and have chewed up almost every bedding plant I have so painfully planted. These snails are eating size not little teensy things. Don't worry - I'm not stupid enough to try to eat escargot from my own flowerbeds. If those varmints knew how difficult and painful it was for me to get out there and plant they probably wouldn't have done it. LOL Anyway, any surefire ways of getting rid of them? I have tried diatamatious (sp) earth, coffee grounds and forget about the beer. I don't have the resources to buy enough beer to drown these things nor do I have containers deep enough. The snails are really good sized. Anyone out there who has had success in getting rid of them? Thanks for your input, in advance.
Ann
Big snails are driving me crazy
You might try egg shells. Crumble the eggshells, then sprinkle them around the base of your plants. I don't crumble them too finely; you want some sharp edges to deter the pesky things.
You can also spray your plants with a hot pepper spray. Get cayenne pepper and pour some in a spray bottle. Add some water and spray away. You can also add some garlic (it smells horrible!) to the mixture. Supposedly, they're not supposed to like the taste and this deters them from eating your plants.
Stephanie
stephanietx, I'll try everything but the egg shells. Around here we eat about 1 egg (avg.)/week. Thanks so much!
Ann
Ann,
I too, have seen really big ones this year. Not quite as big as the ones we had in CA, but close. DW asked if they could be cleaned like the CA ones to make escargot. I don't know, but I don't want to spend 3 weeks with daily cornmeal changing to find out. We met a man that was doing that, and selling to restaurants when we were in CA.
"Force II" will wipe those out. It is not inexpensive, but very effective. SW Fertilizer on Bissonnet has it, but I'm sure others carry it, too. It is a black liquid that comes in a plastic bottle with a cap that has a lift-up applicator.
They have destroyed or severely damaged lettuce, cabbage, radishes, chard, etc. They even tried to wipe out our horseradish leaves, but there were way too many plants for them to succeed. I just pour a line around the garden - I try NOT to use any chemicals in the garden itself. But if I only grew flowers, I would use it in those beds.
Bubba, I wish I lived closer to SW Fert. When I lived on that side of town it was easy to go there but being out here in Katy has curtailed my wanderings - that and old age. Do you know if SW Fert. does mail order? There are sometimes things that I would like to get and can only get it from them but I would get lost or have to start at dawn to get over there. It ain't easy living on I-10.
Ann
You could make a day of it and come by for lunch at our place - maybe supper ??? if it takes that long. LOL
Do you have a Houston Garden Center or Tractor Supply in the Katy area? They might have it or something similar.
Haven't seen a snail out this way--Ike must have blown them else where.
You are just a better gardner than us dmj - with all your compost and mulch.
My "Ike" pile. Was 50 ft long, 12 ft wide, and 4 ft tall before shredding.
Y'all are just too much! The powers that be thought that I ordered "Snails" when I really wanted "E-mails" during Ike. So they are here. I got the plants at the Houston Garden Center on Grand Parkway so "Yes" we do have one near us. I'll check w/them to see if they have something. Thanks Bubba.
Ann
Ann, you might check with SW Fert to ask if they still mail orders. I asked a few years ago when I went in to buy Hibiscus Fertilizer. They said they did.
The price of copper has gone up considerably, but it is a great deterrent. You would have to make sure the bed you plan to enclose with copper is snail free. The copper strips need to be 2" - 3" wide and be long enough to enclose the bed. It works by reacting with the snail's slime to create an ionic difference between the front and back of the snail's foot and giving the snail a shock.
I've always though it would be neat to incorporate copper strips around beds or plants as a design element that also serves to keep the snails out. Like maybe a planter with a wide copper strip wrapped around the sides.
Veronica, your description of what happens to the snail makes me think of biting down on aluminum foil when you have a metal filling. Oy!
Hi Maggie, good to see you posting!. I've not bitten on a piece of aluminum, but I imagine it doesn't feel great. I have accidently bitten down on other metallic and the sensation is not pleasant.
I have lucked out so far. No snails this far out in the country. I'm too far from neighbors. I try to check purchases for all visible pests including snails and slugs. I had plenty back in San Jose. One of the things I used to do was to go snail and slug hunting at night and right after a rain.
It was too dark to take a picture of the huge snail I saw on a branch when I got home this evening, but it did look large enough to eat! I do have plenty of snails, but have never noticed them gobbling my plants. They must be eating something here, but maybe I just don't have a majority of plants they like? Gee, maybe they're eating their way through the weeds, that's a great thought!
A customer at The Arbor Gate in Tomball once told us that when she lived in England she used to just toss any snails she found over the fence into the neighbor's yard. One day she was working in the garden and was hit by a snail flying over the fence from the neighbor, lol!
Reading, again, about the copper around beds and plantings makes me wonder: is there some company that makes a copper mulch type stuff about the size of salt that you could put out in the garden? Probably not, but it sounds like a good idea to me and cheaper, too than strips of copper.
Ann
Copper mulch would be an expensive way to go and since the little pellets would be heavier than the soil, they would slowly sink into the soil.
Sluggo works well and is not harmful to animals or the environment. It breaks down and adds iron to the soil, so totally harmless to the ecosystem. It can be bought at Lowe's. The Lowe's near me has a separate section with the "environmentally friendly" garden stuff. They have the horticultural molasses there also. I have those giant snails too. They are really unusual looking. They have alternating bands of color, kind of greenish gray and a darker, almost black, that go around the shell and they are huge. I'm finding them everywhere. I put the Sluggo out just a few days ago when I redid the front beds and already can see a difference. Not if it just worked on ants........
Crow
edited to avoid double postin.
Ann
This message was edited Oct 24, 2008 9:57 AM
Thanks, Crow. That sounds like a good answer. Lowe's is near me. I still think that if there was a mulch w/bits of copper in it, it would be good for a case like this and for people who have snails and slugs such as hosta growers. Now I'm trying to find out about Confederate Roses. I discovered a beautiful dark pink double behind some other stuff in this new yard of mine - always finding some good stuff here - and don't know what to do with it to propagate and bring it forward in my yard so that it can be seen because it is so striking and beautiful. I think that the birds must have planted this as it is below a power line and behind all the loquots and other big shrubs in that area. I just know there was a recent discussion on this but as I didn't know that I had one at the time didn't pay that much attention to the thread. Do you remember? I went to plant files and it only had the single flowers and I'm stuck.
Ann
Ann, on the confederate rose, what works for me is to take a cutting several inches long off of a woody stem, about 1" diameter, and stick it in a bucket of water outside in the shade. If you have any root stimulator, put a few drops in, but it will likely root without it. Take several cuttings as all may not root. The water should be about 1/2 way up the stem. It's pretty easy to root this way. I usually root in the fall or early spring. I lost my big double pink this year to fire blight. I'm going to get a cutting from one I rooted for the neighbor though, so it's not totally lost. Glad I share cuttings!
Crow
Roadrunners love snails....any way to entice some roadrunners to your yard :o)
How big are these snails...got a photo?
Had no idea about copper. Couldn't you just toss a bunch of pennies into your garden?
Funny story Maggiemoos! I better watch out...whenever there is a green anole lizard in my yard and I'm able to catch it I toss it over the fence into my neighbor's yard...would hate to have one sailing back over at me!!!
~ Cat
Oh, why do you toss away anoles? They are great for eating unwanted insects. Don't know if they eat slugs or not, but they sure eat other harmful bugs.
Wish we did have roadrunners in our part of the subdivision but..... We have a lot of other birds that sound menacing but aren't. Even the blue jays aren't agressive. They haven't found the peanuts I put out for them but the starlings have and they don't have the beak to break the shell so they just get them and fly around w/them. Copper pennies wouldn't help I wouldn't think but I had thought that a finely ground bunch of copper mixed w/something else that would hold water would fool the snails (haven't seen any slugs, yet) and they could come up and get electrocuted. Oh, well................
Ann
Copper as a long flat metal strip is much easier to make and thus cheaper, hopefully. Slime has enough water to help get a reaction, but there has to be enough copper present to help initiate that reaction and the entire foot has to come into contact with the copper. That doesn't happen with ground copper.
I toll the green anoles over the fence because they eat my butterflies and caterpillars :o) Don't feel too bad...it doesn't do much good because I see the same ones in the same places. I think they have a nest or hidey hole where the brick meets the wood and shingles of my house.
~ Cat
Odd thing about anoles...a member just posted a photo of one eating a butterfly...ugh!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5715194
Okay, what's the diff between an anole and a lizard? (I could look it up, but I'm ducking in at work here.) I finally have a Monarch butterfly catterpillar on my Rue, and I have lots of lizards - even have "watering holes" for them. Should I protect this guy (especially since it's supposed to get down to 33 tonight)?
Whether or not they are "lizards" or "anoles" doesn't make much difference . They are well able to care for themselves.
Ann
Who, the lizards, or the catterpillars? :-)
Maggie, This is the only site I was able to find regarding caterpillars and temperatures. Apparently 80ºF is close to normal for Monarchs. Lower temperatures slow development. They will freeze. Are your greenhouses heated or protected from cold weather in any way. You might think about moving the cat into a safe dry warmish place. I don't know much about Monarch's migration timetables.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1465
An anole is a type of lizard.
Thanks Veronica! You always get great information.
I don't have greenhouses, maybe I'll go ahead and bring the pot with the rue and parsley inside for tonight. This is just an unusual cold snap, this early in the fall. (I hope I can pick up the pot, those plants have been in there for three years, the stem on the parsley plant is almost a trunk! It just never ever stopped growing.)
The only way I can remember anoles is that they look like little alligators, while geckos look like little crocodiles. LOL.
I'd bring the monarch cat inside. Lucky you!
Well, I figured the rue and parsley will be okay with a few roots pulled from the ground, so I moved the little guy into the garage for tonight. I just checked on him, and he seems to be happy.... and growing. :-)
Gosh, I really like the road runner family living in my hedge row near the road. I'll throw any extra snails I see their way; however, for those I don't see I've had really good luck with Escar-Go from Gardens Alive. Maybe that's why I don't see many ;)! Works well on slugs too.
PlantLady, I use Force II also .. you actually eridicate them in a season. Its illegal to sell it in the state of texas so I buy mine online.
Sylvia