Snails and slugs can be eradicated from the garden
Monsters in nightmares and in the garden only come out at night. Then they terrorize and feed, often only leaving sickly traces of their presence.
Come morning your plants may well be riddled with holes or worse, entirely gone. The culprits are not werewolves, vampires or gnomes, but lowly snails and slugs. A slug is, after all, just a snail without a shell.
A good jolt of electricity can deter many monsters, and snails and slugs are no different. By placing copper strips, available at local garden centers, mail order or roofing supply stores, you can form an effective barrier. When snails and slugs travel over copper they get a mild electric shock and it keeps them away.
Cut out two-inch wide strips and place them around individual plants like a collar. Leave room for the stem to grow a bit. Or you can lay down a long copper barrier around the entire planting. You can even make a tiny copper fence by setting the copper trips in the soil on edge, so the slugs and snails can’t climb in.
While most of us don’t have copper sheeting lying about, many of us do have household ammonia. Try spraying leaves once a week with a dilute solution of regular household ammonia.
The snails and slugs hate the ammonia and your plants will use the nitrogen from the ammonia as a mild fertilizer. Mix five cups of water to one cup of household ammonia and spray it in the evening once a week or after every rainfall.
Another effect product with no side effects is diatomaceous earth. Diatomaceous earth is the sharp, jagged skeletal remains of microscopic creatures. The sharp grains puncture the soft bodies of snails and slugs and they die by dehydration. It is safe for humans and pets. You can spread the diatomaceous earth around entire garden beds or individual plants. You can also mix it with water and use it to spray directly on leaves.
Diatomaceous earth is most effective during dry weather. Though it is safe, you should wear mask and gloves to prevent it from getting into your eyes, nose and lungs.
Always use natural or agricultural-grade diatomaceous earth, not pool-grade diatomaceous earth that has smoother edges, which is less efficient.
You can even just trap the night monsters under grapefruit rinds or flat boards, where they will hide, then dispose of them the next day.
Even monsters like beer, and like many creatures they don’t know when to stop. Bury a cup or shallow saucer to the rim in the garden and fill it with stale beer, non alcoholic near-beer or even a mixture of sugar, yeast and water. The yeast smell attracts the slugs and snails that dive into the beer and eventually drown.
Whether you trap them under boards, spray them with ammonia, drown them in beer, or shock them with copper, your garden will be safer without the nightly visits of plant-eating monsters.
Or you could turn tail on them and feed them to the ducks and geese and save the beer for your own nightly feast.
