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Talkback: Snail attack

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
I too heard of these marvellous copper rings. But still these snails cannot be beaten, what about salt on the pot soil, would that work?
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  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I think this year must be 'the year of the snail'. Every morning I go out and collect between 5 and 18 of the beastly things. Just when I think I am getting somewhere near seeing the back of them and only picking up 3 or 4, the next morning I find 10 or more. What is the answer? They have eaten my courgette and Market More cucumber, climbed the bean poles and eaten the leaves 3ft up. If I was French I would be rubbing my hands in glee and saving pounds on meat bills instead I am spending a fortune on pellets!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    My girlfriend and I have been growing our own vegetables for the first time this year. We were so upset to go out one morning and find half of our budding crop eaten away by snails. We bought some pellets (pet friendly for our black cat) from the garden centre and sprinkled liberally, and that seems to have pretty much cured the problem. There are still plenty of snails we find lurking in the garden though, which I have now taken to moving to the other side of the road in the front.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    What about the birds that were supposed to eat slugs? There was a big fat juicy slug on top of the compost bin, exposed to the elements and not a single slug-eating bird to be seen.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    It does appear to be the year of the slimy mollusc, since June 13 my wife (head slug hunter) has collected over 1350 slugs and snails. I do not think moving them helps as they seem to know where the best food can be found. The birds that eat them like thrushes are not around these days so the only way to protect your crops is to collect and dispatch them.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    This year I have lost all my runner beans, sunflowers and sweetcorn to slugs and snails. They have even had the leaf tops off radishes! Surprisingly, strawberries have survived and been abundant. It has been so wet here in Wilts that I have found slugs chomping away at midday.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Last year I used nematodes against slugs and snails but because of weather didn't get round to getting any this year. The amount of damage the slugs have done I will be using them again next year.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    This year I have been resorting to collecting the critters in the act of eating my plants by torchlight as all my usual deterrents are not working - cut off plastic bottles encircling new plants and scattering of ash and grit around. I have help from numerous frogs and toads. I though at first it was just snails until I started this nightly ritual and was amazed by the size of some of the slugs. I think the frogs turn and run!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I'm afraid I have no sympathy for snails and slugs. After over 30 years growing from seeds and cuttings, watching them grow, planting them out, only to find them dead and leafless in one night, I now go out late at night armed with a torch and a packet of salt. Probably very cruel, a nasty way to kill them, and I'll never go to Heaven, I suppose, but it's them or my plants and my plants will win every time. Strange though, no matter how many I kill in one night, there are still many more in the garden the next night!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    We had several of our plants destroyed two years ago by slugs and snails. So last year I put several plastic cups half filled with either left over or cheap beer and caught quite a few of them. Much safer for birds and cats the most it will do is make them a bit wobbly on their legs??? We also feed the birds with milk thistle seeds and various fat soaked balls and seeds, therefore attracting several different species of birds into the garden.
    The result is that this year I have an excellent display from a plant I do not know the name of, but was eaten to shreds by slugs previously! And so far no problem with slugs or snails.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I think snails have more intelligence than people give them credit for. I heard that snails have a 'homing' instinct, so even if you put them across the road they still come back to your garden. Does anyone know if this is true, or is it just the ramblings of a frustrated garden lover?
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