Gardening hack: These tips will help alleviate the slug, snail problems in your garden

Slugs and snails are mollusks and are related to oysters and clams. Snails are the ones with shells and slugs are the ones without shells.

These tiny animals eat using their rasping mouthpart called the radula. The holes they leave are irregularly shaped.

They hide in bright sunlight and heat. In the daytime, you may see their silvery trails, left from the mucus as they move themselves along on their single foot.

Despite some garden damage, slugs and snails are important decomposers, feeding on decaying matter. They provide food for some insects and birds. Chickens and ducks will happily eat your pests.

How to deter slugs and snails from your garden

To keep these animals from specific plants you can surround the plant with a wide circle of coffee grounds, builders' sand, diatomaceous earth, or crushed eggshells. Diatomaceous earth is only effective until it becomes wet. Then it must be replaced.

For container plants, a wide strip of copper makes a barrier they will not cross. A copper wire is not wide enough. Barriers are not perfect and must be maintained to be effective. If any part of the plant touches the earth outside the barrier that part will be used as a bridge to the rest of the plant.

More:Yes, you can grow a vegetable garden in containers. Here's how to do it.

Baits can help alleviate the slug problem in your garden

Commercial slug baits work. Baits must be placed throughout the affected area because the tiny animals do not travel far. Bait must be placed near where slugs and snails hide during the day.

More importantly, the baits can be toxic to pets and children. Instead of these baits, you could sink a container with beer into the soil with the top at or just very slightly above soil level. Best of all, you can use a cheaper beer that you have let get a little stale.

More:Learn how to spot invasive species in your yard and what to do about it

How to remove slugs from a garden

Another control is removal. You can collect them by hand as they feed at night. Wearing gloves is advised since they can carry salmonella.

An easier removal method is damp cardboard or a wooden board laid flat. They will cling to the undersides during the day when they are hiding where you can now find and remove them. Remember that slugs and snails have their role in nature and it is not necessary to kill every one of them. Killing methods include crushing, sealing in a plastic bag, sprinkling with salt, or placing them in a bucket of soapy water. Be careful that salt does not get added to your soil or it will harm your plants.

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