What you will see
Irregular holes in soft leaves and young shoots and slime trails; they feed at night.
How to protect
- Prevention
- Plant sturdy potted plants, not delicate young seedlings.
- Water in the morning, not the evening (evening watering helps them move around).
- Encourage their natural enemies: birds, hedgehogs, toads, ground beetles.
- By hand evening, after rainPick them off by hand on damp evenings and take them far away. Traps: hollowed-out citrus halves placed cut side down, or sunken containers of beer; check in the morning.
- Biological when the soil is warm and moistSlug-specific nematodes (from a biological control supplier) are watered into the soil.
- Chemical — only when nothing else helps according to the product labelLast resort only: a product authorised in your country against slugs and snails. Try non-chemical methods first.
