Prompted by readers who reported snails were infesting their gardens and their letterboxes – even eating this magazine! – we asked Merilyn House of Helensburgh Landcare for tips.
Is your garden being overcome by snails? Are snails eating your precious plants? It seems like an on-going battle to control them sometimes.
Snails like a moist environment, night time, cloudy days and they especially like it when it rains in the evening. Sounds a bit like some of the weather we have been having recently.
Some garden visitors that snails don’t like include Australian native snails, birds, blue tongue lizards and frogs! They also don’t like dry weather. They are able to seal up their shells to survive until the rain comes again.
If you have a snail problem, try natural methods to get rid of them rather than resort to chemical methods.
Some natural suggestions:
- Spray a coffee mix (one part espresso to ten parts water) on leaves and around plants.
- Snails don’t like lime, wood ash, wood shavings, sawdust or diatomaceous earth. Spread them around plants. Make sure you top up after rain. Egg shells are another suggestion for deterring snails.
- Make a beer trap. Recycle a container like a yoghurt container, or cut a plastic soft drink bottle and bury it in your garden so that the rim is level with the ground. Make it deep enough so that you can fill it with beer, just enough to drown the snails, but not so much they can climb out. The snails, drawn to the beer, will crawl in and drown. Ensure you refill the trap every few days. If you don’t want to use beer, you can use Vegemite as a substitute.
- Vinegar is a snail deterrent. Mix equal parts of vinegar and water. Spray around the edges of your garden or in plant pots. Don’t get the spray on the leaves as it can damage them.
If natural methods don’t work, you can try proprietary snail repellents. Make sure you use an eco-friendly snail treatment. You don’t want to kill insects, etc. that are beneficial to your garden, or household or native animals.
For more suggestions, visit the Sustainable Gardening Australia website
