Fighting snails on your weed plant

If you suffer from snails on your weed plant you may think that the end of your hard-earned harvest is in sight. But there are plenty of solutions to keep your weed safe from a snail infestation. In this article we offer help with snails and slugs.

Snails on your weed plant, is that bad?

Do not panic. A snail feasting on the leaves of your weed plant is not a disaster. If you grow weed outdoors, you will unexpectedly encounter pests. Well, pests is not the right wording. Sometimes it is even desirable to have insects on your weed plant. After all, these can be natural enemies of the bugs that do cause problems. A single snail or slug on your plant is no reason to take action. Your weed plants are strong enough to resist slugs and snails. Do nature a favor and move the snail to another plant. Chances are that the snail will find that plant more appetizing and will find a new buffet there.

Snails in the garden. Good or bad?

Snails in the garden are beneficial. They play an important role in the ecosystem of your garden as food for hedgehogs, birds and toads and they stir up the earth. This makes the soil more airy and the roots of your plants get more oxygen. This is necessary for the root system to grow and the size of your plants to increase. So no, snails are not bad.

One snail is no reason to panic. Take it off the plant and put it somewhere else.

However, the bugs can eat themselves full of the leaves of plants that you like yourself. Lettuce and cabbage for example. With our weed plants this is not really a problem, since we don't want the same parts of weed plants as the snails do. So what do snails eat? We mainly focus on the buds (flowers), while snails are more interested in the young leaves. However, an infestation of slugs and snails can particularly affect the growth phase of your weed plant. If you have moist soil because the groundwater in your garden is high, your garden is vulnerable to snail infestation. Then you have to deal with dozens of snails on one plant. And then it starts to become problematic. So, what can you do against high amounts of snails in the garden?

What to do against snails?

If you have a lot of slugs and snails in your garden and your weed plants are no longer safe you can take a few steps to protect your harvest:

  • Remove snails
  • Attract natural enemies
  • Give snails a home
  • Introduce nematodes into the garden
  • Put better options for snails in the garden than weed plants

Remove the snails

Slugs and snails hide during the day to keep from drying out. But when the sun goes down, they come out and it's feeding time. This means that it is also easier for you to pick them off your weed plant at night than during the day. Take a flashlight and hunt away!

Attract natural enemies

The number one way to control overcrowding of slugs is to attract natural enemies of slugs. But how do you attract hedgehogs, birds, salamanders and toads? If you have the space, the best way is to build a pond. Water is a huge magnet for many animals. In no time, the snail plague will be over. Also, make a hole in the fence large enough to attract hedgehogs. Or plant trees and bushes with berries to attract birds. In either case, having ponds will help even more. So the key to these welcome guests is greater biodiversity in the garden.

Cute, endangered and extremely useful against snails.

Give snails a home

You can use a pile of old bricks and damp cardboard to make a sort of hiding place for snails. But since you know exactly where the slugs hide during the day, you also know how to fight them. Create such a home for them in a shady spot, where the coolness provides false security!

Introduce nematodes into the garden

Nematodes or grubs are very small roundworms that just live in healthy soil. You can use them against all kinds of nasty insects that threaten your weed plants. From the dreaded sciarid fly to larvae, but also against snails and slugs. These parasites kill slugs with a bacterium that is completely harmless to us and our pets. You can buy them at various garden centers and online web shops in the form of gels, powders and granules. All natural.

Nematode under a microscope.

Put better options for snails in the garden than weed plants

Weed is second or even third choice for snails. There are plants that are much more appetizing to them. If you put plants on the other side of the garden that snails love, they will stay away from around your weed plant. Place some of the following plants at a certain distance to keep snails away:

  • Dahlia
  • Hosta (Hartlelie)
  • Iris (Lis)
  • Lupine
  • Fireweed

Or put one of these plants near your weed plants that snails don't like:

  • Lavender
  • Fuchsia
  • Foxglove
  • Catmint
  • Ferns
  • Lady’s mantle

This way you send snails from one side of the garden to the other!

Hostas are higher on the menu of snails than weed plants.

Pesticides and Grandma's Remedies

No patience to let nature take its course with the options above? Yet we strongly recommend that you do. Especially in the long run, the balance in the garden will be restored, making all your plants healthier. Also, the above tricks against snails are safe for humans, pets, your weed plants and the natural enemies of snails. Finally, we would like to tell you about ways that are much talked about online to control snails.

Salt and vinegar - Do not do this! This is not only the most cruel way to combat slugs and snails but also harmful to the soil and groundwater. Salinization and acidification of the groundwater also affect your (weed) plants, causing them to die eventually.

Beer - Excellent option. If you bury a jar in the ground and fill it with a nice sweet beer, you will attract snails and they will fall in. Then you can remove the snails afterwards.

Melon - A hollowed out melon or melon peels are the perfect hiding place for slugs and snails. Also to be combined with the house of bricks and wet cardboard we mentioned above.

Snail pellets - Harmful to the natural enemies of slugs, pets and humans. Do not use this.

Copper - Pricey, but works flawlessly. Place copper tape around your weed plants and slugs and snails will avoid it. Copper is toxic to slugs and snails.

Garlic - Both the plant and the dried cloves of garlic are also toxic to snails. If you squeeze a few cloves of garlic and put them in the plant spray with water, you have an excellent natural pesticide against snails. An additional advantage: slug eggs sprayed with garlic water will no longer hatch either.

Are you suffering from mould on your weed plant or other pests? Read these blogs to keep your weed plant healthy and strong:

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