Bare slugs are a variety of amphibian mollusks that usually live in summer in garden areas, and in winter in cellars and vegetable stores. Fighting slugs should be carried out constantly, because, having bred, these mollusks are able to destroy the entire crop.
A mollusk harmless, not even very pleasant at first glance, looking like a snail that has lost a shell, slowly and very gently covers the plant with a dense layer of thick mucus, rips off the tissue, rendering the fruit completely unusable. Mesh
slugs are especially common in Russia
. The fight against them is simply necessary: clams covered with mesh skin destroy the root crops stored in the cellars, manage to eat not only cabbage leaves, but even get to the head of cabbage. And this clam is not the only pest. There are also melons, destroying melons and watermelons, smooth, eating winter, yellow slugs. The fight against them is especially difficult: huge, more than 10 cm individuals, devouring flowers, vegetables and everything else that is in the cellar, have good resistance to adverse influences. In the greenhouses and cellars of Russia you can also find a thick, clumsy, inactive, but well camouflaged European mollusk. He can live in one place for years. Only cold can drive him away. There are other slugs. Fighting them involves the use of several methods. The experience of counteracting these pests shows: it is best to use not one method, but a set of preventive and "belligerent" measures at the same time. Let's consider some of them.
Slugs: Fighting and Precautions
- Slugs attack in early spring. Gluttonous mollusks are happy to eat everything that remains in the garden since autumn. Therefore, wanting to get rid of unsolicited eaters, you need to carefully clean the garden (garden) back in the winter. Plant debris is not only food for slugs, but also their place of residence: it is easy to hide from adverse weather there.
- Slugs like moist places, so in areas with very high humidity it is advisable to dig grooves and fill them with dry sand.
- The beds can be fenced with plastic (for example, rings of "one and a half"), digging it into the ground. Are plastic slugs scared? The struggle with them shows that the mollusks can’t overcome it. It is advisable to plant seedlings as early as possible, before the spring invasion of slugs. Well-rooted plants are more tolerant and resistant to pest attack.
- You can treat the plot with herbicides. Suitable funds "Hurricane", "Glyphos", etc. However, they must be used strictly according to the instructions and at the indicated time: these substances are dangerous.
Metaldehyde: A Proven Method
More than a hundred years have passed since biologists, through many experiments, found that the best substance that kills slugs is metaldehyde. Once in the soil, the blue granules decompose, forming carbon dioxide and water. By their color, they scare away birds: they do not peck them. Granules are safe for worms and other representatives of the fauna, but the slugs crawling along them get severe burns and die. On the basis of metaldehyde today, many drugs have been created that perfectly protect the site from slugs. It is better to cultivate the soil at sunset, when the pests creep out and begin to destroy the plants.