Snail Invasion

[Tyto Alba]

The torch method is a sure fire success as pickledtink says. STAMP them out.

I got hedgehogs in the garden the year before last and the difference in snail/slug population is amazing. I hardy find any these days.

[Wendy]

I was getting lots of slugs and lil snails, ive found that copper tape is doing a great job at keeping themaway!

[Tyto Alba]

To be honest snails are delicious grilled with garlic butter.

I know the edible snails were introduced by the romans, but can we eat any old snail we find in the garden?

I was told that you're supposed to feed them on oats or something for a week before grilling them. Does anybody know the details?

If we saw them as a food source and not as a pest I think that would change our attitudes completely.

[Lesley Jay]

This is the advice from Jane Grigson on purging snails.


For temporary use, a bucket does very well. Pierce it with small air holes and weight the lid down - it's amazing how much lifting power a determined batch of snails can muster. Feed them with rosemary, thyme, lettuce. The idea is not only to make a collection, but also to give the snails ten days or a fortnight to get rid of any poisonous plants they may have eaten.

[denise]

[Flummery]

I've also heard (can't remember where but I'm sure it wasn't just an echo) that you should feed them carrot for a few days. When they start pooing orange you know their system in only full of something you would be prepared to eat. Assuming you eat carrots.

[madderbat]

Snails are all still hibernating round here. I 'tidied' MiL's garden last weekend (under tight supervision) and found all the snails fast asleep along the bricks inside her border. Left them exposed for the birds and tiptoed away quietly

[madderbat]

If we saw them as a food source and not as a pest I think that would change our attitudes completely.

Sure, snails no real problems, but slugs.....

[Tyto Alba]

Hmmm good point........until somebody comes up with a delicious slug recipe.


How about nematode worms? These are tiny eel like creature (hardly visible to the naked eye) that live in soil naturally. They infect slugs and kill them. Then they breed and emerge once more into the soil.

You can buy them in powder form I think.

Biological control has got to be better than poisons and more effective than all these intricate barrier methods.

[Chiana]

I've also heard (can't remember where but I'm sure it wasn't just an echo) that you should feed them carrot for a few days. When they start pooing orange you know their system in only full of something you would be prepared to eat. Assuming you eat carrots.

It was on Gordon Ramsey's F Word, think it was last year, but might have watched it on TV Choice on my cable service, I know both series are on there, so if anyone does fancy trying it...

[denise]

Moving on to another kind of cable - electric cable - I have some outside waiting for me to strip it back to the copper inside. My plan is to lay this around on outside of my beds and pray that it works the same as the copper strip, which I have found works really well, but to excessive in allotment quantity. Cable is a freebie.
Any tried this? Any opinions on if it will work or not?

[potterfanpete]

I've had to resort to slug pellets this year in our garden. If we went organic, we'd also go bankrupt, there are so many slugs and snails in our garden! They are the friendly pellets though, not the ones where birds eat the slugs and die as well

[Jayneylass]

Don't throw them, they'll just come back like homing pigeons (it's true).

Stamp on them, use beer traps and wildlife friendly pellets. There are loads on the market nowadays.

I too suffer greatly from snails and the occasional slug, so you all have my sympathies. The joys of gardening on chalk and alkaline soil!