Any gardener seeks to collect as much crop as possible from his suburban area. As a rule, in order to grow vegetables, fruits and berries, it takes a huge amount of time, effort, love and effort. Of course, their own products from the garden are much tastier and healthier than store ones. However, sometimes all efforts are reduced to zero when uninvited guests appear on the site. Slugs are one of them.
It is not difficult to determine that mollusks have wound up at their summer cottage. Slugs love to eat cabbage and strawberry leaves. At the same time, they leave huge holes of irregular shape on the foliage and tops. In addition, characteristic unpleasant mucus can be found on the leaves.
In addition, slugs like to enjoy the fruits and flowers of not only garden plants, but also decorative ones. In addition to such unpleasant consequences as disfigured cultures, they contribute to the development of helminths. That is why it is necessary as soon as possible to start using anti-slug remedies in the garden.
Why do uninvited guests start in a suburban area?
In nature, there is a certain system of balance, according to which there are pests, ordinary animals and other species of the living world. Slugs breed in suburban areas provided rainy autumn, warm and early spring, a large accumulation of fallen leaves. They adore compost pits, dark and wet areas.
Slugs are also frequent guests in cellars and basements. They really do not like dry and hot places that are in direct sunlight, they also do not tolerate high temperatures. However, before deciding on the means of combating slugs in the garden, it is worth paying attention to some interesting nuances.
Pest Features
Winter rye and wheat do the most harm to slugs. The parasites devour the newly emerged seedlings, and even the seeds sown. In addition, mollusks spread a huge number of fungal infections that affect crops. For example, late blight may appear in the potato, and the cabbage will be covered with unpleasant spots.
Also, choosing the most effective remedy for slugs in the garden, it is worth considering one of their unpleasant feature. The fact is that they are absolutely resistant to pesticides. Just like snails, slugs are not susceptible to aggressive drugs. These creatures secrete a huge amount of mucus, which is covered by their body, respectively, any chemicals can not have any negative effects on them.
Therefore, the most common aggressive remedies for snails and slugs in the garden will be inactive. However, there are several options that can help discourage uninvited guests.
What chemicals can help?
To forget about unpleasant neighbors forever, it is worth using metal hydride. This remedy for slugs in the garden is a granule that is enough to sprinkle on the beds. Slugs do not stand and enjoy them. As a result, unpleasant pests will receive intestinal poisoning and die quickly enough. Also, this tool is sold in the form of a powder, which also causes dangerous poisoning in mollusks.
Also, in the fight against slugs, ground iron sulfate and hydrated lime showed themselves well.
In addition, you can try mixing 1 part bleach and 4 parts kiln ash.
However, when processing beds with hazardous chemicals, you should make sure that pets will not eat them by accident, and you also need to warn children that the granules scattered around the countryside are not toys at all.
Before using dangerous slug remedies in the garden, you should pay attention to many other ways to get rid of unpleasant neighbors.
Rough surfaces
Slugs and snails do not like unnecessary obstacles. Therefore, it is possible to greatly complicate their life if you pour something rough around the plants, for example, coarse sand or crushed, egg or walnut shells. Also, sawdust is suitable for this purpose.
Such means of combating slugs in the garden absolutely safe for both people and the plants themselves. At the same time, young seedlings of the culture will remain protected.
However, in this case, it is necessary to ensure that no passages are formed in the rough surface through which slugs can penetrate the plant.
Fight pests with beer traps
Surprisingly it sounds, but these creatures are "avid alcoholics." German gardening scientists have long proven that these parasites adore dark beers. At the same time, it doesn’t matter if it has just been bought or has long been exhausted. In order to get rid of unpleasant guests, it is enough to fill a few glasses of beer and bury them in the ground near the plants. Pests will quickly find the source of alcohol and will certainly begin to drink it.
At the same time, part of the parasites will receive food poisoning and die, while other pests will simply drown in beer. This remedy for slugs in the garden is enough to use only 2-3 times in 4 days, after which the nasty clams will disappear.
We fight pests with biological agents
There are a huge number of methods by which you can quickly and efficiently carry out unwanted neighbors from a suburban area.
Biological agents for slugs in the garden in the summer can be very effective. The best of them is Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodite. This substance is harmless to the environment, people and animals. To quickly get rid of parasites, you need to dilute a small amount of this component with water and spray the resulting mixture of beds during the week.
Enemies of slugs
Hedgehogs, toads and birds just loves to feast on annoying clams. To attract these animals to your garden, it is enough to make small ponds on the site. Hedgehogs are very greedy for dog food, so you can sprinkle it in the garden. However, before this, you should make sure that the neighbors do not have animals that can also get used to walking on the site. If you build bird feeders, then they will often fly into the garden and eat not only a treat prepared for them, but also pests.
Herbs
To combat slugs in the garden with folk remedies, it is enough to use spices such as sage, parsley, lavender or rosemary. They are recommended to be planted near the beds, which most often become a "feast" for slugs.
In addition, a special solution prepared from mustard, pepper and garlic will help. The gastropods also hate such a cocktail.
The use of polyethylene
This method of combating slugs in the garden with folk remedies can be attributed rather to mechanical ones. However, using this method to get rid of slugs can be quite simple and effective. For work, you only need cellophane, which needs to be covered with beds at night. In the morning, all the slugs will gather under the film, believing that this is a kind of shelter. However, under the rays of the morning sun, they will all die, because the mollusks simply can not disastrously tolerate the heat.
Ash
Each gardener is well aware that ash mulch significantly improves the condition of acidic soil. In addition, it is a very useful fertilizer. However, few people realize that this component simply can not stand the mollusks, which immediately leave the site, as soon as particles of ash begin to adhere to their body. Because of this, it becomes very difficult for slugs to move around, and they prefer to retire as far as possible.
It is recommended to put ash on the ground in clear weather, since in this case the components will be dry enough to have time to stick to uninvited guests. It is recommended to cultivate the land with such a composition no more than 1 time per week.
Needles
If you pour a thick layer of needles on the beds, then the mollusks will not be able to move on the surface. Therefore, this a remedy for slugs in the garden is considered very effective.
It is best to use pine or spruce needles for this. Besides the fact that it will help to get rid of uninvited guests, it will also become an excellent fertilizer. Similarly, sawdust can be used.
Mustard powder
Mustard is considered absolutely safe for plants, animals and people, but gastropods simply can not tolerate it. Therefore, when deciding how to remove slugs from the garden with folk remedies, you should definitely use hot seasoning.
The powder can be scattered around the bushes, both in liquid and in dry form. The optimal composition is 150 grams of dry mix diluted in 10 liters of water. After this, the liquid must be infused for a couple of hours and sprayed planting in the garden. Processing is best done in the evening.
To get rid of parasites before the end of the season, it is enough to spray plants 5-6 times.
Soda and salt
If there are slugs in the garden, how to fight folk remedies with parasites is easy to determine. There are a lot of recipes.
Salt is an excellent tool that will help get rid of mollusks settled on a compost heap. As you know, they really like to feast on rotting plant debris. To get rid of them, just scatter the components into a compost pit in the evening. It should be borne in mind that soda must be calcined.
To prepare a solution for spraying, just mix 50 grams of soda and 12 liters of water.
Vinegar essence
To combat unwanted guests, regular table vinegar is perfect. For 1 bucket of water, 50 milliliters of this component is enough. The resulting liquid must be treated with plant leaves, as well as apply it for spraying.
However, it is worth being very careful and not to let acetic acid get on the roots of plants. Often, processing vegetables in this way is not recommended.
Ammonia
If you dilute a small amount of ammonia in water and spill the places of accumulation of mollusks, they will quickly receive very dangerous chemical burns and die. However, it is necessary to be extremely careful and in no case prevent this product from getting on the foliage or root system of plants.
Barriers
To permanently get rid of pests, it is recommended to organize an impromptu fence around the perimeter of the entire plot or around trees, shrubs and beds.
As a material for its erection, it is recommended to use small and large gravel or crushed egg shells. You can also create sand barriers that will be mixed with copper sulphate or soot. Such barriers will prevent slugs from crawling to the plants.
Fruit lures
The peel of watermelons, oranges and other citrus or gourds is an excellent helper in the fight against slugs in the garden. Folk remedies can permanently get rid of these pests.
In order to get rid of mollusks, it is necessary to cut the crust in half and make small holes in the center of the resulting improvised cups. Ready-made baits are installed on the beds so that the holes are on top. Slugs will crawl through the holes inward, but they will not be able to get back.
The next day, just collect the pests and throw them away.
Maintenance work
In order to prevent the appearance of slugs, it is recommended in the summer and spring to plow the entire site. It is also worth removing weeds and rotting foliage, as these components are a great habitat for annoying mollusks.
If the soil is dry enough, then slugs will definitely not live on it. On the perimeter between the beds you can plant mustard, parsley, garlic or lavender.
How to protect cabbage
The fact is that most often slugs attack this particular vegetable crop. To protect the cabbage from their invasion, it is necessary to spray it with hot water, the temperature of which is 40-45 °. Such a liquid will be enough for the parasites to die.
In addition, it should be borne in mind that caffeine is a detrimental effect on slugs. Ordinary instant coffee must be diluted in a proportion of 1 teaspoon per 250 milliliters of water and sprayed with the resulting mixture of beds. Decoctions based on leaves of wormwood, tobacco, marigold or walnut also work well.
It is worth considering that slugs are a great danger to plants. Therefore, do not drag out and get rid of annoying clams as soon as possible. All the methods described above also work well on snails. These pests differ in a similar body structure and body characteristics. In order for fruits and vegetables to grow well in the garden, it is necessary to get rid of parasites in a timely manner. For this, it is best to use natural ingredients, rather than harsh chemicals that can harm a person. Fighting slugs in the garden with folk remedies is considered the most effective and safe.