loves beer. It is enough to soak large leaves, for example, burdock, in it and spread them between the beds. During the night, pests will certainly feast their eyes on such a “treat.” Alternatively, a cut crop can be used as a trap. plastic bottle. You need to bury it in the ground and pour beer into it too. Once inside, slugs will not come out.
Interesting! According to the observations of caring gardeners, slugs are attracted to dry dog food. So, instead of beer, you can pour it into the trap.
The rating of this method in terms of effectiveness is 100%. Its implementation involves minimal financial investments. Making traps will take a minimum of time. True, beer bait does not cause any complaints at all, but in the case of dog food, there is a risk of attracting stray dogs to the site. On the other hand, such a delicacy can attract hedgehogs, and they are the natural enemies of mollusks.
Repellent scents
You can plant along the borders of the beds spices– sage, parsley, rosemary or garlic. It is believed that slugs do not like these smells. Although, in practice it has been repeatedly observed that the pest can cross such a plant barrier.
Interesting! Oddly enough, slugs love marigolds, while other pests avoid them. The smell of dahlias is also pleasant for them.
Bulk "treat"
Around the plants you can scatter a dry mixture consisting of the following components:
- ground pepper – 1 tablespoon;
- wood ash (sifted) – 1 half-liter jar;
- table salt – 1 tablespoon;
- mustard powder – 1 tablespoon.
The soil on top of the powder must be loosened to a depth of 5 centimeters.
You can treat the clam with “pepper”
Fighting slugs in the garden with folk remedies involves using a composition such as sand mixed with crushed iron sulfate. Slugs die instantly from contact with this mixture. By the way, a similar effect is observed upon contact with soot.
Manual assembly
You can try to destroy slugs in the garden manually. They are laid out between the rows more leaves burdock or wet rags. Pests hide under such “structures” to wait until the evening. From them, slugs are collected and destroyed. It is better to carry out such activities with gloves. Early in the morning, almost every day, you need to walk around the territory, not forgetting such objects on the site as Summer shower, street crane, underfender space.
Chemicals for slugs
First of all, among chemical preparations they call the drug “Thunderstorm”. The main active substance in it is metaldehyde. In addition, the recipe contains components that attract slugs and snails, and at the same time repel birds.
The drug is supplied to consumers in granulated form. They are simply scattered on the ground, with special attention to places where mollusks accumulate. After a short period of time with the onset of darkness, the slugs will crawl away, attracted by the tasty bait.
One packet of “Thunderstorms” (by the way, this chemical is also on the market under the name “Meta”) contains 15 g of the product. It is enough for an area of 5 square meters. The period of active action, depending on external conditions, is 14-21 days. Practical experience shows that final victory over mollusks can be achieved only after the second treatment.
Important! Metaldehyde is a rather toxic substance. It is dangerous for both humans and domestic animals. This point must be taken into account in order to prevent cats or dogs from entering the area. True, the manufacturer has provided some kind of barrier - the Bitrex component. It is extremely bitter, which should, in theory, scare away both the animal and the child. All vegetables and berries, as well as herbs, must be very thoroughly washed and sorted before serving.
An aqueous solution of caffeine also has a detrimental effect on slugs. To get this substance, you need to add 2 tablespoons of instant coffee to 1 cup of water. According to Hawaiian scientists, it destroys them nervous system, which inevitably leads to death. But, even in this case, you need to be careful, since spraying with such a product affects the pigmentation of some plants - they turn white.
Do you have your own recipes for how to deal with the scourge called “slug”? Great to share them. We are ready to supplement the article with your methods of struggle.
