Slugs and snails are a bane of any gardener's life. They have the tendency to eat seeds, sprouts and damage plants during their growth phase. Slugs are known to be highly destructive to your garden plants. The worst part is that slugs have fast reproduction cycle and have the capacity to bring forth sluglings at the rate of multiples. A garden infested with slugs is a nightmare for any sane gardener. Here are a few tips to control the slug and snail population in your garden
Tip 1: Use egg shells around your plants: This is a cruel trick really if you look at it from a slug's perspective. Crush egg shells and spread them around your plants. It won't look bad believe me, just crush it well. The slugs have a soft underbelly. When they tread over these egg shells they have a tendency to cut themselves owing to the sharp edges presented by these defenses. Great way to keep the slugs away from your tender plants and the best thing is that it kills the pests at the same time. Talk about two hitting birds with the same stone.
Tip2: Beer can be quite tempting: Stale beer my friends is a helper any day. Slugs are merry creatures who love their beer. Just pour a good amount of stale beer onto a bowl and place it near the slug infested regions on your garden. Slugs are attracted to the smell of beer, they climb onto the bowl and drown in the liquid. Finding slugs drowned in stale beer is not a particularly engrossing sight but it gets the job done.
Tip3: Use the salt to your advantage: If you find slugs around the mulch in your garden. Take a good amount of salt to it. Sprinkle it around on top of the slug and you will find them dying. Great way to kill the slugs cleanly and with less effort.
Tip4: Spread lime around your plants: Lime is a useful ally in your fight against slugs. Spread it around your plants and you will see slugs keep a distance. Beware that lime might increase the acidic content of your soil so don't go too overboard with it.
Tip5: Clean up your garden for god's sake: Slugs, slimy creatures, are fond of dirtiness and garbage. Anything which is left over unattended is a hiding place for slugs. I am sure you have had quite a few evil surprises when you found slugs burrowed under that pot you had left in the garden for a few months. Clear away all the pots, bowls, rods, panes or whatever you have lying around in certain unused regions of your garden. They are the breeding grounds for these pests. Keep a clean garden free of dirtiness and you would have a one up against slugs. Mulch is good for plants but are tempting to slugs. So use tip6.
Tip6: Mulch made of lemon grass is evil for slugs: Make mulch from plant leaves known to repel slugs. There is a huge list a few would be lemon grass, ginger, tea leaves, wormwood etc. Using these leaves as mulch is harmless.
Tip7: Use your spear now and then: Whenever you take a stroll in your garden make sure you have a slug spear handy. If you find slugs lurking in the interior of your plants and bushes these spears can come in quite handy to impale the little no gooders.
Organic Pest Control Garden
Mulch will not only control weeds, but retain moisture in the soil and keep extreme temperatures from damaging root systems. There are many different types and ways to apply mulch. Some of them can be very costly. I've found a better way to control weeds naturally and inexpensively.
If you're putting in new plants, be sure to follow planting procedures like proper depth and spacing as well as watering the holes where your plants will go. For established garden areas, make sure to hoe or pull weeds more than two inches tall. Also be sure you have applied any compost and tilled it into the soil well. Level the ground and break up any large clods of soil.
Then it's time for the mulch. Commercial mulches can be costly. An inexpensive alternative is to recycle newspapers under a shallow layer of shredded bark. The newspapers are of course free, and you can feel good about recycling them. The shredded bark can be picked up in quantity at a very reasonable cost from your local sawmill.
First, wet the ground to be covered. Don't make a mud puddle, but be sure to soak it well. Then lay out the newspapers. You can use 1-2 sheets, overlapping them to keep them in place. Put rocks or some other heavy object down to hold them down temporarily. Once you have an area covered, wet it again to soak the newspapers. This will keep the paper from blowing away and you can pick up and move the rocks or weights to the next area. Repeat this procedure until the entire area is covered.
If you have existing plants, you can tear and fit the newspapers around them. Make sure they snug right up against the base of the plants to keep the weeds out.
Then apply the bark mulch. Since you've already put down a weed barrier (newspapers), you won't need nearly as much bark mulch as is usually called for. You can apply just enough to cover the newspapers. Commercial applications calling for mulch at a 2 inch depth will require one 2 cubic feet bag to cover 12 square feet. You will only need half that much if you've put down newspapers first.
Which kind and size of mulch to use will depend on your budget. The treated mulch will help repel insects, but is about twice the price of plain medium sized bark mulch at a commercial outlet. Purchasing shredded bark from a sawmill will cost less than that.
Make sure the mulch is evenly spread. To keep your garden weeds down, reapply as needed in the fall or spring each year.
The newspapers will work as a weed barrier and are free compared to expensive weed cloth. They will also retain moisture in the soil and degrade naturally to improve the condition of the soil in your garden. The mulch will cover the newspapers giving your garden or flower beds an attractive look. They too will degrade into soil-enhancing nutrients. Mulching will also help protect roots from extreme temperatures, keeping the root system warm during cooler spring nights and cooler during the hot summer days.
Both Marcus Peter & Cindy Dykstra are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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