Oatmeal is not only the basis of a healthy breakfast, but also a simple and effective home remedy against snails.
Snails are among the biggest enemies of hobby gardeners. For this reason, several tricks and home remedies have been circulating for some time now to combat these pests in the garden. Oatmeal is even said to help against snails. But what’s the deal with this curious trick?
Oatmeal against snails: How to protect your garden beds
. There’s a simple yet very effective trick to protect your vegetable beds from snails. Here we explain why you should put a plate of oatmeal in your garden.
Oatmeal is a natural home remedy for slugs. Even animal-friendly gardeners can rely on oatmeal with confidence, as it doesn’t harm the mollusks—quite the opposite! Snails love oatmeal and sometimes even prefer it to crisp lettuce leaves. Oatmeal is therefore a great way to distract slugs, such as the Spanish slug, from your vegetable patch.
To do this, first spread the oatmeal in selected areas of the garden, for example, on a plate in a fallow bed. Ideally, the snails will then leave the “real” beds, including lettuce, vegetables, and other plants, alone. Alternatively, you can soak a handful of oatmeal in water and place it on a plate next to the plants you want to protect.
This home remedy, however, isn’t intended to feed the snails. Rather, the oatmeal serves as a distraction and a potential gathering point for them. Once enough snails have gathered at the feeding station, you can simply collect them and release them elsewhere—as far away from your garden as possible. However, make sure you only collect slugs, such as the Spanish slug. Other slugs, such as tiger slugs or snails with shells, can be quite useful in the garden.
Other home remedies to protect your vegetable patch
If you don’t have oatmeal on hand, you can also use other home remedies to protect your vegetable patch. A sliced cucumber or soaked white bread will serve the same purpose. Slugs always try to find the easiest way to get food. For a lettuce leaf, they would have to crawl laboriously to a certain place or even into a raised bed. But if the food is presented to them on a plate, they gratefully accept it and will not crawl any further into your vegetable patch. It doesn’t matter whether the plate contains oatmeal, pieces of cucumber, or leftover bread.
Do you also have problems with snails in your beds? Let us know in the comments how you combat the little beasties in your garden and whether you’ve ever tried the oatmeal trick.
