What can be better and healthier than vegetables and fruits from the garden, which are rich in various vitamins. Each summer resident annually encounters a variety of pests of vegetable crops. Especially in rainy summers, many gardeners suffer from invasions of slugs and snails. These insects are able to destroy not only the green mass of cultivated plants, but also their fruits. If on the crops in any part small abrasions are found, as if gratering, and the earth shines around the beds, then there are slugs in the garden. How to get rid of these pests by folk methods will be described later.
Description
The parasites found on the beds belong to the invertebrate order and the family of gastropod mollusks. In appearance, they are very similar to snails and differ only in the absence of a house. Such pests move due to the contraction of the muscles of the body, which is accompanied by abundant secretion of mucus. This is necessary for better gliding of the body of the mollusk on the ground and protects it from drying out. It is worth considering pest control methods, as this can be a significant problem (slugs in the garden). How to get rid of folk remedies and chemicals will be described below. Since slugs are afraid of the strong sun and fever, you can meet them in the afternoon only in shaded, cool places. Mostly these invertebrates are nocturnal. They lay their eggs in late autumn or spring, immediately after waking up. Larvae mature for about three months.
The benefits of insects
Before you get rid of slugs in the garden, you should familiarize yourself with the positive aspects of their life on the site. In addition to cultivated plants, various lichens, mushrooms, fallen leaves and other unnecessary vegetation can eat slugs, playing the role of a kind of orderly in the garden.
How to get rid of slugs, many fishermen know. After all, they simply collect these invertebrates for bait, and sometimes they specially breed them for these purposes. Slugs and house hens are very fond of, so many farm owners with these birds also collect and specially breed slugs for chickens.
Insect harm
Before getting rid of slugs in a summer cottage, it is necessary to correctly identify their favorite gathering places. Since insects are preferably nocturnal, it is not easy to notice them. It is possible to determine where the pests were by the silver trail left on the ground and leaves from their mucus, as well as by the crops eaten.
Food for slugs can easily become:
- Tomatoes
- fruits of strawberries and strawberries;
- cucumbers
- cabbage;
- Sweet pepper;
- any young shoots;
- harvest of fruit trees.
The need to fight
In addition to the aesthetic damage to the crop, slugs can be dangerous to the health of the person and his pets. The fact is that these pests are capable of spreading spores of fungal diseases and worm larvae. That is why when invertebrates are found on the site of traces of life, it is necessary to ask as soon as possible how to get rid of slugs in the garden.
Preventive measures
In order not to be interested in information on how to get rid of slugs in the beds in the future, it is better to secure your garden in advance and prevent their appearance, because it is much easier to do than to remove already established pests from the site.
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 namely:
- in heaps of ground grass;
- in places of accumulation of organic residues;
- under the boards or other shelters.
All places where sunlight does not penetrate on the surface of the earth should be carefully checked and, if possible, cleaned.
How to get rid of slugs in the country yet? In autumn, it is necessary to carry out a deep digging of the soil so that their eggs freeze in the winter, because their pests lay it in the ground. By the way, such a preventive measure will help get rid of many other pests.
Attracting to the site of natural orderlies in the form of frogs, hedgehogs and birds will also be useful. Slugs are food for them in the natural environment, so luring them into the garden, you can not worry that invertebrates will appear in large numbers. Birdhouses are usually put together for birds, a small pond can be made for frogs, and wintering should be prepared for hedgehogs. An animal will definitely appreciate such a house, only it will first be necessary to lure it with milk or another treat.
Environmental practices
If a slug appeared on pepper, how to get rid of it, nature itself will tell. It is best in this situation to manually collect pests every morning from the beds and other places of their deployment.
Most often they are going to:
- near iron watering cans;
- in places of water collection;
- under watering hoses;
- under the porch;
- deep in the beds;
- at the roots of plants;
- in places of condensation.
This method is very effective, but also very laborious, since not everyone can devote much time to collecting pests every early morning, and not everyone has a desire. That is why there is still an ecological way to get rid of slugs. To do this, you just need to place beds with herbs, the aroma of which repels invertebrates, together with sowing or planting seedlings of crops. You can use mint, garlic, rosemary and other herbs for this purpose. It is best to place them around the perimeter of the beds.
Young shoot protection
To protect young seedlings of cultivated plants from being eaten by pests, it is necessary from time to time to spray its leaves with special solutions. To do this, in a ratio of 1: 6 with water, you can dilute table vinegar or ammonia. It is very important to treat all, without exception, the surface of the seedlings, even the leaves on the reverse side.
There are also other ways to get rid of slugs on seedlings. To do this, they also prepare mixtures for spraying, only on the basis of 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 procedure must be repeated.
How to get rid of slugs in a greenhouse? Spraying with caustic compounds in the created microclimate can harm crops, therefore, in greenhouse conditions, it is better to use dry topping of soil around the plantings. To do this, take the same dry mustard powder, slaked lime or wood ash. Pests avoid these areas because these solids damage their bodies. For prevention, it is enough to sprinkle 30 grams per square meter of beds.
Slug traps
In the case when pests have already chosen a garden, it is necessary to act more radically. To do this, it is necessary to arrange special traps for slugs around the site, which can be purchased ready-made or easily made independently, because the preferences of mollusks are known to everyone.
The easiest way is to spread large wet leaves of plants, pieces of roofing material, linoleum or boards from the evening around the perimeter of the plantings, and in the morning it’s easy to collect slugs from under them. To increase the effectiveness of the garden, it is recommended not to water before this for several days. It is important to do this with gloves or special accessories, because their mucus is very difficult to wash off and may contain harmful microorganisms.
The deadliest and most effective trap for invertebrates is cornmeal or cereal. It attracts slugs to feast on its smell, after which they all die. For cooking, flour or cereal is poured into a jar and placed on its side near the bed. At night, invertebrates gather in it, eat themselves and die, in the morning it remains only to collect them and throw them away. This will help get rid of pests planting any crops.
How to get rid of slugs on cucumbers? In addition to the method described above, beer traps can be placed around the perimeter of the beds. The smell of fermentation also attracts mollusks, so kvass or beer, preferably dark, is poured into 1 cm cut plastic bottles or other shallow containers and placed around the garden. Slugs crawl into the banks, but can’t get out anymore, so in the morning it remains only to collect them and throw them away.
In the same way, you can use kefir. For these purposes, by the way, it is not necessary to pour it into containers, it is enough to leave an open empty bottle from a sour-milk drink in the garden for the night. A peel of fruit, even exotic ones, also has a peculiar attractive aroma for mollusks.
Residues from:
- watermelons;
- melons;
- pumpkins;
- grapefruit;
- oranges and other citrus fruits.
The peels for this should be from half of the whole fruit, in the form of a hemisphere with a hole made in the center. Such a peel is laid on the ground with the outer side up and left overnight. Slugs climb into the hole and can not get back along the slippery inner walls, so in the morning they are simply collected and neutralized.
Another effective way is to mulch the beds with cultivated plants. This method is especially relevant during the fruiting period of berries such as strawberries and strawberries, since the use of chemicals at this time is strictly prohibited. Sprinkle between rows of crops with any sharp and small materials that can damage the body of the mollusk. Salt is ideal for this, since it also destroys the mucus of the invertebrate. In addition to it, you can use crushed egg shells, broken shells, small pebbles and even pine needles, the aroma of which will further deter pests.
Chemicals
If not one of the listed loyal methods has worked, and the pests continue to attack the plantings, then three weeks before the harvest, a chemical mixture is allowed. They are made in the form of granules for scattering between rows.
Popular are:
- "Meta".
- "Storm".
- Ferramol.
- "Anti-Slime".
Almost always, the dosage per 1 square meter is 3 grams of the substance, but when using this method, one should not forget about the dangers. The fact is that the preparations contain components that repel birds, and do not represent harm to them, but they can be dangerous to other domestic animals, especially cats. Also, the active substance is able to accumulate in the fruits of plants, which is not very good for the person himself. Always after using such cardinal methods, the obtained crop should be thoroughly washed under hot water before use.
Favorite treat
Compared to other cultures, slugs are most often found on cabbage. Especially early tender varieties can be completely corrupted by invertebrate parasites. In order not to think at the last moment how to get rid of slugs on cabbage, it is necessary to start protecting young plants from the moment of planting in the ground.
To do this, young seedlings should be placed at a great distance, at least half a meter, so as not to thicken and not obscure the garden when the heads of cabbage begin to grow. Additional safety for each sprout can be provided with a kind of fence. For its manufacture, it is necessary to cut a ring from a plastic bottle and perforate it from the upper edge with tweezers or small scissors. Sharp, jagged edges will damage the body of the mollusk if it wishes to reach seedlings.
As soon as a head of cabbage begins to grow, and the lower leaves fall to the ground, they should be immediately cut off. Aisles of plantings can be sprinkled with various small mulch or spread around the heads of cabbage daily fragrant wormwood or stinging nettles. For effectiveness, herbs must always be fresh.
It is interesting that cabbage for prevention can be watered in the evening with hot water (not more than 50 degrees) over closed leaves. Such a procedure does not threaten the plant at all, but it will burn it well.
For processing from slugs garden crops are often used and the infusion of hot pepper. To prepare it, the hot spice powder is insisted for two days in a liter of water, after which it is boiled. The heat-treated solution is insisted for another day, only after that it is used for its intended purpose. It is important to take the finished mixture of 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 for a long time on the leaves, you can add a soap solution to the mixture.
Finally
In fact, getting rid of slugs is quite easy, just block their access to favorable habitats. Of course, the most effective means of control will be the implementation of preventive measures to prevent their appearance, especially since there are currently a huge number of specialized stores that sell drugs to eliminate pests.