- Snail Trap: Pros and Cons
- Beer trap for snails: does it really work?
- Build a snail trap yourself: Instructions
- Alternatives to snail traps
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No one likes to see slugs in the bed. Therefore, many snail traps or instructions for DIY are offered.
Nudibranchs happily feast in the lush beds of hard-working gardeners. In order to get some of the harvest yourself, it is advisable to set up snail traps. It's pretty simple, especially when you know what snails like: protection from predators and dehydration. Traps that offer these two baits work best. On some models the snails can be collected alive, on others they die.
Tip: Snail traps are generally most effective in spring, as the other food supply is still low here and this prevents the development of a large snail population.
Snail Trap: Pros and Cons
Slug traps can be divided into live and poisonous traps.
Live Traps
Live traps aim to attract snails with scents or provide them with an attractive shelter. From there they can be collected and resettled in a new habitat. The problem here is that the snails may return to you or your neighbors. On the other hand, it is positive that no animal is tortured and no beneficial organisms such as snails are harmed.
However, attractants that are too strong like beer only attract more of the reptiles. Cooked food could attract unwanted rats. Live traps are quick and easy to build yourself - we'll explain how later. Since snail traps are often not very visually appealing, some variants can even be buried in the ground.
Poison Traps
Slugs will die when using Poison Bait, eliminating them permanently. In addition, scattered slug pellets in the bed are relatively inconspicuous. However, the duration of the effect depends on the weather. Such metaldehyde-based grain - like most conventional ones - is, however, harmful to the environment and also endangers other animals and small children. Who this and expectorant, dead inIf you want to avoid slugs lying around in bed, you can use ferric phosphate slug pellets.
At a glance: advantages and disadvantages of snail traps
- Live Traps: Resistant to weather conditions and self-made, but not a reliable slug elimination
- Poison traps with metaldehyde: Reliable snail control, but sensitive to weather, cannot be made by yourself and is harmful to pets and the environment
- Poison traps with iron-III-phosphate: Reliable snail control, gentle on pets and beneficial insects, insensitive to weather, but cannot be made by yourself
Tip: You need about 20 to 30 snail traps for a 100 square meter garden. Choose a location under dense bushes, perennials and groundcover, especially at the edge of the garden, just where the snails like to hang out.
Beer trap for snails: does it really work?
Probably not, because beer has an enormously strong attraction for snails. They can smell the yeast in the beer from a distance of up to 200 meters. That seems practical at first. However, this also attracts snails from a wide area that would otherwise not have come into the garden at all. It is therefore better not to use beer traps.
Build a snail trap yourself: Instructions
If you want to build a snail trap, you should consider the following: slugs love it dark, damp and warm. Food is an added bonus that no slug would refuse, of course. The molluscs are best attracted with moderate attractants from plant parts that snails like to eat. Lettuce, cabbage, strawberries, apples and some other fruits are effective. Kitchen leftovers can be used, but nothing that has been cooked or seasoned, otherwise rats will be attracted. Ornamental plants such as marigolds or dahlias are also used. Wet wheat bran is also recommended.
In the following you will learn how to build a snail trap yourself using home remedies.
Dark and Damp Oases
Snails are made up of almost 90% water. It is therefore essential to protect yourself from dehydration. Where is the best place to go? In a dark and humid place, of course! So give the slimy companions an inviting shelter. You can do this, for example, by using a moistened wooden board, preferably withgrooves, place in a shady spot. The snails will soon arrive there and can be removed. In a slightly sunnier spot, a moistened wooden board on the ground with some space underneath can also serve as a hiding place for snails. A moistened tree stump in the shade is just as attractive. The advantage of this method is that it really doesn't take much effort or expense to set up a hideout.
Tip: The entry points into such containers should be small, only around 1 cm in diameter. This way no snails can get lost in it.
Collection Vessel Livetrap
Live traps for snails are collection containers that the little creatures can get into easily, but only with difficulty or reluctance to get out again. Snails avoid brightness because it is associated with predators and with solar radiation that leads to dehydration. Therefore, the center of the trap is dark, while the way out is getting lighter and brighter. So there is a clear reason for the snails to remain in the trap.
You can collect snails in different containers. A popular option is to make a snail trap out of a milk carton. To do this, rinse the box properly, remove the lid, fill in kitchen waste as described above and off to the garden with it. It is best to dig it a little into the ground with the opening facing upwards. Of course, other tetra packs can also be used, as well as other containers that create a damp and dark environment. The opening should be large enough for snails, but prevent larger animals from entering. It's a good idea to collect the molluscs before dusk and change the trap location every two to four days.
Important: Intensive attractants such as beer or brewer's yeast should be avoided at all costs, as they also attract numerous snails from a distance.
Collection trap with slug pellets
Snail traps can be loaded with slug pellets instead of kitchen leftovers. Traps like this are made a little differently.
To prevent the snail pellets from coming into contact with the ground, the pellets can be sprinkled in crown caps and glued on. For stability, the cork should then be glued to a base. The base with theSnail shell cork is covered with a dark shell of the kind found on food packaging such as yoghurt pots. However, small openings must be cut in the cup so that the snails can get in. These should be about 1 cm in diameter - big enough for slugs to fit through, but not snails. The traps are placed where the risk of snail damage is greatest: between new plantings or other particularly susceptible varieties. Bait stations should also be placed in typical habitats, for example ground cover such as cushion perennials or natural stone walls. We recommend relocating the trap after two to four days.
Alternatives to snail traps
If you don't want to set up any of the slug traps described in your garden, there are other ways to protect yourself from snails.
Slug pellets
A common remedy is slug pellets. In the past, it usually contained the active ingredient methiocarb, which is no longer approved due to its environmental impact. Another substance used is metaldehyde, which is just as toxic to pets, but is gentle on beneficial animals and therefore approved for use.
Better, and even approved for organic cultivation, is the active ingredient iron-III-phosphate. Snails that consume this remedy stop feeding, retreat to their hiding places and die there. There is no danger to other animals or people. Therefore, our Plantura organic slug pellets are also based on the environmentally friendly iron-III-phosphate. Over time, this is converted into the nutrient elements iron and phosphate and is completely harmless to the soil and the environment.
You can find out in detail what needs to be considered when spreading the grain in our special article on slug pellets.
Plants against slugs
There are many plants that snails don't like. These include herbs such as wild garlic (Allium ursinum), real oregano (Origanum vulgare) or thyme (Thymus spec.). Bait plants such as marigolds (Tagetes) or larkspur (Delphinium spec.) also keep snails away from fruit and vegetables. You can learn which other plants are helpful in our article on plants against snails.
Snail Fences
Snail fences can also be used. Thisshould be anchored at least 10 cm deep in the ground and also be 10 cm high. It is important that no plant parts stick out over the fence and that the snails are collected regularly, preferably every evening after dusk. Coffee grounds can be used as a further barrier. You can read about what needs to be considered in our article Coffee grounds against snails .
Encourage natural enemies
Natural predators decimate slug infestation. These include many birds such as magpies, blackbirds or starlings, as well as hedgehogs, shrews, toads and slowworms. Anyone who offers these animals a natural habitat makes the work of plant protection easier. Create piles of leaves for hiding, or hedges and shrubs for nesting sites.
Mulch and water properlyn
Mulch is designed to prevent beds from drying out. However, moist wood and bark are also popular with snails. In order to keep snails out of the bed, it should not be mulched. Regular watering every two to three days, or more often in particularly hot weather, is more effective against snail infestation than mulch. Timing is also important when watering. Morning watering is beneficial as it allows the soil to dry out before the slugs appear in the evening. So they find an area that doesn't appeal to them as much.
Fight snails in time
In the fall or early spring, the next generation of snails can be prevented from growing by destroying their pinhead-sized eggs. Hundreds of these can be found in nests in the ground, but also under planters, moss, mulch, loose stones, between flagstones and in piles of leaves. Garden snails and tiger slugs help gardeners to get rid of them because they eat the eggs of other snails. The scrim can also be positioned where it is exposed to the sun so that it dries up. The remains are eaten by birds and hedgehogs.
If you care about the environment and animals, sometimes it's not that easy to practice crop protection. You get some support from the plants themselves, because some of them the snails don't like at all. What plants you can cultivate in your garden without fearTo protect yourself against a slug infestation, see our article on slug-resistant plants.