Wet weather and darkness create ideal breeding conditions for slugs and snails, biologist Roman Khryapin told RT.
Khryapin said rain has been falling often and heavily this season. He said such damp conditions favor all kinds of snails, including slugs, which welcome the moisture and can turn up anywhere on a property.
Simple removal method
Khryapin recommended manual collection as the simplest and most eco-friendly way to control the pests. He advised laying flat objects such as boards, pieces of linoleum or slate around the garden plot.
He explained that in hot, sunny weather the pests will seek shelter under these makeshift covers. On a clear, sunny day, gardeners can then lift the objects and collect the slugs that have gathered underneath, he said.
Earlier, Irina Telnova, an expert at the Higher School of Economics' Institute of Ecology, compared Spanish slugs to Sosnowsky's hogweed, saying the gastropod mollusks are invasive in the same way as the notorious weed.
