Non usate il sale per uccidere le lumache in giardino!

In questo articolo cercherò di rispondere a una serie di domande:

Perché e come si usa il sale per combattere le lumache in giardino?

Perché e come uccide questi poveri gasteropodi?

Stanno soffrendo? Mini-confronto tra Cartesio e Ned Block

Usare il sale contro le lumache: quali effetti collaterali avrà sul vostro Giardino?

Perché il sale uccide le piante e impoverisce il terreno

Quali sono le alternative efficaci all’uso del sale grosso per controllare le lumache nell’orto?

Le lumache sono un problema spinoso; E sì, perché tutti hanno qualcosa da dire sul Controllo delle lumache in giardino. Inoltre, probabilmente avrete già sentito qualcuno dirvi che il metodo migliore di tutti è il sale: “Spazzolateli con sale grosso come un buon contorno di manzo, funziona a meraviglia! “Bisogna farli morire comunque”;

Ma poi, quando queste parole arrivano alle vostre orecchie, anche se sentite fortemente che “no, non è la cosa giusta da fare”, balbettate, perdete le vostre argomentazioni, non sapete più cosa fare, di fronte all’occhio incisivo di questo energumeno sanguigno, così sicuro delle sue parole;

Ecco quindi alcune argomentazioni sull’argomento, a cui potete attingere prima di esprimere a gran voce il vostro disaccordo, accompagnato o meno da una sinfonia di violini (per l’emozione)! 😀

Vediamo, innanzitutto, perché il sale viene usato contro le lumache, e perché e come le uccide (“scioglie” le lumache?)….)…

Successivamente, vedremo perché è una cattiva idea usare il sale contro di loro, con 4 argomentazioni: #6fe6bd;” data-mce-style=”background: #6fe6bd;”>è una cattiva idea usare il sale contro di loro, con 4 argomenti, poi le alternative efficaci che esistono a questo metodo.

Analizzeremo anche il processo chimico con cui il sale viene talvolta utilizzato come diserbante e se è consigliabile utilizzarlo come tale;

Eccoci qua!

Ma prima diandare avantiVi consiglio di leggere l’articolo riportato nella miniatura qui sotto, perché fornisce una comprensione globale del problema comune a tutte queste “cattive” soluzioni; Poi tornate a questo.

I. Why and how is coarse salt used to fight snails in the garden?

Last time, I was looking for a bit of inspiration, for an article about one of the urban legends (or rural, for that matter) “natural” and home control of snails in the vegetable garden. That’s when I came across a series of articles advocating the use of salt;

This gastropod weapon of mass destruction is used in two forms:

· Defense of the territory : a wall of coarse salt around the plants

– air offensive : rock salt bombing directly on gastropod landings (civil and military, without differentiation)

The purpose of the wall is to kill (by contact) the snails that want to cross it to nibble on the lettuce.

The aim of aerial bombardments is to eliminate the “ enemy”, directly, on the battlefield, even here by contact.

But why can simple contact with salt kill snails?

II. Why does salt kill snails?

To answer this question, we must remember the high school chemistry TP : aie, ça remonter?

Don’t worry, it’s actually very simple.

In fact, both in water (H2O) and in salt (NaCl) , each molecule is charged (with so-called partial charges) . Without going into details, it turns out that the molecules of NaCl (of the same) are attracted by the molecules of water (H2O) : this is why the sel is dispersed in the water, because the molecules of H2O and NaCl s’attirent mutuellement et “fusionnent”.

But if we put the salt on a membrane located on the water (the membrane separates the water from the salt) , the water will be so attracted to the salt that it will cross the membrane and fuse with it : this is what we call “ osmosis”.

This is what happens when you put salt on a food full of water, such as a tomato: the water “comes out” of the tomato and soaks into the salt, in which it remains trapped; The tomato dries, losing its water;

Snails are no exception; It is a membrane (its skin, also porous) filled with water. So, from the salt on a snail it will absorb all its moisture (its water) , and it will dry out and die; :'(

Thus the snail does not melt under the effect of the salt, but dries…

III; Perché usare il sale grosso per uccidere le lumache nell’orto è una cattiva idea?

a. Sale inefficace dopo la pioggia

Nel caso di una barriera di sale grosso, la prima cosa da dire è che dopo la prima pioggia il sale sarà sciolto, e si infiltrerà nel terreno: allora non ci sarà più alcuna barriera. E le orde di gasteropodi saranno liete di vendicarsi dei vostri cavoli per le vostre cattive intenzioni 😉

b. Perché e come il sale uccide le piante, il suolo e gli organismi viventi…;

Sia che il sale venga lanciato contro lumache e chiocciole, sia che venga usato come barriera per proteggere le piante, in entrambi i casi avviene in -o vicino al vostro orto.

Ma sapevate che il sale assorbito dalla terra è molto dannoso per la sua salute, così come per quella degli organismi che abita, e anche per la salute delle vostre piante?

L’impatto sulle piante deriva dal fenomeno dell’osmosi che abbiamo già visto; La concentrazione molto più elevata di sale all’esterno delle radici delle piante attirerà l’acqua contenuta nelle radici stesse (più precisamente, l’acqua contenuta nelle cellule delle radici). L’acqua presente nelle radici viene quindi allontanata e “intrappolata” dal sale; Le radici si seccano;e le piante moriranno; Questo fenómeno è chiamato plasmolisi.

Through this same phenomenon, salt kills the vast majority of soil bacteria and fungi (which create rich soil), as well as earthworms and many insects .

The use of salt in the garden is therefore a disaster for the soil and for the entire system, which is seriously disturbed.

c. Salt on snails: great suffering? Descartes and Ned Block

Dédé, the bizarre long-haired one from before, is convinced: “These animals don’t suffer, you see… What’s the point of tying knots in their heads? If snails could suffer, they would…”

What Dédé says may seem a little silly at first glance… But a little research reveals that the answer isn’t as simple as it seems .

Les limaces, comme d’autres mollusques, ot-elles la possibilité physiologique et cognitive de suuffrir au sens où nous l’entendons?

First of all, what does suffering mean ?

Almost all living things have what we might call (in layman’s terms) a system of receptors, designed to help them naturally avoid sources of danger in the environment that could compromise their survival;

It is a mechanism that favors the survival of the species in question and which is maintained over the generations thanks to natural selection;

In practice, if an insect approaches a bonfire, for example, at a certain point it will turn back (its body perceives the high heat), rather than making its way through the flames, and will be burned to death; His heat “receptor system” allowed him to avoid environmental dangers and therefore survive;

The same goes for a snail that encounters a barrier of coarse salt: when it comes into contact with the material, it suddenly retracts and turns around;

This type of behavior, so similar to ours – for example when we clumsily place our hand on a hot plate – immediately makes us think of the pain we feel in this type of situation;

Does this necessarily mean that snails experience real pain when, for example, coarse salt is thrown at them?

Descartes saw animals as highly sophisticated machines: it is possible to equip a robot with a series of sensors to detect threats in the environment; It is also possible to program defense, or escape, mechanisms against these potential dangers; A robot equipped in this way, now or when technology allows it, will give us the impression, under certain conditions, of feeling a certain type of pain;

However, even though his “body” will react as such, he will never feel pain.

In fact, the ability to feel pain as we understand it requires a certain level of awareness; This is phenomenal consciousness , as defined by philosopher Ned Block;

Phenomenal consciousness, in his words, is “that which is felt”, the subjective experience, the qualitative, that which we cannot really understand without experiencing it;

According to some scientists, this phenomenal consciousness can only exist in living beings with a sufficiently developed and complex brain and nervous system; It is accepted, for example, that all mammals have phenomenal consciousness (that they subjectively feel pain, therefore; but also that they subjectively perceive their environment, etc…).

Now, this conclusion comes only from an extrapolation from our human body: we see similarities – anatomical and cognitive – in mammals, therefore, we believe that they are subjectively aware , like us.

This leads some scientists to believe that molluscs have no subjective sensations , as their composition is too far from ours.

Other scientists dispute this view, stating, by definition, that we cannot understand what another living being is subjectively experiencing and that slight anatomical or cognitive similarities prove nothing.

We already cannot truly understand how another human being feels, when he bites into chocolate or falls in love.

Imagine if he doesn’t understand what it means to be a snail; Since the animal kingdom has significantly differentiated over the course of evolution, the gateways to sensoriality (the anatomical and cognitive characteristics responsible for subjective sensory experience) cannot be reduced to the nervous and cerebral system like that present in humans;

Yuval Noah Harari already shares the idea that other living beings may well have much richer subjective sensory experiences than ours; These experiences may be very different in origin and appearance from our own , which is why it will probably never be possible for us to know, for example, what it feels like to be a snail.

However, in case of doubt about the presence or absence of phenomenal consciousness in snails, and following the precautionary principle (which I believe we should apply much more to certain other spheres of our world! It is better not to subject these precious garden helpers to a potentially agonizing and slow death (yes, the process of drying a living creature by osmosis is potentially agonizing); Well, that’s just my opinion 😉

d. Why is killing snails bad for the garden?

And yes, snails really do have an essential role in the garden ! For example, they prevent the spread of pathogenic fungi, and favor the development of soil mycorrhizal fungi ! Among other things, because the advantages are many…

« Ok, it’s fine for the bridesmaids to encourage mycorrhizae, but for me my cabbages that are everything you want them to be, but are not favored. »

It’s true that major damage to our plants can be difficult to bear, but that’s why the following section looks at effective alternatives to salt!

IV. What are effective alternatives to using rock salt to control slugs in the garden?

In fact, there are many alternatives to salt for managing slugs in the garden;

But the common point among all the ones I will present to you is that they do not involve the mass eradication of a snail population.

Because, what I could also have explained in the previous paragraph, and which I have already shared in several articles, is that snails are just the symptom of an imbalance in our garden. A young garden (which is a modification of an original ecosystem) , for example, will likely be inundated with snails, for several years, before a natural rebalancing occurs (reflected by a low stabilization of the snail population) .

This rebalancing involves a series of stages , one of which, for example, is the long-term settlement of snail predators. By eliminating snails, gastropod predators will not settle near your home because they will not be able to find their prey;

The method I promote on this site, and for managing most small garden “pests”, is based on this long-term regulation;

Thus, even methods with a primarily short-term goal of reducing plant damage must support, rather than oppose, this long-term regulation . All methods used to eradicate snails on a massive scale are incompatible with this form of sustainable, long-term regulation;

In contrast, targeted repulsion, distraction or barrier (plant protection) limit or even prevent damage, without compromising long-term natural regulation.

Conclusione:

Il sale è una delle idee peggiori che si possano avere per affrontare le lumache in giardino;

Oltre a basarsi su un metodo d’azione che credo si possa definire “barbaro” (ma di cui ora si capisce il processo!), impoverisce notevolmente e in modo sostenibile il nostro suolo e tutte le sue creature viventi;

Il fatto che un elemento sia naturale non significa necessariamente che sia benefico o desiderabile in giardino. Il sale è un buon esempio, ma ce ne sono molti altri.

Ancora meglio ! Adottare rete antilumaca in rame.

Questa è la barriera di rame che ho progettato in seguito ai miei numerosi test di barriera contro le lumache;

Devo a lui il successo dei miei cavoli, insalate, fragole e cucurbitacee;

Cliccate su questo pulsante per saperne di più:

Articoli correlate:

• Un prodotto anti-lumache che utilizza il bicarbonato di sodio?
• Trappole per birra: una pessima idea
• Non fate l’errore di usare il sale contro le lumache..;
• Come liberarsi (intelligentemente) di lumache e chiocciole

Bibliografía :

• A. Ester, K. van Rozen, L.P.G. Molendijk,
  Esperimenti in campo con l’utilizzo del nematode rabditide Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita o del sale come misure di controllo contro le lumache negli asparagi verdi, Crop Protection, Volume 22, Issue 5, 2003
• Nagel, T. (1974). Cosa si prova ad essere un pipistrello? Philosophical Review, 83(4), 435-450;