It can be disheartening when you make your garden look lovely with gorgeous blooms and plants, but slugs and snails start causing havoc – but there are ways to deter them
Slugs and snails are often the downfall of our beloved plants, as they love munching through them and causing chaos. But thankfully a gardening guru has shared that there’s a way to deter them.
Gardening expert David Domoney, 61, appeared on ITV’s This Morning to share how to set up slug and snail barriers to protect plants from the critters so your blooms can thrive this spring and summer.
David shared that despite popular misconceptions that salt is the biggest enemy for slugs and snails, it’s actually sunlight, as it can dry them out. “Never water late enough for the sun not to have a chance to dry it up afterwards, is my first big tip”, he shared.
He also explained there are “barriers” that can be placed on plants to prevent slugs and snails from taking hold because they don’t like to climb over anything.
The first barrier method he used was trying coffee grounds from your coffee machine, as it “dehydrates” the slug and makes it “awkward” for them to move, as they thrive in moist areas.
Gardeners can also invest in wool pellets which are both natural and harmless to slugs and snails. They hate the fine barbs and fibres in them because it makes it trickier for them to move. Wool pellets can be purchased from Amazon for £5.99, or B&Q for £10.98.
They also have to produce more mucus to allow them to move forward, which means that they may dry out. Gravel and copper tape may also work.
If you’ve tried all the above methods and nothing seems to be deterring them, David suggested that you could make a beer trap. “I bury them in the ground so there’s at least about an inch or a bit more above the ground to stop little beetles falling in by mistake”, he said.
“The slugs will crawl over and then just put some beer at the bottom. It’s almost like a dinner bell for the slugs as they come in and then you can humanely remove them.”
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