Despite their slowness, slugs are a real danger to strawberry beds. Even in small quantities, these mollusks are capable of destroying a good half of the crop. Pests make their forays at night, so the scale of what they have done can only be assessed at sunrise. By this time, the slugs have already left the planting, hiding from the midday heat.
Fighting these molluscs is not easy. In addition to their nocturnal lifestyle, pests have a special protective ability. They can throw off a layer of mucus along with a poisonous substance that has got on it. This enables them to avoid chemical treatment. Therefore, spraying from slugs must be carried out in several stages before the formation of fruits.
If the strawberries have already begun to bear fruit, you can only deal with mollusks with neutral folk methods. Among them, the creation of barriers from eggshells, the construction of fences from plastic bottles and the habitation of natural enemies on the site. All of these methods have their pros and cons. In some cases, they turn out to be really effective. However, today we will focus on a method with a completely different principle of action.
To prevent slugs from reaching ripe strawberries, we will make a number of traps that pests cannot crawl past.
Making a slug trap
We don't need special tools and special skills to create traps. Everything that will be needed is in the kitchen of every housewife.
Step 1. How to create the trap body
To create the body of the trap, we will need a small plastic yogurt or sour cream cup. The shape and color of the container does not matter.
At a height of about three centimeters from the bottom, cut out elongated rectangular holes. The height of the slots should be such that the pest can easily crawl into them.
Step 2. Cooking the bait
After the body of the trap is ready, you need to prepare the bait. To create it, you need 200 ml. water add a teaspoon of flour, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of yeast. The resulting liquid should be mixed until smooth.
Step 3. Setting up a trap
Now all that remains is to set the trap. To do this, we bury the body in such a way that the previously made slots are at ground level. Pour the previously prepared bait into a glass. The liquid level should be up to the soil level.
That's all, our trap is ready. Now you need to cover it with a lid so that rainwater does not dilute the contents.
Adaptations are buried along the edges of plantings or in suspected places of accumulation of pests. The number of traps depends on the size of the problem.
How the trap works
The slugs are attracted to the yeast and sugar in the liquid bait. Crawling to the delicacy, the mollusks fall into the water, from where they can no longer get out.
Checking the result
The trap will operate during the first two days from the moment of installation. The caught slugs should be carried away from the garden, and the spent bait should be poured into the compost or ditch. There are no harmful impurities in the liquid that can harm the soil or plantings.
In one knock, such a trap can catch a dozen pests. The sweet liquid will attract slugs much more than ripe berries. Thus, the harvest will be preserved.
Read also on my website -Making protection from slugs and snails from a plastic bottle
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