The Kitchen Scraps That Can Rid Your Garden Of Snails And Slugs
Snails and slugs may look cute gliding around your garden, but they cause more harm than good. The main pro of having these gastropods in your garden is that their turd makes the perfect fertilizer. It's full of nitrogen and minerals that can provide nutrition to your plants. Unfortunately, these little creatures also prefer to eat the dead foliage that falls off your plants, but when there are no more dead scraps left for them to consume, problems begin to arise.
When no other food is available, snails will climb up your plants to eat flower buds, according to Pest Control Products. They will also make holes into the leaves and eat the bark of young trees. In addition, slugs will feast on bulbs and seedlings under the ground before they have the chance to mature. However, the biggest problem with snails and slugs in your garden is that they can transmit diseases like salmonella. Luckily, there are kitchen scraps that can be used as pest deterrents, helping you get rid of them without having to buy any chemical that might harm your plants.
Eggshells
Eggshells are great for your plants for a multitude of reasons. The most well-known reason is that the calcium in the shells fertilizes the soil. Another reason to add these scraps to your garden is that they will deter snails and slugs from infiltrating your garden and eating your plants. This method works because when crushed up, the eggshells will have sharp edges that are dangerous for these small creatures to glide over. So instead of going over the sharp obstacles, the snails and slugs will move on to find food from a different source.
To use eggshells like this, you will first want to thoroughly rinse them, Backyard Garden Lover says. It is also important not to use cooked eggshells because they won't be as hard and sharp as uncooked shells. Using a heavy object like a rolling pin or hammer, crush them into tiny pieces. Don't use a mortar and pestle to do this because we want the shells to be in big enough pieces to stand up; we don't want them to be ground to a powder. Then, take them and place them in a circle around your garden or each vulnerable plant.
Nutshells
Nutshells are a kitchen scrap that will deter snails and slugs from your garden. Almost any type of nut will work, but according to Farm & Animals, the only type that you shouldn't use against pests in gardens is black walnut shells because they are harmful to plants. The nutshells should also not be salted because large amounts of salt can burn plants. If you have salted nutshells that you would like to use, instead of throwing them in the garbage, rinse them off before using them in the garden. Roasted nuts are okay to use for this method.
What you are going to do is crush the nutshells into little pieces with a rolling pin or hammer. They should look like tiny jagged scraps of shells, not ground to a powder. Next, place them in a circle around your plants. The nutshell method works in the same way that the eggshells do: The sharp pieces of the shell will be too dangerous for the snails and slugs to glide over, forcing them to turn around.