Finally, it’s official. After decades of sprinkling crushed eggshells around our precious plants, encircling them with copper wire or peppering flower beds with pine mulch, there is now proof positive that these are all lousy methods of deterring slugs and snails.
A new short video shows slugs happily munching plants, having crossed these so-called barriers with graceful ease (and very likely, although the cameras didn’t quite catch this, a wry smile and an eye roll).
But one substance stopped them dead in their tracks: diatomaceous earth (DE).
When the team at garden products company envii sprinkled DE around plants, the slugs skirted around it, gave up crossing it and ran away (in slow motion, of course) or dried out and shrivelled up.
DE contains silica, one of the sharpest solids on Earth. It irritates the skin and dehydrates slugs and snails but is harmless to humans and animals. It’s the main ingredient of envii’s product Feed & Fortify, which keeps slugs and snails at bay AND improves soil fertility (thanks to all the goodness in the iron silicates).
Feed & Fortify costs £8.99 for 400g or £17.99 for 1.75KG from www.envii.co.uk
