I'm kinda new, don't really know the way around this forum, but I have one question, would snails and slugs be a problem with peppers?
Hi?
- Thread starter Darktheumbreon
- Start date
Can't answer your question, but 
from PNW
from PNW
PaulG
Extreme Member
Yes! Snails love pepper leaves - they attacked one of my bells last year! A few slug pellets cured the problem. The plant went on to produce quite well. Anytime I set out new plants, or seeds in the ground start to sprout, I put out a few slug pellets, especially in the Spring while most of the slugs are still little. Here in the PacNW we live in slug and snail (escargot sized!) heaven 
to The Hot Pepper from Oregon! Just have fun cruisin' around the forums, and you'll get along great. Folk here are extremely helpful and friendly - so just post a topic with any question you have,and you'll get lots of response.
to The Hot Pepper from Oregon! Just have fun cruisin' around the forums, and you'll get along great. Folk here are extremely helpful and friendly - so just post a topic with any question you have,and you'll get lots of response.
First, from CA!
To your question: From my experience (was an organic farm-hand for about 3 years in college & studied horticulture for a time, and worked in plant industry in Holland) snails are a problem for any leafy green plant.
If I recall correctly, snails, slugs and aphids are going to be your biggest problem pests.
There are some low tech solutions to snails of you don't like using snail bait. My favorite is copper. Copper is more expensive than it was 20 years ago when I was using it though. We'd wrap the legs of the greenhouse benches with copper wire - which contains a natural electrical current. This is like the electric chair to your mucus-sliming friends. They simply will not cross it, which keeps everything above on the benches snail/slug free. Aphids are another story. The biggest issues I had with Aphids were ant farmers.
See ants are extremely clever in one regard: they will "farm" aphids. Ants will actually pick up an aphid, bring it to your plant, leave it there to feed, wait for it to poop its sugary resin, and collect the resin. It's fascinating as a marvel of nature and frustrating as a grower of anything.
But back to your question, yes - Snails are the enemy. Copper is your friend. Works great. I did a quick google to see if science backed up my old wives tale (even though anecdotally I had GREAT success with copper wire) and found this:
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1920.pdf
from CA!To your question: From my experience (was an organic farm-hand for about 3 years in college & studied horticulture for a time, and worked in plant industry in Holland) snails are a problem for any leafy green plant.
If I recall correctly, snails, slugs and aphids are going to be your biggest problem pests.
There are some low tech solutions to snails of you don't like using snail bait. My favorite is copper. Copper is more expensive than it was 20 years ago when I was using it though. We'd wrap the legs of the greenhouse benches with copper wire - which contains a natural electrical current. This is like the electric chair to your mucus-sliming friends. They simply will not cross it, which keeps everything above on the benches snail/slug free. Aphids are another story. The biggest issues I had with Aphids were ant farmers.
See ants are extremely clever in one regard: they will "farm" aphids. Ants will actually pick up an aphid, bring it to your plant, leave it there to feed, wait for it to poop its sugary resin, and collect the resin. It's fascinating as a marvel of nature and frustrating as a grower of anything.
But back to your question, yes - Snails are the enemy. Copper is your friend. Works great. I did a quick google to see if science backed up my old wives tale (even though anecdotally I had GREAT success with copper wire) and found this:
http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1920.pdf
PaulG beat me to it by a min.
PaulG
Extreme Member
Interesting LD - would wrapping copper wire (might banding be expensive and maybe not efficient on plants with small stems like peppers) around a plant stem work the same way? Any particular gauge? No wonder people who wear copper anklets and bracelets don't have aphids! BTW thanks for including the link...
from jakarta, and yes snail are bad, they eat pepper leaf, coffe ground around the plant usually take care of em..
Greetings from Defcon HQ...
@Paul - dunno about wrapping the plant itself - never heard of that or tried it.
Coffee grounds is a new one to me, though I've seen beer used. The problem with those is stability - Copper wont wash away or lose potency in the rain or during watering.
Snail bait works pretty good though.
Coffee grounds is a new one to me, though I've seen beer used. The problem with those is stability - Copper wont wash away or lose potency in the rain or during watering.
Snail bait works pretty good though.
from florence az
Hi & welcome 
Thanks for the replies! I might buy some copper tape, and that new idea you had of wrapping it around the stem sounds great!
