Snails are gastropods that can harm plants and the vegetable garden. They feed on plants with a tender texture and can therefore attack flowers, salad leaves or young shoots. In addition to this, snails can also damage fruits or seedlings and attack the bulbs of your plants, their tubers or even underground roots. That said, find out how to prevent snails from invading your garden.
Snails invade the garden during the spring, between April and June, when the plants begin to germinate. These molluscs can ravage your plants and cause significant damage to the garden or vegetable patch. The only way to protect your garden from these gastropods without harming your plants is to use these natural tips.
How to prevent snails from invading the garden?
To protect your plants from snails, several tips are possible.
- Keep snails out of the garden with repellent plants
Snails don’t like certain plants like sage, lavender, ginger, thyme or parsley. Grow these repellent plants in your garden to prevent these pests from attacking your plants. For plants prone to snail attack, grow them away from damp places such as compost, as these molluscs like moist soil.
- Create barriers to keep snails out of the garden
Since snails need moisture to move through the soil, you can place obstacles around your plants that make the soil dry and rough and thus prevent the snails from moving toward your plants. To do this, you can scatter pieces of egg shells, coffee grounds, wood shavings around the plants, or choose to spread wood ash or sawdust. You can also sprinkle fine sand around the plants to prevent snails. Also remember to prepare mulch for the soil using dry pine needles, to keep snails away from your plants.
- Use natural repellents to keep snails away
To prevent snails from invading your garden, you can use fern manure. The latter is also effective in repelling aphids and mealybugs. To do this, soak 100 grams of leaves of the common fern, also called bracken, in a liter of water. Let sit for 10 to 12 hours, then boil your preparation in a saucepan for 20 minutes, making sure to keep the lid on. Filter the solution and transfer it to a sprayer. Then spray your fern manure on the plants you want to protect. Note that the shelf life of this solution is only 24 hours.
You can also prepare a garlic decoction to repel snails. Indeed, the smell of garlic is very effective in repelling these molluscs. For this, you can simply crush a few cloves of garlic in a container and add water to it. Let it sit for a few days, filter the mixture and transfer it to a spray bottle. You will then just have to spray your solution at the base of your plants, but also in the vegetable garden or orchard.
In addition to these tips, it is important to treat the soil to prevent the appearance of snails in the garden. Indeed, as autumn approaches, snails lay their eggs in the ground, especially when it rains. You can recognize snail eggs by their color which can range from white to beige. That said, it is advisable to turn the soil over in order to destroy these eggs. If they are exposed to the surface, they can dry out and be eaten by birds. Note that it is also advisable to water the plants in the morning, and for good reason, these moisture-loving molluscs come out at night. Watering your vegetation in the morning helps avoid creating an environment likely to attract these pests.
Thanks to these natural tips, you will be able to keep away the snails that can ravage your garden, without using chemicals and without harming your plants.
