Snails

[Tywais]

Since rainy season every night I get a bunch of these guys crawing all over the front porch and our dog food and water bowl (which is what I suspect they are after). Anyone have an idea how I can keep them off the porch? Since it is rainy season, can't have the dog bowl outside for obvious reasons. Not a big issue, just not a pretty sight and hate the sound of accidently stepping on one.

The one with a conical shell (nearly like from a beach) is about 10cm long and the round ones about 2-3 cm. Usually a dozen or more of the smaller ones. Thought about sprinkling salt around the perimeter.

[swain]

There are all kinds of nasty ways to get rid of them. But I dont want my cats to get into poison, and having a bunch of dead snails is about as gross. My girlfriend and a website we found suggests we keep going out at night and grab them when they are moving. Its been working we have collected about 20-30 a night for a while now we are down to about 5-6 and we keep active. Send them on thier way in the garbage. If it was me that was grabing them I think we would have been over run but she goes out everynight and grabs them. They are NOT after your dog food but after your plants if you have them in your garden. If anything they are attracted to the moisture in the food and the water bowl. We want our garden with out the swiss cheese effect so this is what we do. Let me know if anyone else has a better idea sans poison and I would be up for it.

[Tywais]

Thanks for that. Also not willing to kill them. I've been picking them off the porch and tossing them back into the yard, think I need to throw them a lot further. And yes, we have a large garden area and lots of shrubs/plants but haven't noticed too much damage.

[geoffphuket]

I’ve got the same problem, they’re everywhere this year. They seem more interested in crapping all over the walls of the house than eating the plants.

The other day my 11 month old son was playing on the front porch, when I noticed he’d got something in his mouth…..Yep, you guessed right, it was. Fortunately he hadn’t tested his new front teeth on it and I managed to extract it intact

We asked our gardener what would get rid of them, and he suggested using a spray made for killing termites, liberally applied around the perimeter garden wall. I didn’t like that idea at all because we’ve lots of herbs growing and our baby puts everything into his mouth. The idea with the salt sounds good; I’ll give that a go.

[Tywais]

I’ve got the same problem, they’re everywhere this year.

Always had a few but this year they're everywhere including sometimes finding them inside the house.

The other day my 11 month old son was playing on the front porch, when I noticed he’d got something in his mouth…..Yep, you guessed right, it was. Fortunately he hadn’t tested his new front teeth on it and I managed to extract it intact

Glad to hear that.

My first search on the net regarding salt and snails ended up with several recipes. However did find this:

"Snails hate salt by eHow Friend

I fill s sprayer with 3 tablespoons of salt and 2 gallons of water when I water my plants. The salt gets on the leaves and kills the slugs before they eat my beautiful petunias."

Also they said snails will not cross over copper, though that maybe expensive and difficult to implement.

[sbk]

Salt works well, you can also put out a shallow bowl full of beer, they will crawl in and drown.

My sister-in-law had a pair of ducks, wiped the snails out and they never came back. Mr and Mrs Duck, I loved em

[Tywais]

Salt works well, you can also put out a shallow bowl full of beer, they will crawl in and drown.

My sister-in-law had a pair of ducks, wiped the snails out and they never came back. Mr and Mrs Duck, I loved em

My wife just got a laugh re: Mr & Mrs Duck. I'll try the salt first. I'm sure someone will say what a waste of a perfectly good beer.

[udon]

Salt works well, you can also put out a shallow bowl full of beer, they will crawl in and drown.

My sister-in-law had a pair of ducks, wiped the snails out and they never came back. Mr and Mrs Duck, I loved em

My wife just got a laugh re: Mr & Mrs Duck. I'll try the salt first. I'm sure someone will say what a waste of a perfectly good beer.

Not if you use Chang, the chemicals in Chang will kill them if they don't drown.

[chownah]

IF copper works it need not be expensive....buy some electrical wiring, strip off the insulation and then tack it down as a barrier....let us know if it works....you could experiment by corraling a slug inside a copper wire barrier and see how reluctant it is to cross the barrier.

Chownah

Edited September 25, 2006 by chownah

[geoffphuket]

Salt works well, you can also put out a shallow bowl full of beer, they will crawl in and drown.

My sister-in-law had a pair of ducks, wiped the snails out and they never came back. Mr and Mrs Duck, I loved em

My wife just got a laugh re: Mr & Mrs Duck. I'll try the salt first. I'm sure someone will say what a waste of a perfectly good beer.

What a waste of a perfectly good beer

Edited September 25, 2006 by geoffphuket

[Tywais]

IF copper works it need not be expensive....buy some electrical wiring, strip off the insulation and then tack it down as a barrier....let us know if it works....you could experiment by corraling a slug inside a copper wire barrier and see how reluctant it is to cross the barrier.

Chownah

Good point and being a researcher I do like to experiment. Will pick up (borrow) some wire from work. Will try both salt/copper and see which works best

Edited September 25, 2006 by tywais

[geoffphuket]

IF copper works it need not be expensive....buy some electrical wiring, strip off the insulation and then tack it down as a barrier....let us know if it works....you could experiment by corraling a slug inside a copper wire barrier and see how reluctant it is to cross the barrier.

Chownah

Good point and being a researcher I do like to experiment. Will pick up (borrow) some wire from work. Will try both salt/copper and see which works best

How about connecting the copper wire to a mosi zapper bat. Might discourage more than just snails

[phibunmike]

IF copper works it need not be expensive....buy some electrical wiring, strip off the insulation and then tack it down as a barrier....let us know if it works....you could experiment by corraling a slug inside a copper wire barrier and see how reluctant it is to cross the barrier.

Chownah

- and pour yourself a nice bowl of beer to lap at whilst monitoring the experiment....

[geoffphuket]

Tywais...just wondering how the experimant went ?

[Tywais]

Tywais...just wondering how the experimant went ?

Ahhh, I knew I forgot something when I went to work this week. Will try this weekend. Should have remembered though since I had my hands on a lot of different wires this week working on a project. Can't put a smiley up, my network connection to TV through normal methods is failing again. :-(

[jayenram]

............. you can also put out a shallow bowl full of beer, they will crawl in and drown.

Wash your mouth out!!!!

[The Skipper]

I would use poison targeted for snails/slugs and follow the directions carefully.

Usually wetting the soil/area before spreading the bait is a good idea.

If you don't want poison try placing some wet newspaper or cardboard down and you might find them hiding there in the morning.

They hate salt but it also may harm plants and can poison the soil. Use just a little.

Go out at night with a flashlite and salt shaker.

The copper trick sounds like a good idea. I hope you try it and report back.

I have heard the Pool Filter material works. Diatomacious Earth has sharp edges that they don't like to climb across

Edited September 30, 2006 by The Skipper

[chownah]

Where I came from they have slugs which are just snails without shells. They're really hard on vegetable gardens and being an organic gardener I don't use poisons. Where I came from the slugs are much worse than the snails here and will decimate your entire garden in a few days if left unchecked. I solved this problem by getting up early while the slugs were still active. I took a quart jar (litre jar) and put about an inch of water in the bottom and a handful of salt in it. I took a pair of chopsticks and went around my garden picking the slugs and putting them in the bottom of the jar in the salt water which dissolves them so you can keep putting them into the jar until the jar is full of dead, disolved slugs. I did this every morning....I have a large garden so it took about one hour each morning for the first 3 or 4 days. After that I only had to go around the perimeter since all the ones in the middle were gone. I planted dwarf marigolds around the edge of the garden because the slugs love to eat them so any slug entering the garden from outside would go no further than the marigolds and eventually I only had to look at my row of marigolds around the edge of the garden and I could make the round in about 20 min or even less. This reduced the slug population to almost zero and certainly eliminated the problem. Another trick is to put boards in the garden which will stay wet underneath so in the middle of the day when it gets hot and sunny they will hide there.....this method is for people who don't like to get up early but would rather have a slug or snail safari in the middle of the day...you just go out and turn over the boards and put the slugs or snails in the jar.

Chownah

[geoffphuket]

The snails that are invading my garden in the thousands seem to want to get away from the wet soil; they're climbing the walls of the house, over the windows and up to the eves where they remain. The annoying thing is that on the journey they crap on the paintwork and discolour it. Next dry season I've got some redecorating to do.

I hope Tywais gets back on the topic; I might try putting copper wire along the bottom of the wall if it works.

[gpt]

I have heard the Pool Filter material works. Diatomacious Earth has sharp edges that they don't like to climb across

Also try finely crushed egg shells or very fine silver sand

[geoffphuket]

I have heard the Pool Filter material works. Diatomacious Earth has sharp edges that they don't like to climb across

Also try finely crushed egg shells or very fine silver sand

A good idea, but the torrential rain here in Phuket would just wash it away in seconds

[Tywais]

I hope Tywais gets back on the topic; I might try putting copper wire along the bottom of the wall if it works.

Got really busy Friday at work and didn't have time to look for the wire. Did put a couple of spoons full of salt in a liter of water and sprinkled it around the perimeter of the porch this afternoon. So far nothing has climbed unto the porch. Still plan to try the wire, probably a more permanent solution if it works because probably need to replinish the salt water around the area regularly.

As Skipper says, probably don't want to use to much in the yard, just at the edges of where you don't want them.

Chownah, I've seen a few of those slugs. I just thought they were snails that have lost their shell or haven't grown them yet. What's the difference?

[geoffphuket]

I hope Tywais gets back on the topic; I might try putting copper wire along the bottom of the wall if it works.

Chownah, I've seen a few of those slugs. I just thought they were snails that have lost their shell or haven't grown them yet. What's the difference?

I've just found a few odd scraps of copper wire, so I'll be having a play tomorrow.

Slugs are the same family without a shell. The ones I've seen in my garden are usually about 4cm long, very flat and generally black in colour, although I have seen some with green markings

[Mossfinn]

you can also put out a shallow bowl full of beer,

This is the method used by my aunty in Ireland, seemed pretty effective to me, unfortunate waste though as a few others have stated,

Good Luck

Moss

[udon]

Has anyone tried neem oil spray?

It's organic & safe.

Made in Thailand!

[swain]

Has anyone tried neem oil spray?

It's organic & safe.

Made in Thailand!

Where do you get Neem oil spray?

[chownah]

I've been thinking about copper wire as slug barrier and it seems to me that copper as a metal is rather unreactive and might not hinder slugs....but....if the copper were corroded in some way so it had a thin layer of some copper salt it might just be more effective. Would treating the wire with sulfuric acid create a coating of copper sulfate?...would this work better than plain metalic copper? Ah the mysteries of life....

Chownah

[Tywais]

I've been thinking about copper wire as slug barrier and it seems to me that copper as a metal is rather unreactive and might not hinder slugs....but....if the copper were corroded in some way so it had a thin layer of some copper salt it might just be more effective. Would treating the wire with sulfuric acid create a coating of copper sulfate?...would this work better than plain metalic copper? Ah the mysteries of life....

Chownah

Nitric acid will but needs to be really diluted, no more then 10%. It makes the copper really shiny but the cupric nitrate will probably remain in the bath. The atmosphere and moisture will create an oxide by itself. I knew 3 years of chemistry would come in handy sometime.

Reactions of Copper

Update, 3 days and no snails on the porch. Not definitive because no rain and that is when the herd really comes out.

Just found this article: Coping with slugs and snails

Apparantely the slime and copper forms a small electric current that keeps them off. Hmm, could electrify the copper wire and be sure.

[TBWG]

Apparantely the slime and copper forms a small electric current that keeps them off. Hmm, could electrify the copper wire and be sure.

Yup, I reckon 240 volts should do the job

TBWG

[udon]

Has anyone tried neem oil spray?

It's organic & safe.

Made in Thailand!

Where do you get Neem oil spray?

Any good Thai nursery, the bigger the better.

Google ........ Neem oil thailand for an "image" of the bottle.