Snail solutions

Crack, crack, crack! It’s a sound that reminds me of my time working on a rock garden, while my manager threw snails against a hard path. That’s one way of dealing with a pest that has a strong homing instinct, but there are many others... Shells make snails different to slugs – an important factor when it comes to their control. Because slugs lack shells, they burrow into the soil for protection, meaning nematodes are an effective biocontrol for them, but not for snails. Snails don’t have all the advantages though – by staying above ground and congregating in cool, humid corners, they’re easier to find, so birds and humans can readily pick them off. To protect young plants from snails, you can put down barriers of copper, soot or gel, along with slug traps. If you use slug pellets, those containing ferric phosphate rather than metaldehyde are less harmful to wildlife, and all should be applied thinly. You don’t want to harm the natural predators that could be working for you. Emma Crawforth, Gardening Editor