Yall! I have a problem..There are teeny, tiny, minute snails getting into my plants! I just got rid of some stupid beetles..now this..My plants dont look bad..YET..but I can see where something has gnawed on some..and I found only these little boogers! They dont seem to care what kind of plant either..I have fragrants, tropicals, succulents, vines, and perennial..both container and in ground!! Help yall!!!
And of COURSE..ALL this dang rain didnt do nuthin to help matters!
Snails anyone???
put down some beer for them... they will get drunk and drown
That is what my neighbor told me today!! I thought she was just giving me a hard time coz I had a Bud in my hand..lol..Just one bowl? Or do I need to put more than one..sorta scatter it around my plants?
turbo, you could also get some dt or diatomaceous(sp?) earth, I think I've seen it at Lowes. It works on slugs too.
Dang! I was sooooo lookin forward to havin a beer with a bug! LOL
Aw go ahead, that's probably more fun than the dt anyway lol
Ok.talked me into it..lol..I am fixin to go out to the patio and see what I see..Got the tikis goin...the waterfall doin it thang in my water garden..and ...it is NOT HOT!! wooohooo! Does it get any better??
You could always have escargot with that beer lol
It doesn't get any better....except if the mosquitoes would die off.
use shallow tops for the beer.. don't want them to have to work for it.
DE will not work in the rain.
I consider it a waste of good beer. Let them buy their own.
Lol CJ......at least don't give them the good stuff
Thanks nada.....I meant DE, not dt
LOL! Yall are crazy! Well, I decided that IIIIIIII needed my beer more than they do..I will go get them some cheap stuff tomorrow,..I also have the chemical stuff..I forget the name..and I dont wanna go back out to my gardening shed! Lazy..At any rate..it's nice out tonight..Skeeters not terribly bad YET...Tomorrow night..shoot..forget bout sittin out by the water garden with a cold one..The skeeters down here are on steroid..I kid ya not..Like flyin horses..and I have seen some biguns in my day..in the river bottoms of East Texas..but they got NUTHIN on these dudes! They see me with my repellant..and they laff!!
Seriously, another very good product that kills snails and slugs but is not poisonous to other animals (dogs, for example) is iron phosphate. When it breaks down it feeds the plant, too. One name for it is Slug-Go, another is EscarGo (I love those names), and the one I have is made by Schultz - the brand name is Garden Safe Slug & Snail Bait. It remains effective after a rain, too. I have found that it works.
Another method is putting down boards, or something flat near the plants. Moisten the soil a little first, if it needs it. The snails will crawl under there in the daytime, and you can gather them up and give them a decent burial. I throw them on the concrete and stomp on them, preferably with shoes on.
High heels or flats, ceejay?
Ok I know these little bitty snails are annoying, but growing up in southern cal we had big ones, the kind you Woodlands folks pay good money to eat when you go to your fancy french dinners! One of my cousin's sons couldn't be let out in the yard by himself because at the age of 2 or 3 he was compelled to eat them- suck them out of the shell and eat them alive! Yuck! As a little kid my grandfather showed me the most effective control- he would pick them up and put them in a straight line a few feet apart. The w/ his size 13s he'd jump from snail to snail, gleefully squishing them! My mother told him not to do that sort of thing in front of me again! of course he did!
LOL! "You Woodlands folks" - ahem! I don't eat snails alive or dead! And actually, I've seen some of those same things in my garden. I think they got imported somehow.
Visited Muir Woods years ago, and met the banana slug. Got a picture of him/her next to my wedding ring, which was dwarfed by the humongous yellow thing! Then on to the U of C at Santa Cruz to discover that the banana slug is their mascot! I can just hear it now "Slime 'em, mighty slugs!"
Oh I know, my younger brother was camping in the pacific northwest and sent me photos! Yikes those things are scarey!! Also saw an add somewhere on the internet for skin care product made from the slime of banana slugs! Oh yeah, CeeJay, you know I bought bottles of it! Yuck, who would intentionally put that stuff on them?
When we moved to CA, and I saw all the snails and how big they were, I thought I was rich!
Then read how to clean them for use as escargot - decided I had better things to do than feed them cornmeal and clean the pan daily for 3 weeks.
Bought snail bait instead. They do a real number on the ice plants, and we needed those to keep the hillside from sliding into the pool.
Glad to be back in TX. Plenty of snails, but Force II took care of a lot of them.
I just wish the birds would "harvest" them. There must be some natural enemys.
Toads and frogs, ground beetles
Hey yall! The snails dont like Shiner Bock!! I had NOT ONE dead one! I swear..these critters..bugs..snails..are drivin me bonkers!!! I have only been gardening for about 6 months..Is there EVER a season that I WONT be fighting them all the time???!!??
OH..and on top of all this..I tore some cartiledge in my knee..postponing surgery as long as possible...
And.the rain has stopped..Now, we have mosqitos on STEROIDS! LOL!!
LIFE...sometimes you just gotta learn as ya go! LOL
ceejay!! I HAVE toads and frogs..several live by my water garden! They better get with the program or they may be evicted.I may need new tenants who know how to keep the place free of these dang snails!
Do thoe take care of the snails and slugs or do only the birds do the snails? Haven't heard of anything that will eat the slugs except salt.
Ann
Ann..my frogs and toads dont seem to be doing a dang thing for snails..soooo I am of NO help! Sorry..Snails, beetles, whiteflies, spider mites..mosqitos...ONLY IN TEXAS YALL...only in Texas....
Well, maybe not dead, but very happy.... Yes, toads, frogs and those large ground beetles that you stomp on when you see them running around at night eat snails and slugs. I didn't say they would eat all of them.
turbos - You're worrying too much. You have just started gardening, and your garden hasn't yet achieved the balance of nature that comes along as it matures... Beneficials of all sorts come in to feast when the population of bad guys is high enough to attract them. Then it becomes an up and down sort of thing. Beneficials wipe out the bad guys, but in doing so there is no longer much food available for them and their babies, and so many of them move on to better picnic grounds. Then the bad guys gradually build back up, but the beneficials are still available and in the area because you didn't kill them off, and they'll build back up to reduce the population of bad guys again. Some patience is required, and you must learn to accept a little damage. No garden, nuked or left to its own natural control, is ever going to be free of insects. That's dinner, and they know it. They are just making a living. It is the gardener who doesn't want to share the bounty. So, relax and enjoy, and when there is a real problem, deal with that real problem, but don't worry about what is down the road. You'll drive yourself wack-o!
This message was edited Oct 17, 2006 12:18 PM
Thanks ceejay! You knew exactly what to say! I have lots to learn and I so grateful for you and all yall others, for puttin up with me! When I grow up I wanna be JUST LIKE YALL!! A good gardener! LOL
What's that they say about planting? Something like "one for the birds, one for the bugs and one for me".
Ann
Well, then..It's ALL good here! Actually, a neighbor came by and complimented me on my garden..Then asked me to stop her place and see what may be wrong with one of her plants! I was like, HUH?? LOL>.But turns out, I was able to help her..and THAT, plus my beautiful flowers, made it all worthwhile!
And that's what is so fun about gardening. And it should be fun, or you're doing it all wrong!
I agree- not worth doing if it's not fun! And isn't nice to be able to help someone? It always makes me feel so smart that I know something that helps someone, then I read one of CeeJay's posts and know ho little I know! LOL.
By the way CeeJay, we discussed spidermites earlier in the summer and I was trying to avoid your advice about spraying them- hoping for a quick, chemical answer. Although my life is defined by the statement, "Better living through chemicals" I did want to let you know that I went w/ your way and sprayed the suckers every 3rd day or so for a week or 2 and voila! success! Thank you for your help!
turbos - Don't let April fool you. She is a professional landscaper and she knows LOTS!! But thanks for the kind words, anyway, April. The spray she is referring to, turbos, would be simple ole water. Spider mites like it hot and dry, and spraying them with water every few days is the best way to get rid of them. I don't know if I believed it either, until I tried it. It works!
Well CeeJay I was a true disbeliever but having tried it for myself I can only say "you da man!"
Worked better than anything else.
Hey yall! Just poppin in for a quick hello..Been so busy..but all is well here! Cool front is heavenly, huh???? We even fired up the chimenea tonight! Hope everyone is doin ok..Gonna go get my 2 yr old grandson tomorrow..going to the park with a friend and her 3 yr old grandson..Should be interesting and fun!! Yall stay safe!!
Randa