How to kill snails?I have lots of snails in my backyard and they eat all my plants. What should I do? Thanks?

Question

I've tried to kill them by using salt... Any better ideas?

Answer 1

An entomologist at Colorado State University swears that trapping snails with beer works! He is a very reliable guy and I believe him. I have just never had the need to use beer as a mollusicide. Below is some information on beer trapping and other trapping techniques. The original article in its entirety can be found at http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8778/snails.html

Best of luck.



Traps

One of the most time-honored ways to get rid of slugs and snails is the beer trap. Take a small container like a cat food can, or--if you are convinced your garden is infested with giant snails--a pie tin. Bury it so the top is level with the ground and fill it with beer.

The brand of beer does make a difference. We once bought the cheapest beer we could and succeeded in catching exactly one slug with the six-pack. An entomologist at Colorado State University, Whitney Cranshaw, conducted a beer tasting for slugs in 1987, killing 4,000 of them in eight weeks in the name of scientific inquiry. Kingsbury Malt Beverage attracted the most, but Michelob and Budwieser fared well too. The yeast in the beer is what attracts the varmints, while the alcohol befuddles them and makes it harder for them to climb out. Beer is most effective in the first twenty-four hours.

Another trap makes use of yogurt or cottage cheese containers with one-inch holes cut out around the sides, several inches from the bottom. Pour in the beer and wait for the creatures to crawl in. The lid on the container means the beer won't evaporate, and the dog can't lap it up.

Another way to keep the dog out of the beer is to use a beer bottle with a little beer in it, laid on its side with the lip at ground level. This is best for slugs and smaller snails.

Here's a bait that is cheaper than beer and takes advantage of the slimers' attraction to yeast. Mix two tablespoons of flour with a teaspoon of baker's yeast and a teaspoon of sugar in two cups off warm water. Or take two cups of grape juice and add a teaspoon of yeast and fill a container. One thing about these traps that is horrid but effective: slugs and snails are attracted to the dead bodies of their own kind.

If you provide slugs and snails with hiding places that they will seek out when morning comes, you can go and pick them off at your leisure. They will more likely go into your shady traps if you eliminate the other hiding places and debris that they favor. Traps can be made from shingles, small boards, or overturned clay pots propped up a little on one side. Two-gallon nursery pots can be stacked together and laid on their side, with a little space between the bottoms. Plastic lawn and leaf bags or damp burlap can also be used to attract slugs and snails. It helps if you dampen the ground underneath first.

Set out grapefruit or orange rinds, propped up with a small stone. Or use banana peels; slugs will be attracted by the odor and crawl underneath. Other suitable hiding places include cabbage leaves, lettuce leaves, and potato slices. Slugs and snails are also drawn to raw bread dough, dry dog food nuggets, and fallen hibiscus blossoms.

Long boards laid down between garden beds and slightly propped up with pebbles will attract slugs and snails. An effective trap devised by entomologists at the University of California at Riverside consists of an untreated board (between twelve and fifteen inches square) with one-inch wooden strips nailed on two sides to prop it up. Redwood makes a very durable trap. Crushing a few snails on the underside of the board will draw in others.

Many slugs hide in the soil, so rototilling is a good way to get rid of them.

Answer 2

Believe it or not..........beer. Snails love beer. I buy some of the small bowl type containers in alumunum foil and push them into the dirt so that the snails can crawl in. I pour about a 1/2 a can of beer into each container. By the next morning, you will be pouring out hundreds of snails. The smell attracts them and they go to drink. Keep this up for a few days and you will be snail free. You will know you are done when the containers have no snails the next day.

Answer 3

I have a surefire way that will take care of them, it's an age old remedy that works like a charm.

Get a pie plate or some other metallic shallow dish. Pour a beer in this dish. You may need a bunch of pieplates of beer if you have a large yard or a lot of snails. The snails are attracted to the beer and climb in and drown. Works every time. I promise!

Answer 4

Put cups of beer or soda level with the ground (dig a hole and put the cups in) you will only need an inch or so in the cup but you will have to keep re-filling them. The slugs and snails will crawl in and die. This will keep you from having to use pestasides that can harm your family. This works great, so try this first. Beer is the better option, I sugest going out and buying the cheepest one possible (my friends in Texas do this and they call it "slug beer" if you open the fridge and grab the wrong kind). Good luck.

Answer 5

The Beer-technique is great.

My DAD used my brother and I (aged 7 & 9)... we were paid a penny a snail !! We would go out in the morning with a one-pound coffee can and gather the lil buggers up !! We could make 50 cents to a dollar each Saturday morning.

When we got older... my Dad actually got two DUCKS !!

Good luck !!

Answer 6

Slip'em a Slugweiser.
1 lb.brown sugar
1/2 package (1-1/2 tsp.)of dry yeast
warm water
Mix the sugar and yeast in a gallon jug,fill it with warm water and let the mixture sit for two days,uncovered.Then pour it into your slug traps and watch the culprits slither up to the sauce.

Answer 7

Poor salt on them an around the perimeter of the flowe bed. THis might harm the grass but the grass iwll be fine. The salt will kill them.

Answer 8

Put all the pots of clay you have upside down in all sorts of places around your garden.They will be hiding underneath and you can remove them and throw them away in a park or something.Also you can put small amounts of beer in plates or dishes,they drown themseleves in it.Then you have anti-snail grains that kill them.Hedgehogs like them,but you can't have a hedgehog in your garden I suppose.

Answer 9

Get some Ducks. They will eat the snails, and fertilize the lawn and flowers.

Answer 10

To avoid poison, try setting out a dish of beer. Several places even make special containers to put the beer in. The beer will not hurt your garden, if spilled.