Revealed: The dark art of keeping slugs at bay

THEY are the common pests that every gardener dreads.

But now experts have revealed one very straightforward way of stopping slugs and snails munching through plants: switch off the lights.

New research has found that street and security lights can attract nearly 30 times more slugs and snails to a garden.

Ecologists in Berlin tested how light affected the behaviour of earth molluscs by setting up a string of street lamps to light an area from twilight to dawn, while another area was never lit.

Slug traps were placed at each site to monitor numbers.

The researchers are unsure exactly why light has an effect, but one theory is that predators such as hedgehogs which feed on slugs are scared away by light, encouraging the slugs to come out.

Dr Roy van Grunsven, who led the research, said: ‘Illuminating your garden at night might increase the abundance of slugs.’