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Quite possibly a ridiculous snail question

bugstar7543043bugstar7543043 Posts: 2
in Problem solving
 I garden mainly for pollinators and wildlife. I do not like to kill anything. I prefer to stay in my lane and let nature be. 
 I know to plant trap plants to distract or deter troublesome pests like snails off of main plants, but is it possible to make a trap garden? 
 
 Could I make a mini garden in my main garden to attract them away from my other plants? I know about beer traps and similar, I just hate killing anything. 
 
 I know this sounds ridiculous, please be nice I’m still learning. 

Posts

  • WaterbutWaterbut Posts: 344
    I put them in my compost bin with the lid on and let them chew away as I hate killing garden life.
  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    Morning, Bugstar ... and welcome. 🙂

    Like you, I won't kill anything if I can possibly avoid it.  I very much like your description "staying in my lane".  

    I'm afraid I don't have any solutions. 😕  My policy is to try to avoid growing stuff they like to eat ... but I have noticed they then have a tendency to widen their dietary choices in line with availability.  This yr the garden has been absolutely teaming with the pesky wotsits, due to the wet conditions.  
  • nick615nick615 Posts: 1,487
    Not wishing to challenge your ethics, but the very exercise of 'gardening' is basically placing/encouraging plants in positions where nature wouldn't put them.  Equally, putting up bird feeders attracts hordes of birds which then look overly attractive to prowling sparrow hawks as our garden bears witness.  Your 'troublesome' items are merely following natural processes?
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I don't bother with traps of any kind anymore and have a very healthy slug and snail population. A top tip though is to practice the chop and drop technique so that there's always plenty of decaying plant matter lying about to keep them busy. It also provides hiding places for things that eat snails and snail eggs so populatons balance out eventually.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • bugstar7543043bugstar7543043 Posts: 2
    Wild edges Thank you! This is exactly the info I needed! 
     
     I already do this, although I didn’t realize it was a good thing. I just get lazy. This little tip is so very helpful!  

     I think I just overthink too much. I haven’t had any pest problems this year except for aphids on my milkweeds. 
     
     All of my current plants are native to my region. I recently decided to incorporate hydrangeas and roses, but I’ve getting told horror stories and I was just trying to get ahead of it. 
  • ViewAheadViewAhead Posts: 866
    Slugs won't go for roses or hydrangeas, in my experience.   They like the soft growth of perennials better than shrubby things. 
  • wrighttwrightt Posts: 234
    i put old coffee grounds around my plants and use copper rings which does seem to work. My main problem is squirrels.
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    What do you do when your main problems are moles, deer and wild boar? OH fenced my flower garden and veg area at my last house in SW France, still had moles though. Sold it, bought new house. The previous owner told me that there wasn't the problem here. He was wrong! OH had just repaired the paddock fence where the wild boar got in. Luckily it didn't get to the flower area but last year deer ate the roses. The moles have killed several new perennials and 4 fuchsias.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2023
    I once read that if you want to attract slugs and snails away from something special you can try leaving them a little heap of chopped tender lettuce a couple of feet from their target … 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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