Chemistry is often used to get rid of slugs.
There are a few other ways to get rid of the unpleasant animals.
Munich - They usually appear at dusk.
They come silently, slowly and in droves.
And then they mess about flowers, vegetables and plants without pardon: If you want to get rid of nudibranchs, you usually rely on chemistry.
But there are other tricks to fight the slimy destroyers.
Not every snail eats its way through the lettuce patch
Some snails that we find in the garden do no harm.
These are mostly the ones who carry their house around with them.
Shell snails like the Roman snail.
These garden co-users, harmless to the gardener, mainly feed on dead plant material.
The libertines are the slugs.
“The Spanish slug, garden slug and the so-called net field slug are the main ravages in local allotment gardens,” writes Öko-Test magazine.
“They all belong to the nudibranchs.” However, there is one ally: the so-called tiger snail.
This patterned nudibranch, ten to 20 centimeters long, likes to eat the eggs of the Spanish slug, among other things.
Salt, slug pellets and beer traps are considered effective means against the pest.
Anyone who wants to try to get rid of the animals without harming them has a chance.
According to Öko-Test, a combination of several measures could work.
Water the plants in the morning.
The drier it is around the plants, the harder it is for the snails to get their "food".
Anyone who owns a near-natural garden can hope for hedgehogs, mice, birds, blindworms and beetles as natural predators and thus allies.
Edge beds with lawn, bark mulch, sawdust, sand, rock flour or lime.
Alternatively or in addition, a snail fence with an outwardly curved edge can also be used.
Sprinkle coffee grounds extensively around the plants or spray a double espresso as a tincture on the leaves.
To make collecting the animals easier, Öko-Test recommends spreading rhubarb leaves, orange or grapefruit halves under bushes under which the animals would find shelter.
Garden owners could also put damp planks in the garden in the evening and collect the snails that are on or under them the next morning.
Please do not dispose of it in the organic bin or in the neighbour's garden.
Brown slug: negative impact on biodiversity, economy and health
According to Nabu (Naturschutzbund Deutschland eV), conservationists have been warning for some time that the brown nudibranch is displacing other slugs and causing considerable damage.
It would now be on the list of the 100 animal and plant species that have the greatest negative impact on biodiversity, the economy and health in Europe.
If you want, you can try the gentle method.
However, if the snail infestation is too strong, the use of chemical agents can often not be avoided.