Snails are among the archenemies of all hobby gardeners, but there are said to be plants that can drive them away. We show how to fight snails.
When snails (Gastropoda) attack vegetable and flower beds, it is often very annoying, after all you have put a lot of love and care into your own plants. Salads in particular, but also basil (Ocimum basilicum) are particularly popular with hungry snails - then there is often not much left of the plant. In addition to slug-resistant plants, there are also plants that actively deter slugs with their smell.
Repel snails by smell with herbs
Snails have a fine nose and are put off by different smells. Snails pick up chemical signals via their smell and taste cells. These special sensory cells can be found all over the body and are mainly concentrated on the head or on the antennae of the snails.
First and foremost, there are different herbs that have a repellent effect, because the essential oils often have a very intense scent. But a few types of vegetables and ornamental plants can also chase the snails out of the garden bed. If you grow a lot of such plants in the garden, the little creatures will find little food and will hopefully withdraw from the beds.
The following herbs and medicinal plants have a slug deterrent effect and are not consumed themselves.
- Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum)
- Southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum)
- Camomile (Matricaria chamomilla)
- Real Dost (Origanum vulgare)
- Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
- Garden cress (Lepidium sativum)
- Borage (Borago officinalis)
- Curry herb (Helichrysum italicum)
- Nasturtium (Tropaeolum)
- Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
- Chives(Allium schoenoprasum)
- Thyme (Thymus)
- Savory (Satureja)
- Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis)
- Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
There should be very few problems with snail feeding with these herbs. In addition, you can always enjoy the pleasant smell and delicious taste of the herbs.
The intense smell of garlic (Allium sativum) and onions (Allium cepa) sometimes has a deterrent effect on snails - like How strong this effect is, however, is described differently. In any case, these leeks (Allioideae) are avoided and not eaten. So you can plant such plants at the edges of the beds and also between the rows to spoil the appetite of the snails. By the way, there are some other vegetables that snails don't like.
Tip: In addition to deterrent plants, it is important to know which plants snails eat. We therefore answer the question “What do snails eat?” for you.
Plant decoction against snails
Some plant manure can also repel snails with their smell and are extremely easy to make. To do this, you take coarsely chopped plant parts and let them ferment in water for a few days to weeks to get liquid manure. When this is ready, you can spray the affected plant with diluted manure or water the plants in the beds with it.
Manure and plant teas from the following plants have a snail-repellent effect:
- Begonias (Begonia)
- Ivy (Hedera helix)
- Ferns
- Elder (Sambucus)
- Lavender (Lavendula)
- Liverwort (Marchantiophyta)
- Moss
- Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
- Yarrow (Achillea)
- Blackcurrants (Ribes)
- Pine Cones (Abies)
- Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): The sprouts produced when tomatoes are pinched are excellent.
- Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)
You can not only process these plants into manure, but also spread them out as a mulch layer around the endangered plants and thuscreate a deterrent barrier. Since snails do not like to climb over rough and dry areas, materials such as dry grass cuttings, straw, rock dust or sand are also recommended for such barriers.
Tip: In addition to plant broths, manure and teas can also be made from compost to use in the fight against snails.
Further control options against snails
Unfortunately, a selection of snail-repelling plants is sometimes not enough to combat snails. Especially when there is high slug pressure, you will have to use other control methods to drive the little creatures out of the garden and get rid of them completely, such as slug pellets.
With our Plantura organic slug pellets you can fight slugs effectively and reliably, for example. Thanks to the highly concentrated power active ingredient with iron-III-phosphate, our slug pellets offer optimal protection and are also rainproof. After ingestion, the slugs retreat to their hiding places without the formation of slime and die there unnoticed. The naturally occurring active ingredient is gentle on pets and beneficial insects.
Another way to combat them is to bait them with particularly desirable plants. In addition to lupine (Lupinus) and delphinium (Delphinium), these also include the easy-care marigolds (Tagetes). Snails clearly prefer them to other plants and quickly eat them up completely. Sow or plant marigolds in lonely garden corners, the ravenous mollusks migrate there and hopefully leave vegetable beds unmolested.
Mechanical barriers such as slug fences along a raised bed will not be overcome as slugs cannot climb over the angled side. Individual, particularly endangered plants can also be protected with such snail fences.
Tip: Find out more about protection against snails in raised beds in our special article.
But there are other methods of fighting snails, such as home remedies against snails, which can help a lot in the fight against slugs. In addition, there are other biological and chemical strategies to control slugs with which good results can be achieved. A special type of pest control is the use of ducks against snails. You can read about the husbandry requirements of ducks and how they can be used in the garden.
You wantknow which vegetables snails don't like? You can find the answer in our special article.