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Let battle commence - Snails

GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447
Today in the greenhouse, my seedlings of petunia and cosmos have been decimated by snails. Found 2 snails and disposed of them. Now trying surrounding seedlings with sand. Has anyone else tried this?
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  • Jenny_AsterJenny_Aster Posts: 945
    Don't think there's anything @Fairygirl hasn't tried in her snail wars. Think it's a matter of see what could work for you. I did read the other day that someone had success with a thin layer of vermiculite. 
    Trying to be the person my dog thinks I am! 

    Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
  • I put copper tape around the trays/plant pots. It's not cheap, but it works here in Kent - inside and out.

    Your snails and slugs may be more resilient!!
  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447
    Thank you. Search by torch light tonight!
  • WAMSWAMS Posts: 1,960
    Poor you. I found one in a tulip at the weekend.

    And on the leaves of three different roses. There's nothing they won't slime over. I'm fed up with them!
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    They won’t cross a thick ring of pumice gravel. They hate the dry, rough texture and it’s the only thing that I found deters them 100% from munching young dahlia shoots in the ground.

    Raising pots and trays in a larger tray filled with table salt works too. The raised bit is important, you don’t want the pots to draw up salt. In a tray it’s easier to dispose of the salt safely afterwards.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    edited March 2023
    Copper tape does well for me - two lines about an inch apart. It's very cheap on amazon, I buy the thinner width. 
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    edited March 2023
    Objective testing by Which? Gardening researchers showed coffee grounds and crushed egg shells to be almost useless and copper tape not far behind. Wool pellets weren’t much good either.

     Their best organic control was Slugs a Gogo sold by Sarah Raven. Westland Growing Success Organic Slug Stop Barrier Pellets was a close second. Strulch also did well.
    Rutland, England
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    We are often told that sharp gravel will stop them. A wildlife reserve that we visit has gravel paths and we always find snails and slugs happily crossing back and forwards.
  • GrajeanGrajean Posts: 447
    Thank you 
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    I think it depends on a few variables with the snails and slugs. The ones here are mutant, they'll eat anything including the plants which they allegedly won't go near, and they'll happily bound over a pile of coffee grounds to get to a favourite plant. 😄 

    Trial and error is often the only way. 
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