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Snail Invasion!

Damn they're bad this year!

Bastards ate up 5 of my jalapeno plants ( had to buy replacements today) and are giving the habs hell.

I need to get these sumbitches under control before I put my precious Naga seedlings out. I put out a couple beer traps today and just spent about half an hour smashing all the ones I could find with a flashlight. I also put ashes around the plants but all the rain keeps washing it away.

I've heard they don't like to crawl over copper so I'm considering getting some copper tape to put around the plants. BTW, they seem to leave the tomatoes alone.

Any suggestions?
 
Snail bate is good and quick. They HATE garlic, so you can make some sort of homemade organic garlic spray (just use The Google to find recipes). Copper tape works wounders as well.
 
Not really being a hippy, still I try to garden as organic as possible so snail bait is not something I want to use.
 
I almost killed my dog by using slug/snail bait. Lucky I saw him eating it and got his stomach pumped in time. They now have safer alternatives but avoid the ones with Metaldehyde especially if you have pets. Copper tape is great and beer/yeast works good too and eggshells.
 
chuk hell said:
Not really being a hippy, still I try to garden as organic as possible so snail bait is not something I want to use.


http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2111&bhcd2=1177685723


http://www.montereylawngarden.com/ (follow the links to Sluggo)

I've used both Sluggo and Escargo, they both work well. I have dogs and cats, and wanted something that was safe to use around them. Sluggo is usually available locally if you have a nursery that carries any organic products. I've ordered several products from Monterey before, and been pleased with their service and the efficiency of the products.


You can also put a board in the garden between the rows. The snails and slugs will crawl under the board to hide from the sun, and you can just turn it over and kill the nasty buggers.
 
How about a boatload of salt? To make little dikes or something around the plants? Or do you think it would leech the water out of the soil too much and harm the plants?
 
chuk hell said:
Not really being a hippy, still I try to garden as organic as possible so snail bait is not something I want to use.
Being a hippy (I would say 78% Hippy/22% Space-y Dude), I totally appreciate the organic thing.
 
Chuk, snails can be difficult to root out especially since you have noncomabants such as your pets involved. Navy SEALS could be called in to take out the SIQ's (snails in question) however that could also result in collateral damage. As you did not specify if these SIQ's had hardened body armour i.e. shells, the battle plan would call for the assumption that they in fact are wearing said armour. Therefore BPP (battle plan procedure) calls for an F-117 airstrike utilizing the CBU-97 anti-tank cluster bomb munition. Upon launching the weapon, the bomb seperates and disperses via parachute several bomblets that are slowed by parachute and upon arriving in the TDZ (target drop zone) each of these individual bomblets lock on via infrared and home in the targets with rocket propulsion. The munition can be fused to explode at a predetermined altitude for WAD (wide area destruction) or set to explode on contact with individual targets. As you are already in the mind of replacing plants, it would be best to destroy these pests over a wide AO (area of operation). BDA (battle damage assessment) will however reveal the entire loss of civilians and non-combatants (jalapeno plants, ladybugs, neighbors cat, etc.) however the SIQ's will be completely BTFU (blown the f*#k up), thus ensuring no future snail insurgent reprisal. Good luck with the new pepper plants.
Semper Fi, carry on.
 
when I said escargo I meant the food (snails) cook'em up, it was meant to be a smarta$$ responce, I didnt know they made something with that name to kill off snails.
 
was it snails that like beer (too) - i think u leave out a dish of beer & they all head for that & keel over. Just have to try & keep your mates from drinking it when your not looking.
 
Sickmont said:
How about a boatload of salt? To make little dikes or something around the plants? Or do you think it would leech the water out of the soil too much and harm the plants?


The salt would dissolve into the soil and kill the plant.

"salting the earth" is what conquering armies did to rebellious towns, they salted the fields as punishment so they couldn't grow crops.
 
texas blues said:
Chuk, snails can be difficult to root out especially since you have noncomabants such as your pets involved. Navy SEALS could be called in to take out the SIQ's (snails in question) however that could also result in collateral damage. As you did not specify if these SIQ's had hardened body armour i.e. shells, the battle plan would call for the assumption that they in fact are wearing said armour. Therefore BPP (battle plan procedure) calls for an F-117 airstrike utilizing the CBU-97 anti-tank cluster bomb munition. Upon launching the weapon, the bomb seperates and disperses via parachute several bomblets that are slowed by parachute and upon arriving in the TDZ (target drop zone) each of these individual bomblets lock on via infrared and home in the targets with rocket propulsion. The munition can be fused to explode at a predetermined altitude for WAD (wide area destruction) or set to explode on contact with individual targets. As you are already in the mind of replacing plants, it would be best to destroy these pests over a wide AO (area of operation). BDA (battle damage assessment) will however reveal the entire loss of civilians and non-combatants (jalapeno plants, ladybugs, neighbors cat, etc.) however the SIQ's will be completely BTFU (blown the f*#k up), thus ensuring no future snail insurgent reprisal. Good luck with the new pepper plants.
Semper Fi, carry on.

:D

How did defcon get yr. login info?
 
You hippy. ;)

Beer traps have always been my favourite. Mrs Shooty* mentioned copper tape the other day as snails have been at my coriander plant, but they killed the whole bl**dy thing, so too late. Nevermind.

All my chilis are in pots, so no slug/ snail problems yet. They're too lazy/ drunk from the beer trap to climb the pot sides.

We had awesome success with slug pellets at the old house. Appreciate you want to be organic, but it got to the stage (and bear in mind that this was a teeny tiny UK garden flower bed) where I'd have about 2 dozen dead snails each morning over an area about 2 foot deep by 6 foot long. The pile of shells was unbelievable...

Mullet, you're not a hippy unless you own a tie-dyed T-shirt, a bandana, and have seen EITHER The Ozric Tentacles or Grateful Dead in concert.

The romans were big into salting the earth, especially on those rare occasions where they were forced to retreat. The army chasing them then couldn't eat, see.
 
you can use a mulch like crushed walnut shells around your plants its sharp edges keep the snails away works good for me and its organic and cant wash away
 
VtPepper said:
you can use a mulch like crushed walnut shells around your plants its sharp edges keep the snails away works good for me and its organic and cant wash away

You know, I've heard this said by other northern gardeners, and there is one elseweb who took great offense when I questioned it. I don't know if the warmer weather makes for tougher snails and slugs or what, but my snails and slugs sneer at mulches meant to cut them. They snort diatomaceous earth at parties while they browse on my lettuce. Toads are about the only thing they respect, and there are ugly rumors that they run in gangs at night and lynch the smaller toads.
 
Chuk, I would have thought you have fire ants that control the snails and slugs. I can't remember anywhere I have lived in Texas, i.e. Rio Grande Valley, Austin, Abilene, Corpus, where they didn't control the rest of the "population". Course, the fire ants are like Ghengis Kahn and the Mongul Hordes....very tough to get rid of.
 
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