In spring, when flowers and salads point the tip of the nose, a great subject animates the conversations of the gardeners: slugs and their cousins, snails! Slugs love young vegetables and tender plants (snails are harmless …). Follow our tips for keeping slugs away.
HOW’S IT GOING?
Gradually, the spinach, peas and salads that you have sown with love appear in small plants. For your enjoyment but not only yours: Slugs cheer too. For them, these tender young leaves are a feast. They like it so much that they can in a few days enjoy all your vegetable garden ! And if you have filled your planters with tender leaves, they do the same! Grrr! What to do to get rid of it?
AT THE MOMENT OF REPRODUCTION
A slug can lay up to 400 eggs . The first spawning starts in April. Be as quick as a chicken to eliminate them. Also check your bins and pots . Little white balls in sight? To eliminate illico because they are eggs of slugs.
NATURAL PREDATORS
Slugs have natural enemies. The thrushes, blackbirds, toads, moles and hedgehogs are fond. And slugs can also be on the menu of ground beetles, spiders and other young birds.
Tip: Attract chickens with some worms to the garden. They also love slugs. The pros advise to let the chickens wander in the garden in winter.
SMART SLUG STUFF
These gastropods are particularly active when it is dark and wet . So rather evening and night, in general, and, in rainy weather, during the day. So be more attentive to these moments, to pick them as soon as they leave. If these nocturnal walks do not inspire you, here are some other tips to repel them.
OBSTACLES Slugs are not very brave to overcome obstacles. Surround your plants with a small barrier of eggshells , gravel , ashes …
UNPLEASANT ODORS They are quickly disgusted by strong smells. Plant near the plants to protect the sage, the thyme, the nasturtiums. Bordering the vegetable squares of lavender is also quite effective.
BEER TRAPSlugs find the smell of yeast very pleasant. Steal them by placing saucers filled with beer on their way.
LEAVES OF CABBAGE AND RHUBARB In the evening, place a large leaf of rhubarb or cabbage on the ground near the salads. The following day, several slugs will be hung there . You will only have to throw the sheet on the compost.
ORGANIC SLUG PELLETS
If all this stuff does not work, you still have the solution of slug pellets to spread around the plants to protect. Please make sure that it is organic pellets , which eliminate slugs without harming other garden hosts (hedgehogs, birds, etc.).
Read more: What to do in the garden in August
garden vegetables. Let them crawl at their ease; limit your slug offensive.