apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

a little beer in a saucer works...they all go for it and then get stuck/pass out. you just have to keep picking them off. The old skool gardeners claim that the snail is not indigenous to the Americas, but rather a gift from the Frenchies who felt sorry for us (no snails to enjoy escargot). I don't know if it's true, but its funny!

Put some deep disposable containers full of beer in the bushes. Snails and slugs go in but they don't come out! Works like a charm in our backyard.

For potted plants or raised beds, copper tape around the rim/area will stop them. The copper creates a mild electric field which slugs and snails dislike, and they turn away. Copper tape can be purchased in your better garden stores and nurseries.

not peta approved, but you can go out daily and smash them by hand, and eventually there won't be any more in your yard. They're invasive species anyway, native to europe.

eat them.

Non-toxic and safe-for-pets, Sluggo, has helped us out with our own snail and slug issues. We bought it at our local health food store:
http://www.pestproducts.com/sluggo.htm

I have read some very cruel treatment for one of God's living creatures. So they happen to be snails or slugs and yes they are slimmy and gooey-- get over it. Leave the poor things to live out their life, they are here just like you and me. Anybody see the Twilight Zone episode entitled "To Serve Man?" We're on top of the food chain ---today---. Think about it -- you're causing a imbalance in the life cycle. Can't any of you "green living" people find a way to live with them or make them useful to us; and not eat them. They must have some kind of purpose simply because the exist.

VickyA they do have a purpose in their native ecology, but here they have no natural predators and they are way out of wack. Cutting them back is actually more in keeping with nature's laws than letting them be.

Also, common garden snails aren't as good to eat as those grown to be escargot. I've heard they're really tough and gritty.

the beer really works, but then you have snail-beer soup.

I tried the beer method, but a vagrant started hanging out in my landscaping. 8^O

If that is a pencil cactus in the photo, aka Euphorbia tirucalli, I might recommend getting rid of it. The sap can cause skin rashes, (temporary) blindness if it gets in your eyes and is most likely carcinogenic.

i think they're pretty

the snail in the picture, i mean . . .

The copper works, as does the beer. But my preference is egg shells: No smell, and more accessible and easier than copper. If you crumble them up and put them around the plants, they're sharp enough to deter the snails from crawling over them. You might have to replace them every so often, and obviously the first time you have to remove the snails that are inside the boundary, but it's worked for me. And the white boundary looks kinda pretty.

i think it's pretty

i forgot to mention...after you catch all the snails using the beer-get-them-drunk method, take them all over and dump them into a neighbor's yard (someone you are not too fond of)...I used to take great pleasure in this!

I hear clown loaches work well.

Butter and garlic. Enjoy your escargot out in the garden in plain view of all the other snails to send a message.

You don't want to eat these, actually. Throw into the street, and if they make it, they're obviously well on their way to total world dominance.

You can eat them, if you set them in a pan of cornmeal for a week to clean out their guts. I don't need that much escargot, though, given the volume of snails in my garden.

I use Sluggo, which is safe for pets and wildlife and breaks down into a mild fertilizer.

I also flick them into a bucket and smash them or throw them in the street, depending on my mood.

I actually prefer the digital method. We made a bit of a nightly adventure out of it picking the snails by torch light and disposing of them. Our daughter thinks it's great fun Any unfortunate ones that get caught during the day get lobbed over the fence onto the driveway to provide a feast for the Thrushes. I've heard about the beer option many times but I've been reluctant to waste good beer. Maybe I'll try it with my neighbor's home brew. That's about all it's good for. But maybe even the snails wont be that keen.

The beer works well. If you just can't bear to kill them, try asking your hair stylist to save your hair clippings the next time you get your hair cut. Sprinkle them thickly around the base of the plant. Snails and slugs hate to crawl on it. It'll keep them away.

What's all this crap about tossing them in the neighbor's yard?? Better be lucky that I'M not the neighbor whose yard you're tossing crap to.

You guys are lucky to just have them outside on your plants.
I get monster slugs in my house! They somehow enter my kitchen and crawl all over the counters, coffee pot, etc.
Before my landlord replaced the old refrigerator, I would open it up to discover slugs on the butter dish. Luckily my new refrigerator is airtight.

I might try this Sluggo, and put some under the house and on the doorjambs.