Therefore, it can be very helpful if you learn how to recognize snails in the garden. Which species usually visit your beds and which of them actually snack on your plants?
These visitors are completely harmless
If you find one of the following types of piebalds, you don't need to worry. Instead, you can be happy about them because they even bring a benefit.
What is the use of these species?
- They eat carrion and dead plant parts. In this way, they contribute to rapid decomposition, which also reduces plant diseases.
- Some species of snails feed on other harmful snails or their eggs. So they help you in the fight against the unwanted species.
Which snails are useful for the garden? Compare the most common species using the pictures to identify snails so that they don't accidentally drive away beneficial insects.
The widespread Roman snail
Hardly anyone doesn't know her because she delights young and old with her large snail shell. It is a protected species because its population has declined significantly. So that the snail(Helix pomatia)If you really don't want to harm your lettuce, there should be enough alternative food in the garden, i.e. dead plant parts. They only eat crops and flowers when they can't find anything else.
Interesting fact:The top of the house is usually on the right side of the snail.
Recognize garden snails
You will certainly have recognized this type of snail quickly, as it is also one of the snail species with a house that is quite common. The snail shell is smaller than that of the Roman snail and is characterized by a yellowish-beige base color and dark, brown-black stripes. The garden snail's favorite food(Cepaea hortensis)are algae and non-herbaceous plants, i.e. things that are not usually grown in the garden.
Harmful snailskeep away with plastic bottles.
Tiger Snail, Black Snail and Co.
Laypeople often confuse the harmless snails with slugs and they actually look quite similar. However, there is no need to worry about snails because instead of harming your garden, they also contribute to fertile soil by decomposing old plant material. They are useful in compost and, what a joy, they even eat themannoying slugsand their clutches, which you are probably already fed up with. So it's worth attracting these beneficial insects to the garden.
And which snails are harmful to the garden? The following specimens actually cause damage and are the real culprits. How to recognize snails in the garden:
The Spanish slug
Slugs are basically the species that people are most afraid of. But as you have seen, there are also harmless species of snails without a house. The nasturtium snail(Arion vulgaris), as it is also called, is not one of them, because it targets numerous ornamental and useful plants.
How to get an electric oneBuild your own snail fence.
Before you take action against the snails, you should make sure that it is not the red slug (Arion rufus), which is not only harmless but also endangered. It is much brighter in color (red-orange), while the Spanish slug is more brown in color.
Netted field snail
While slugs (even the harmful ones) usually only have a short lifespan of a few months and they only reproduce once, the netted field snail(Deroceras reticulate)The big problem is that, in addition to her appetite, she also lays eggs several times a year and is constantly providing new offspring.
Help protect the plantsYoghurt cups from snails.
The garden snail
These names actually cover two species of snails in the garden, but they are so similar that it is difficult for a layperson to tell them apart. You don't necessarily have to, because either way they are both harmful, even for very young plants. Winter cannot harm them, which only increases their reproduction and their potential to become a nuisance.
The greenhouse snail
As we already mentioned above, snails are basically harmless, even if they look so similar to slugs. However, an exception is greenhouse snails (Lehmannia valentiana), which can only become a nuisance in the greenhouse.
This5 tips will helpagainst the snail plague.
Cover image: Foxxy63/ Shutterstock
