Cucumber Snail Deterrent

Slugs and snails may be small, but they’re incredibly prolific producing up to 60,000 offspring in their short lifespan. That’s a lot of hungry mouths heading straight for your cabbage, bok choy, silverbeet and lettuce!

Snails, in particular, have impressive homing instincts. Tossing them over the fence (tempting as that may be - and perhaps not ideal for neighbourly relations) often doesn’t solve the problem, as they can make their way back.

Keeping them out of the garden can feel like an ongoing battle, so here’s a simple, natural method to help deter them, while also giving your old deodorant tins a second life.

Cucumber Snail Deterrent

Have you been saving your old deodorant tins? This is a great way to reuse them. Alternatively, you can shape a small dish from tin foil or use a little pie tin.

Do you have a regular cucumber that needs peeling? Don’t throw the scraps away as this is a perfect use for the skins and ends. Or you can just up your telegraph cucumber as I did in the photo - just make sure you include the skin.

All you have to do is place a few slices or peels into your tin or foil dish and set them around the garden near the plants that slugs and snails love most.

Cucumber skins contain a compound called cucurbitacin, which reacts with aluminium to produce a scent that humans can’t detect, but slugs and snails strongly dislike, encouraging them to move on.

You’ll need to replace the cucumber every so often once it dries out or becomes mushy, just refresh with new peels or slices.

One small downside… this method doesn’t work so well if you have a cucumber-loving dog with free run of the garden. Cruz managed to eat all of mine within half an hour of putting them out!