I need some help how to keep snails off plants?

I am not sure which forum to ask this on but they have eaten 2 plants and cut the top off a 3rd. Help

Lavina

Take a cup of freshly brewed coffee (not instant and not decaf) and mix it with a gallon of water. Water your yard very well and early in the evening, spray this mixture on all of the foliage. The snails should be dead the next morning.

put a small cup of beer out they drown in it or sprinkle sand around your plants. they wont go on sand as too course for their under sides.

Now where do these snails come from..thought I had to be near the ocean???? that's what I know, right? Have seen some recently in my garden..not sure where they do infact come from....

Had this same problem with my Hostas. After doing research and trying many other things I tried Escar-Go. Yeah silly name lol. Bought a couple of boxes from Amazon as soon as I started seeing holes in my Hostas this year. Put this stuff around them and they havent been back!

http://www.amazon.com/Escar-Go-1-1-treats-250-ft/dp/B00018R6TO/ref=sr_1_8/103-2206940-6778203?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1179923412&sr=1-8

This message was edited May 23, 2007 8:32 AM

Good info thanks

Lavina

I use Sluggo. Works great, don't have to worry about animals eating it. Be careful with the chemicals...especially around pets. Some have metaldehyde (sp?) and that particular compound is devasting to pet's brains.

That's why our extension office recommends the coffee method. Completely safe for animals and the environment. They say that it has just been found to be the best deterrent ever, better than any snail bait or other chemicals on the market. It works!

Do you use the diluted coffee on the whole yard?

I'd be brewing coffee for hours to get enough to do my yard even at the 1 cup per gallon recipe. I have a double lot.

Sounds strange, but it's true. They hate to crawl across anything sharp or pointy. Surround your hostas with broken eggshells, old pine needles or sharp gravel. It really does work.

The sand needs to be sharp! Play sand will not work. You can use sharp foundry sand or sand-blasting media.
Diatomaceous Earth is very sharp. Food grade will run about $2/libra, swimming pool filter DE would run about $0.60/lb. You may have to buy 25 lb. of the latter.

Star Bucks will give you a huge bag of grounds just for the asking. Here I come Starbucks.
They will save all you need also.
Lavina

You sure can, Bubba! But you're right, it'll take an awful lot of coffee for a yard that size.

I don't really see slugs in my yard but I tried it on a small area and the next morning, at least 15 were dead on my sidewalk. I thought that was pretty amazing. It's the caffeine.

I also have very good luck with pecan shell mulch, but I sprinkle it across stones in a ring around the garden rather than through the garden itself -- one of my organic gardening books suggested that pecan shells have too much tannin for good plant growth, so I don't mulch heavily with it, BUT ... it does keep the slugs at bay off the hostas and the roses. And we have HUGE slugs this year, which I find in the general yard and then expose to the waiting, happy birds. My little assist to the food chain, I guess.