This year our pond's pak bung and lotus leaves have been destroyed by the evil pest, hoi cherry. I swim in the water often, collecting the snails and give them to a neighbour who boils them up, but I'm not able to keep up with their voracious appetite for all green plants.

Does anyone know of any way of eradicating them?

Apologies if this topic has been mentioned before.

Sounds like a duck deficiency? I assume they'd enjoy them.

'a duck deficiency'..............

now there's a phrase to have the literati cognoscenti scratching their heads !!

Sounds like a duck deficiency? I assume they'd enjoy them.

There is a famous quote attributed to Bill Mollison the founder of 'Permaculture'. 'You don't have a snail problem, you have a duck deficiency".

This snail is a major pest of paddy rice and is difficult to control. I'm not an expert on it, but I have farmer friends trying all the management tools. Chemical controls are available, but organic methods take a comprehensive IPM approach. Ducks are indeed a big help. Water management and the movement of the snails from the canals and neighboring fields is a major factor to consider. Screening of the water that fills your pond or paddy is one essential method. Hand picking of the snails (and orange egg sacks) operations are another.

Trouble is, if you get some ducks, not only will you have a snail deficiency but also a deficiency of all your young growing plants!

Trouble is, if you get some ducks, not only will you have a snail deficiency but also a deficiency of all your young growing plants!

Yes we had some ducks last year, and they did indeed demolish all the plants in the pond though I think they left the lotuses alone. Thanks for the advice though, folks.

Sorry, I’ve had no experience of them in rice fields (I grow very little rice and not in flooded paddies) but I find them very tasty when bread-crumbed and fried; I collect them from a forest river.