| I have snails, slugs and pill bugs in my strawberry bed. How can I get rid of them safely? |
| Snails and slugs are big garden pests when its wet and cool. Remove any mulch or hiding places from around the plants, cultivate regularly and try deterents such as diatomaceous earth, sharp sand, wood ashes or crushed egg shells around the plants. Some people use beer traps, placing beer in containers in the garden to attract and drown the creatures. Others place boards in the garden at night and check in the morning for the slugs hiding unde the boards and kill them. There are even commercial chemical baits that will kill them also. Check your local garden center for all the possible choices. The pill bugs are feeding on decaying organic matter and generally not live plant material (although if the population is high, they may become opportunists). You can trap these pests by laying dampened newspaper tubes out at night; they crawl in to hide and you can toss the newspaper in the morning. Next evening, set out another trap. Eventually you rid your strawberry patch of these pests. |
