Keep your potted plants safe from slugs and snails by using this unlikely bathroom item

Slugs and snails might be “more outdoors than in”, but after a shower, they can be “everywhere” – something that can spell bad news for your plants, even if they are potted

Preventing slugs and snails from devouring your potted plants might simply require one unexpected bathroom product, it has been claimed. While they’re often regarded as pests, slugs and snails are actually part of your garden’s natural biodiversity, and are “superb at recycling waste vegetative matter”, according to BBC Gardener’s World’s Monty Don.

However, as he explains, they “do not discriminate between a fallen leaf and a delicious young seedling” – though there could be relief for exasperated gardeners.

A recent piece covering how rainfall can force common pests indoors highlighted creatures including rats, mice, ants, spiders and mosquitoes – alongside slugs, which Monty describes in his blog as having been considered gardeners’ “public enemy number one”.

Slugs and snails are “more outdoors than in”, according to Household Advice Editor Katie Mortram, though she cautioned that they’ll get “everywhere” after a shower, potentially meaning trouble for your plants.

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She explained in Good Housekeeping: “The additional moisture on the ground and in the air makes the environment ideal for their survival and travel. And your damp plants are pre-watered for consumption.”

Katie subsequently offered some guidance: “As for slugs and snails, you can protect your plants with a few small adjustments. You can create a barrier of eggshells, coffee grounds, wool pellets or copper rings.

“For potted plants, applying petroleum jelly on the outside of the pot acts as another measure.”

In other news, Richard, who presents Sheffield Made Gardens and Sheffield Made Plants on YouTube, revealed a cost-free technique for deterring slugs and other pests using an everyday garden item.

As part of a series highlighting why you should retain your old plant pots instead of discarding them, Richard recommended using one for this purpose, noting that pests appeared to have gone on an “absolute rampage” in his garden.

He said: “This year, it seems like slugs and other pests have been on an absolute rampage. My marigolds over there have been eaten by something in the greenhouse. So, I need something to keep them at bay. And plastic pots are just the answer.

“So, grab a pot that’s going to fit over the plant, very susceptible to pests, like my marigolds are. And we’re just going to take our scissors and just go through the drainage hole and make a snip.”

Following this, he punctured the base of a plastic plant pot with the scissors and cut around it to create a protective “collar”. He added: “And then we can get in there and just cut the bottom off like so.

“Just go all the way around. Doesn’t have to be too neat. And there you have it. So that has just created a nice collar that I can stick over my susceptible plants and just dig it into the soil a little bit, just so it protects them a bit better.”