War on Snails
One of the benefits of living in the middle of BFE is property is affordable. I have land and I had this brilliant idea of planting flowers and tomatoes a few months ago. It was a terrible plan! I feel like I am pulling weeds all the time. My “flower bed” is actually a weed patch!
I have been watching the tomato plants with great anticipation, last week I noticed a group of tomatoes were almost ripe. The day I went out to get the fruits of my labor, my fruits were destroyed! The local snail population had devoured my tomatoes; they were even brazenly dining in front of my very eyes. I have declared war on the snails. I bought some Natty Light (Natural Light) and made a beer trap Monday night. Tuesday morning, no snails in my trap and my tomatoes are still being eaten. Wednesday morning, one snail, tomatoes still a favorite meal to the local snail population. Thursday morning no snails! I don’t know what to do!
I want to get rid of the snails, but I won’t use a commercial poison. Is there something organic besides the beer trap I can try to get rid of the snails? I am serious this is war! I hate to do yard work (something I had temporary forgotten living in a condo), and the snails are eating my hard work.
I have been watching the tomato plants with great anticipation, last week I noticed a group of tomatoes were almost ripe. The day I went out to get the fruits of my labor, my fruits were destroyed! The local snail population had devoured my tomatoes; they were even brazenly dining in front of my very eyes. I have declared war on the snails. I bought some Natty Light (Natural Light) and made a beer trap Monday night. Tuesday morning, no snails in my trap and my tomatoes are still being eaten. Wednesday morning, one snail, tomatoes still a favorite meal to the local snail population. Thursday morning no snails! I don’t know what to do!
I want to get rid of the snails, but I won’t use a commercial poison. Is there something organic besides the beer trap I can try to get rid of the snails? I am serious this is war! I hate to do yard work (something I had temporary forgotten living in a condo), and the snails are eating my hard work.
posted by Spin_Doc1 at
1:07 PM
6 Comments:
Barzelay,
If I lived in the city again, I wouldn't have snails!!!
By
Spin_Doc1, at 5:39 PM
light beer won't work. Not enough sugars and such to attract the snaisl. What we use (and we have a LOT of snails in our yard) is a three pronged attack.
1) we have a compost heap which attracts most of the snails. We don't mind that they're in there especially as it doesn't generate enough heat to keep them alive during the winter. Anyway, it distracts the snails from the plants.
2) we use a substance called sluggo. It's safe for pets and breaks down into non-toxic ingredients. We don't sprinkle it all over, but put little circles around the bases of the plants -- and then we make sure that the plants are all tied up so that the only way onto them is over the sluggo.
3) we put a bunch of toad houses (upside down broken flowerpots) in our heavy ground cover where the snails hide. We had hoped to attract toads to eat the snails, but a funny thing happened. No toads, but the snails moved into the houses as the weather got colder last year... and all died. Frozen. The snails went into the dark houses instead of going where they normally go and the snail houses froze solid. In the spring were hundreds of dead snails in those flowerpots. Between the snail houses and the frozen compost heap, most of our snails were destrpyed instead of living to make more snails, we have had so few this year compared to previous years!
So I say go with the sluggo and the regular beer for right now, and then get yourself some toad houses to serve as snail traps for long-term population control.
By
Trista, at 12:51 PM
Trista,
I like dark beer! I hate the thought of sharing it with the snails, but I will if I must.
By
Spin_Doc1, at 5:01 PM
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
By
Imelda, at 10:45 PM
Sorry about the delete. I posted some links but they didn't work. Go to Google and type in "Snail Repellent" or "Organic Snail Repellent". There's lots of stuff about using copper tape etc
By
Imelda, at 10:48 PM
Oh how frustrating! We Zooms don't grow anything but plants for looks and we have weeds like nobody's business. We've tried everything.
Now we have crickets, spiders, wild bunnies and bees like crazy.
Looks like you've gotten a lot of good advice here on the snail riddance. Hope some of that works for you.
By
ZooooM, at 7:05 PM
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