HELP...I have SNAILS!!!

I have discovered my garden is under attack by dreaded Snails! I do not want to put down poison. Is there a way to rid the garden of snails in a less toxic way? Right now I physically move them far from the plants and put them in a grassy area....am I doing the wrong thing?

If you use products that have iron phosphate as the active it's pretty nontoxic to everything except slugs/snails. Sluggo is one common brand that uses that active but there are probably others as well. Just make sure you avoid the slug/snail products with metaldehyde as the active, that's very toxic to pets, etc.

Are there any plants the iron phosphate will harm? I have a slug fest going on here and have lost 2 plants so far to the little slime devils.

I don't know if it would dissolve in the soil or not, but even if it does iron and phosphorus are both things that plants need, so unless you use a really excessive amount of it I can't imagine it would hurt anything.

Thanks for the information ecrane3!!! I will get some sluggo, or similar product!

I read on a website last year that snails/slug's love beer. I sat out a few cup's of beer in place's that I had problem's and caught alot of them this way. They drown themselve's. It really work's;-)

Rachel

Snails like....BEER????????? That is amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I do not think I will put out beer because there are dog's and cats and squirrels that can get into it. Could you imagine a drunk squirrel?

Ha, Ha...a drunk squirrel would have to be funny to watch although my cat's never went near it, dog's may I don't know.

I used beer with Sluggo as well until I could get some control over them. I was catching at least 7-10 per cup per night. It is an instant magnet for those slimmy creature's.

Rachel

my mother always used beer in upside down frisbees, which fascinated us kids....she got alot of big fat slugs that way.

I bet upside-down frisbees would be wonderful!!! I would have never thought of that. I thought saucers for tea cups!

Well I guess I better try and find some frisbee's again, ( Do they still sell those toy's now day's)? The big long/fat snail's were able to escape my cup's last year;-) They just got drunk and left!

Thank's for adding the tip.

Rachel

Carrying them away to a grassy area won't help much as they'll eventually find their way back to your plants.

Try doing this to get rid of as many as you can see, preferably in the early evening or early morning, when it's damp out and they're actively feeding: Fill up a bucket with water and pour a ton of salt into it. Hand pick as many as you can find and drop them in the bucket. The salt will kill them. Then dispose of them, but don't pour the salty water in your garden. In conjunction, try putting down a frisbee as was suggested above, or anything else that they can crawl and hide under during the daytime. A board, piece of cardboard, inverted flower pot,anything they can crawl into and hide in.

Even if you think you've gotten them all, there's undoubtedly MORE of them hiding, as well as eggs they've laid, which you won't be able to see anyway.

After you've hand picked as many as you can find, then apply Sluggo liberally. This stuff really works amazingly well. It may take a few days to get them all, but it will work. After you notice they're dwindling in population, re-apply the sluggo and use it on a regular basis afterward.

Sluggo REALLY works.

Soap! I remember when I was young my mother had a slug/snail infestation. She used to dilute some soap (I'd use an all natural kind or a dish soap or something that isn't super harmful) in a spray bottle with water. Then she'd just spray the solution onto the slug/snail and they would liquefy before your eyes. To my knowledge the only components in those bottles were soap and water and it was the coolest thing to watch as a nine year old!