Most of us think of spring as the time of year when slugs and snails are on the move, fresh from their winter snooze and ready to eat–all of our freshly sprouted annuals and veggies! They spend all summer in the cool of the night helping themselves to a smorgasbord of everything in our gardens and then disappear with the morning sun. Most of us here in the northwest constantly fight the up-hill battle with slugs and snails using a variety of tactics from our arsenal ranging from beer and flash lights to copper tape and salt. All of these work in their own ways, but unfortunately none seem to be the magic cure-all we all want so badly.
My mother taught me a long time ago, a wise gardener plans ahead! That being said, we as the wise gardeners that we are, can plan now to knock out our slug and snail problem for next year! With cooler temperatures on the way slugs and snails will be looking to lay their last batch of eggs for the season and bed down for the winter. This is the perfect time to take action against the slimy little pests, with a few tricks and preventative measures you can easily cut down your slug and snail population.
Coming into fall, lay down baits around the garden and other areas of interest to slugs and snails with the hope of getting to them before they lay their eggs. Slugs and snails lay eggs numerous times throughout the spring and summer and don’t need to mate in order to do so–that means EVERY SINGLE SLUG in your garden WILL lay eggs, and probably more than once. Our favorite bate is Sluggo, its all natural and safe around children, pets, and other wildlife; plus whatever doesn’t get eaten actually enriches your soil! The iron doesn’t kill them immediately, so you won’t end up with slimy corpses all over your garden, it takes a few days so they usually go into hiding somewhere cool and pass away–out of sight, out of mind!
Lastly, make sure you clean up any areas that would provide them shelter for their eggs, or for themselves. Pick up piles of yard and garden debris, don’t leave stacks of bricks on the ground, and tear out your garden remains once the season is done. All these sheltered areas look prime to snails looking to lay down some eggs, or hide out till spring. Eliminate areas of interest and they’ll likely move along to somewhere else.
Come by the nursery to shop a variety of slug and snail baits and repellants and utilize this time of year for early prevention of next years population.
