Snails & Slugs - Organic remedies

Snails and Slugs are pests which love moisture. They are night creatures in the sense that they love to come out at night. They thrive in moist locations. They are known to attack plants at every stage of growth which leads to weakening of the plant and sometimes killing it too. So here are some of the organic ways by which we can try to control them in our gardens. 

1.  Sprinkling coffee grounds around our plants. The smell acts as a deterrent.

2.   Using wood waste as mulch. Regular watering on this causes the wood fibre to loosen. The pests don't like to cross over these wood chips as they hurt their soft bodies, hence making these a natural barrier. Over time these wood chips decompose and add to the nutrient content of your soil.

3.   Making natural barriers using crushed egg shells and sea shells. These too are abrasive to their soft bodies. Over time these decompose and are a good source of calcium for the soil.

4.   Wood ash sprinkled around not only increases humic content in the soil but acts as a natural barrier.

5.   Slugs can't cross over copper. So using copper tape around your pots and plants act as a deterrent.

6.   Growing natural repellant plants like garlic, chives, chamomile help in keeping them at bay.

7.   Making beer traps at strategic locations around the garden help in controlling them. They get attracted to the smell of beer and get drowned in it.

8.   Wheat bran or corn bran canbe sprinkled around the plants. This when eaten by the snails and slugs cause desiccation and death.

9.   If the numbers are less just handpick them carefully using a tool and dispose.

10. Pick them up and drop them in a bucket of salt water and then dispose them off.

Happy Gardening!!!