I have a plant in a pot on my patio and the snails keep eating it.?

Question

What is puzzling me is how the snails know it's there? I can understand plants in the border, but this particular one is on its own and they have to travel across the patio to reach it. Do they have a sense of smell?

Answer 1

Yes! They have two sets of tentacles. One pair is for sight, and the other pair is for smell and touch.

Check the source for a diagram and more info. :]

Answer 2

There are several good options. All work, some are more temporary than others. 1. Diatomaceous Earth... sold in aquarium shops for filtering systems. DE is the calcium shells of tiny marine organisms. The shells have very sharp edges and the snails and slugs won't cross it. Sprinkle it in a circle around your plants and over the leaves to kill snails already on the plants. DE is also sold in garden shops. Not cheap, but very long lasting. 2. Beer. Set it in dishes at the base of your plants. Slugs and snails love it and will drown in the beer. Must be replaced often. 3. Builder's Sand. Like DE, has sharp edges, but is not as effective as DE. Less expensive though. Don't use baby sand, it's too fine and soft. 4. Salt. Use Kosher, large grained salt. Does not last past the first rain or watering because it melts.

Answer 3

The slimy little buggers will outlive us all! I've used crushed shells from either the beach or you can buy a tub of them. Place it all on top of the dirt. Obviously if the plants leaves dangle over the pot your best bet is sprinkling some salt around your plant on the patio. Not a huge amount but enough to deter the snail. Be careful as they are smart little suckers and will climb up one plant and stretch themselves across to the next plant for their next meal!

Answer 4

We have snails in our back garden and we don't even have plants in it. They come over from next door I think, just for a change of scenery. We find them sludging up the wheelie bin and on the garage door which are about 3 foot away from the next doors fence, the snail would have to sludge all the way up the fence and then down the fence, across the path and up the door! Must take hours, poor little things.

There are snail and slug pellets you can get or put something hard and spiky around your pot so they can't get over them, Like you see glass on a wall to stop burglars.

Answer 5

Yes, they can smell new, green shoots from far off - the bastards. I discovered about 6 of the little blighters living in one of my pots - naturally they all got given to the blackbird but they do a lot of damage. Some people recommend vaseline around the rim of your pot, others suggest a copper band (apparently snails and slugs don't like the sensation of crawling over it). Other than that, so a daily check and chuck them far away!

Answer 6

Thanks to their sense of smell, you can try this:
put some beer (an inch or two is enough; any brand will do, I suppose) at the bottom of a glass vase or another container big enough to catch them. The snails will fall into it and hopefully leave your plant in peace! The snails will not be able to leave the container once they have fallen into the beer. I know it sounds cruel , but one has to choose which one to save, the plant or the snails. Good luck!

Answer 7

Liberally Spread some rock salt [the type you use to melt ice on the road] around the base of your plant pots. This will have the desire effect. It will either kill the snails and or deter their path to the plant pot.

Answer 8

Crushed egg's shell will be able to deal with the problem.
Take three or four dried eggshells( depends on the volume of your flower pot). Crush it and put in on the soil of flower pot. Snail do not like crawling on sharp edges and eventually must stop.

Another or additional way is to put used ground coffee

Answer 9

One soution I have is to get some Crayola chalk. Slugs will not cross the chalk line. Maybe it would work for snails also. Another solution would be to fill jar lids with Coca-Cola and set in ,or around the plant.Slugs and snails are attracted by sweet soda, will slither into the jar lid and be killed by the acids in the coke.

Answer 10

I keep my egg shells all year long and crush them up and put them in the garden. it keeps snails away , provides calcium to the plants and bonus
helps the birds. They eat the crushed egg shells to provide calcium for their own egg production.
Egg shells will not smell if put in an open container.
They dry out and are easy to crush.

Answer 11

collect as many snails and slugs as you can. slice them up and keep them in a bucket with water for a few weeks. when they are nice and smelly, tip them over your plants. nematodes which have spawned in the bucket will destroy any snail and slug eggs. Easy to do and costs nothing.