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Though slugs are rarely welcome in a gardener\u2019s backyard, the Royal Horticultural Society have not classified<\/a> them as \u201cpests\u201d for years now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That\u2019s partly because less than a quarter of the species<\/a> in the UK actually eat your plants, while all of the maligned molluscs provide a food source for the UK\u2019s shrinking bird population<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n For these reasons, British gardeners have been discouraged from using pellets<\/a> to deter the critters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Other methods, like placing a halved orange<\/a> or melon<\/a> skin in your garden or conducting torchlit searches<\/a> at night, can remove them from vulnerable saplings without killing all of them off indiscriminately. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n And, as BBC Gardeners\u2019 World writes<\/a>, a bulb of garlic can help too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to the publication, \u201cA home-made garlic spray can be effective in deterring slugs and snails from your plants\u201d if applied regularly. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Allicin, a compound in garlic, both helps to repel and, sometimes, kill slugs and snails, botanist James Wong wrote for The Guardian<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n For that reason, he says, you should only apply it to the most vulnerable plants (young seedlings and tender-stemmed plants count). <\/p>\n<\/div>\n To make the garlic water concentrate, Gardeners\u2019 World writes, boil one bulb of garlic per litre of water (they did two bulbs and two litres) until they\u2019re soft. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n James Wong, meanwhile, recommends <\/a>blending a bulb of garlic with 1L of water, letting the liquid sit for ten minutes before straining \u201cfor the chemical reaction that creates allicin to complete.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n James uses his blitzed, rather than cooked, garlic water as-is, but Gardeners\u2019 World dilutes two tablespoons of their boiled concentrate<\/a> per 5L of water. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Whichever method you choose, you can spray it on affected plants<\/a> \u201cjust as night begins to fall.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n For targeted slug and snail management, you should apply it<\/a> \u201cliberally.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\nGarlic water can repel slugs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
How much should I apply, and how often?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n