Snail SOS!?

Question

every time i plant something, as soon as it sprouts, snails come and eat them. what can i do?

Answer 1

If it is seedling in specific try large clear plastic pop bottles with the bottoms cut out and the tops removed then placed over your very young seedlings. They will act like a little greenhouse and also keep the cut worms, snails and slugs out.
Place traps around the perimeter of your bed to draw the snails away from the seedlings. Slugs are attracted to the odors given off by the yeast fermentation process. Beer is yeast fermented. In 1987, a study at Colorado State University Entomology Professor Whitney found that Kingsbury Malt, Michelob, and Budweiser attracted slugs far better than other brands.

However the mix use to start bread works also try a mixture of 1 tablespoon (T) yeast, 1 T flour, 1 T sugar, and 1 cup water.
The range of slug traps is only a few feet so you need to supply a few throughout your garden. Never sink the containers with their rims flush with the soil level or you run the risk of drowning ground beetles, or other important slug predators. The rims should be 1" above the soil's surface. The beer or mix will need to be replaced at least once a week or more as it looses its potency or becomes diluted by rain. I find the crows seem partial to freshly beer pickled slugs and remove the mess for me.

Place pieces of wet carpet or boards between the beds. Lift every AM and scrape off snails into a bucket of soapy water. Then compost the lot once dead. I have hand harvested more than 300 snails so far this year though most of them were ones that came out after a rain.

The good news on the organic control of slugs are the nematode slug predators. They are available in England so if we keep asking at our garden centers maybe they will become available here. The English have developed many slug barriers I wish were sold here.
Slug Collars - Hosta halos are simple barriers with deep down turned lips. The ring is placed around the plant before the foliage emerges more than a few inches. If the foliage grows up and bends down to touch the ground further controls will be necessary.
http://www.just-green.com/index.php?cPath=105_149

Shock mats contain copper and look like sandpaper disks so they are both a barrier and conductive.
http://www.just-green.com/index.php?cPath=105_465

Garlic granules seem to work as a barrier possibly by odor confusion. Slugs are attracted by scent. Then the garlic breaks down feeding the plant. This seems to make the plant less desirable.

Answer 2

The beer in a small container trick works well.
Fill a small container (say an old cream cheese container) with beer (any beer will work and it's a great use for the last warm gulp that no-one drinks) any way fill the container then dig a small hole in the garden close to but not right beside the plants that are getting eaten . then place the container in the hole and push the soil up around the sides of the container so that the slugs/snails can climb right in . Make sure that the beer is about 1" or more deep so that the snails will get drunk and not be able to get out.
You may be surprised at the number of snails you get and you may have to empty and refill every night for a few nights.

Another alternative is to go out at night after it's been dark for an hour or so. Take a flashlight and a salt shaker. Shine the flashlight on the plants affected. and sprinkle salt on the snails and slugs
WARNING**not for the weak of stomach**

Both of these are environmentally friendly
you can also buy cory's snail bait it is a slug and snail poison but is safe for kids and pets.

Good luck with the little buggers :) I hope you win.

Answer 3

Surrounding a plant with salt can help, but it CAN leech into the soil. I prefer cutting the bottom out of a plastic cup, milk carton, or similar hollow item, and surrounding the plant with it. Snails (and pill bugs - bleah!) can't get past it to snack on your seedlings.

If you already have snails, one trick I've heard of that seems to work is to put a small bowl of beer in the ground so that the edge of the bowl is even with the ground. The snails go for the beer (I have no idea why), fall in, and drown. Sounds weird, but I've seen it work pretty well.

Answer 4

Try Diatomaceous earth - a chalky substance that will dry out the snails' skin... also, put a saucer (or aluminum pie shell) of beer in your garden - beer attracts snails and slugs, they drink it, they become intoxicated, and they can't get out of the saucer, and they drown.

Answer 5

Put a cookie sheet in the garden and fill it with beer. No joke. Or dig a hole and put a plastic cup in it and fill it part way with beer. Again, no joke.

Otherwise, look for diatomaceous earth. To a slug, it is like crawling over broken glass.

Answer 6

Put down slug pellets...or broken oyster shells all around the plant...they hate it.

Answer 7

Try putting some mothballs in your garden, they don't smell very nice, but will repel insects.

Answer 8

kill the basterds nah lol put salt on the snails

Answer 9

sprinkle a little bit of salt around the area...