Snails

[sherrardk]

Where have all these flipping snails come from all of a sudden? Lived in this house for two years, maybe seem two snails in all that time, there are at least five tonight (garden is tiny (and paved)).

[EcclesCake]

Put them in an ice cream tub with some lettuce (punch holes in the lid), after about five days they'll have purged and you can eat then with some yummy garlic butter........

[EcclesCake]

^^^ If that idea doesn't appeal, lob 'em over the wall.

[shaneystar2]

There has been lots of rain and they love the damp .And they love succulent plants to chomp on .
Five is nothing .
The buggers gallop around my garden :)

[boxtops]

Five - that's nothing, sher - I can fill an empty coffee jar with the things every morning in my garden :-(

[shaneystar2]

Put a dish of cheap beer down ..they'll hone in like lightening and drown peacefully ..then you can fish 'em out ( rubber gloves ) and chuck them in the bin .

[tamborine]

Owls eat them, so dont kill them

[sherrardk]

I really can't be doing with them (wouldn't do anything horrid to them though, no plants they can eat) - maybe they have escaped from the near(ish) snail farm?(only joking, but there is one).

[shaneystar2]

Lol....with the amount of snails that float about here any owl would be so stuffed he'd never get off the ground .
I do pick some of them up though and chuck them on the shed roof for the birds.
They are a nuisance though when you invest time and money in planting only to find they've been chewed to bits and you are left with a load of lace and stumps .

[boxtops]

We don't have owls round here - the thrushes would eat them but we rarely see a thrush, and there are far too many here anyway. I have to get rid of them, or they demolish the garden.

[Tilly2]

The reason we rarely see thrushes is because everyone kills snails.

[boxtops]

No Tilly, it's because there are six cats.....

[Tilly2]

.............and cats kill songbirds, of course. It's a pity that cats don't eat snails.

[sallybb]

I was reading an article written by a Hosta gardener. Slug/ Snail deterrent recipe. you boil two whole heads of Garlic for 30mins in a pint of water ( you can lightly crush the garlic). Cool and then bottle. Add one tablespoon of liquid to watering can, Water into the ground from the start of the growing season and throughout. The writer states that he now has very little problems with the little slimeys.
I tend to walk round the garden in the evening with a very small amount of salt, just 4-5 small grains(not enough to harm other wildlife) on each critter sends them to their demise. H also keep eggshells , heat them in the oven to sterilise , crush them (beware sharp) , pile generous amount around susceptible plants.