I need a cheap and easy way to get rid of them. Preferably something I could find at home or in a supermarket.
plain old black pepper repels a lot of things; stale beer in a shallow container will attract the snails and then they will drown (leave the dead snails and slugs in the container, the smell of the rotting critters will attract their brethern and you will catch even more of them; not-quite-pulverized eggshells strewn any place that you see the snail trails will pierce the snail's delicate skin.
I did this to my garden and it worked. I hope it works with you too. Just sprinkle salt on the borders.
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Use beer. They love it, so they climb into the jar with the beer and die. That should tell me something about drinking, but I guess I refuse to learn.
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plain old black pepper repels a lot of things; stale beer in a shallow container will attract the snails and then they will drown (leave the dead snails and slugs in the container, the smell of the rotting critters will attract their brethern and you will catch even more of them; not-quite-pulverized eggshells strewn any place that you see the snail trails will pierce the snail's delicate skin.
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I don't like the idea of salt on the ground as the plants may be affected adversely by it. You could put salt into water and drop the slugs into it. Another nasty method would be to drop the slugs into boiling water.
But if you just want to repel them: There was a rough metal strip ( dead expensive for its size) for sale as a slug barrier in a supermarket near me this week. You could try different rough materials to see which slugs refuse to cross.
Beer traps with lids on them were also for sale. ( lids to stop birds drinking beer!?) They don't like crushed eggshells apparently, so you could eat tons of eggs. Slugs need daytime cover, so removing all the things they can hide under to keep moist and dark during daytime would help
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