What could be better and he althier than vegetables and fruits from the garden, which are rich in various vitamins. Each summer resident annually encounters a variety of pests of vegetable crops. Especially in rainy summers, many gardeners suffer from invasions of slugs and snails. These insects are able to destroy not only the green mass of cultivated plants, but also their fruits. If small abrasions are found on the crops in any part, as if on a grater, and the earth glistens around the beds, then the slugs are in the garden. How to get rid of these pests with folk methods will be discussed later.
Description
The parasites found on the beds belong to the order of invertebrates and the family of gastropods. In appearance, they are very similar to snails and differ only in the absence of a house. Such pests move due to the contraction of the muscles of the body, which is accompanied by an abundant secretion of mucus. This is necessary for better gliding of the body of the mollusk on the ground and protects it from drying out. It is worth considering pest control methods,because this can be a significant problem (slugs in the garden). How to get rid of folk remedies and chemicals will be described below. Since slugs are afraid of the strong sun and rising temperatures, you can meet them during the day only in shaded, cool places. Basically, these invertebrates are nocturnal. They lay their eggs in late autumn or spring, immediately after waking up. The larvae mature for about three months.
Benefits of insects
Before you get rid of slugs in the garden, you should also familiarize yourself with the positive aspects of their life on the site. In addition to cultivated plants, slugs can eat various lichens, mushrooms, fallen leaves and other unnecessary vegetation, acting as a kind of orderly in the garden.
Many fishermen know how to get rid of slugs. After all, they simply collect these invertebrates for bait, and sometimes they are specially bred for this purpose. Domestic chickens are also very fond of slugs, so many owners of farms with these birds also collect and specially breed slugs for food for chickens.
Insect Harm
Before you get rid of slugs in your summer cottage, you need to correctly identify their favorite gathering places. Since insects are predominantly nocturnal, it is not easy to notice them. You can determine where the pests were by the silvery trace left on the ground and leaves from their mucus, as well as by the crops eaten.
Slugs can easily become food:
- tomatoes;
- fruits of strawberries and wild strawberries;
- cucumbers;
- cabbage;
- sweet pepper;
- any young sprouts;
- harvest fruit trees.
The need to fight
In addition to the aesthetic damage to the crop, slugs can be a danger to the he alth of the person himself and his pets. The fact is that these pests are capable of spreading spores of fungal diseases and worm larvae. That is why, if traces of invertebrate activity are found on the site, it is necessary to ask yourself as soon as possible how to get rid of slugs in the garden.
Prevention measures
In order not to be interested in information in the future on how to get rid of slugs in the beds, it is better to secure your garden in advance and prevent their appearance, because it is much easier to do this than to remove pests that have already taken root from the site.
The main preventive way to get rid of slugs is to reduce, and if possible, completely remove too wet and shaded areas in the garden.
They are localized at night exactly:
- in heaps of weeds;
- in places of accumulation of organic residues;
- under planks or other cover.
All places where sunlight does not penetrate on the surface of the earth should be carefully checked and removed if possible.
How to get rid of slugs in the country yet? In autumn, it is necessary to carry out deep digging of the soil,so that their eggs freeze in winter, because pests lay them in the ground. By the way, such a preventive measure will help get rid of many other pests.
It will also be useful to attract natural orderlies to the site in the form of frogs, hedgehogs and birds. Slugs are food for them in their natural environment, so by luring them to the garden, you don’t have to worry that invertebrates will appear in large numbers. Birdhouses are usually made for birds, a small pond can be made for frogs, and wintering should be prepared for hedgehogs. The animal will definitely appreciate such a house, only you will first need to lure it with milk or other treats.
Environmental practices
If a slug appears on a pepper, nature itself will tell you how to get rid of it. It is best in such a situation to manually collect pests every morning from the beds and other places of their deployment.
Most often they gather:
- near the iron watering cans;
- at water collection points;
- under irrigation hoses;
- under the porch;
- deep in the beds;
- at plant roots;
- where condensation accumulates.
This method is very effective, but also very time consuming, since not everyone can devote a lot of time to collecting pests every early morning, and not everyone has a desire. That is why there is another ecological way to get rid of slugs. To do this, you just need to place beds with spicy plants in the neighborhood along with sowing or planting seedlings of crops.herbs, the aroma of which repels invertebrates. Mint, garlic, rosemary and other herbs can be used for this purpose. It is best to place them around the entire perimeter of the beds.
Protection of young sprouts
To protect young seedlings of cultivated plants from being eaten by pests, it is necessary to spray its leaves with special solutions from time to time. To do this, in a ratio of 1:6 with water, you can dilute table vinegar or ammonia. It is very important to treat all surfaces of the seedlings without exception, even the leaves on the reverse side.
There are other ways to get rid of slugs in seedlings. For this, spray mixtures are also prepared, only based on instant coffee or mustard powder. The latter should be taken no more than 6 tablespoons per 10 liters of water. After each rain or watering, the procedure must be repeated.
How to get rid of slugs in a greenhouse? Spraying with caustic compounds in the created microclimate can harm crops, therefore, in greenhouse conditions, it is better to use dry soil sprinkles around plantings. To do this, take the same dry mustard powder, slaked lime or wood ash. Pests avoid such areas because these dry substances damage their bodies. For prevention, it is enough to sprinkle 30 grams per square meter of beds.
Slug Traps
In the case when pests have already chosen a garden for themselves, it is necessary to act more drastically. To do this, it is necessary to place special traps for slugs on the site,which you can buy ready-made or easily make your own, because everyone knows the preferences of shellfish.
The easiest way is to spread large wet leaves of plants, pieces of roofing material, linoleum or boards around the perimeter of plantings in the evening, and in the morning just collect slugs from under them. To increase efficiency, it is recommended not to water the garden before this for several days. It is important to do this with gloves or special accessories, as their mucus is very difficult to wash off and may contain harmful microorganisms.
The deadliest and most effective invertebrate trap is cornmeal or grits. With its smell, it attracts slugs to feast on, after which they all surely die. For cooking, flour or cereal is poured into a jar and placed on its side near the garden. At night, invertebrates gather in it, overeat and die, the next morning it remains only to collect them and throw them away. This will help get rid of planting pests of any crops.
How to get rid of slugs on cucumbers? In addition to the method described above, beer traps can be placed around the perimeter of the beds. The smell of fermentation also attracts mollusks, so kvass or beer, preferably dark, is poured into plastic bottles cut to 1 cm or other shallow containers and placed around the garden. The slugs crawl into the jars, but they can’t get back out, so in the morning the only thing left is to collect them and throw them away.
Kefir can be used in the same way. For these purposes, by the way, you do not need to pour it into containers, it is enough to leave an open empty one in the garden for the nighta bottle of fermented milk drink. Fruit peels, even exotic ones, have a peculiar attractive aroma for shellfish.
Will fit leftovers from:
- watermelons;
- melons;
- pumpkins;
- grapefruit;
- oranges and other citrus fruits.
Peels for this should be from half of the whole fruit, in the form of a hemisphere with a hole made in the center. Such a peel is placed on the ground with the outer side up and left overnight. The slugs climb into the hole and cannot climb back up the slippery interior walls, so they are simply picked up and disposed of in the morning.
Another effective way is to mulch the beds with cultivated plantings. This method is especially relevant during the fruiting period of berries, such as strawberries and strawberries, since the use of chemicals at this time is strictly prohibited. Sprinkle the aisles of crops with any sharp and small materials that can damage the body of the mollusk. S alt is ideal for this, as it additionally destroys the mucus of the invertebrate. In addition to it, you can use crushed eggshells, broken shells, small pebbles and even pine needles, the aroma of which will further repel pests.
Chemicals
If none of the listed loyal methods worked, and pests continue to attack plantings, then three weeks before harvesting, it is allowed to apply a chemical mixture. They are made in the form of granules for scattering.row spacing.
Popular are:
- "Meta".
- "Thunderstorm".
- "Ferramol".
- "Anti-slug".
Almost always, the dosage per 1 square meter is 3 grams of the substance, but when using this method, one should not forget about the dangers. The fact is that the preparations contain components that repel birds, and do not harm them, but at the same time they can be dangerous for other pets, especially cats. Also, the active substance can accumulate in the fruits of plants, which is not very good for the person himself. Always after using such cardinal methods, the resulting crop should be thoroughly washed under hot water before use.
Favorite treat
Compared to other crops, slugs are most often found on cabbages. Especially early tender varieties can be completely spoiled by invertebrate parasites. In order not to think at the last moment how to get rid of slugs on cabbage, you need to start protecting young plants from the moment they land in the ground.
For this, young seedlings should be placed at a great distance, at least half a meter, so as not to thicken and shade the bed when the heads of cabbage begin to grow. Additional security for each sprout can be provided with a kind of fence. To make it, you need to cut a ring out of a plastic bottle and perforate it from the top edge with tweezers or small scissors. Sharp jagged edges will damage the mollusc's body if it wishes to reach the seedlings.
As soon as the head of cabbage begins to grow, and the lower leaves fall to the ground, they should be cut off immediately. Planting aisles can be sprinkled with various small mulches or fragrant wormwood or stinging nettles can be laid out daily around heads of cabbage. Herbs must always be fresh to be effective.
Interestingly, for prevention, cabbage can be watered in the evening with hot water (no more than 50 degrees) over closed leaves. Such a procedure does not threaten the plant at all, but it will burn the pests well.
To treat slugs in garden crops, an infusion of bitter pepper is often used. To prepare it, the hot spice powder is insisted for two days in a liter of water, after which it is boiled. The heat-treated solution is insisted for another day, only after that it is used for its intended purpose. It is important to take the finished mixture of only 100 grams per bucket of water, otherwise you can burn the plants. The finished product is stored in a cool dark place. For long-term preservation on the leaves, you can add a soap solution to the mixture.
In conclusion
Actually, getting rid of slugs is quite easy, you just need to block their access to favorable habitats. Of course, the most effective means of control will be the implementation of preventive measures to prevent their occurrence, especially since there are currently a huge number of specialized stores that sellpreparations to eliminate pests.
