Produced by
Patti Moreno
Contributor to:
The Dancing Snail
Every garden has it's pests, and some are more talented than others! This little guy was found dancing across my zucchini leaves, and inspired us to take a closer look at this common garden pest.
Snails are notoriously slow creatures, and are often very small. But donʼt be fooled, they can wreak havoc on the unsuspecting gardener, leaving your squash leaves looking like a lace doily in a matter of days. They cling to the undersides of leaves, which makes them often hard to spot, but you can always see the tell-tale tale holes they leave in their wake. If you start noticing bites missing from your vegetables, donʼt panic! Snails are easy to get rid of and to prevent.
Since snails are soft-bodies and slide their bellies across the ground, itʼs easy to keep them away simply by making the ground a place they donʼt want to be. Whenever you use eggs in your kitchen, save the shells and break them up all around your garden. This creates a surface similar to broken glass, and snails will stay away from it. If you already see signs that you have snails, you can easily lure them out of your veggies and into traps. Just set out some inverted citrus rinds which attract the snails to take cover inside them. You can then trap them and throw them away. You can also set out a saucer of stale beer, pushed into the soil so itʼs level. Snails will crawl into the beer and drown.
If you see snail damage on your plants but donʼt see the snails, check the undersides of all your leaves where they love to hide. And donʼt be grossed out, the great thing about snails compared to other garden pests is that they all have beautiful hard shells that make perfect handles for picking them up and throwing them away without having to touch anything slimy!
