Have you tried beer? I've heard it works for snails as well as slugs, though I haven't tried it myself.

I use iron phosphate-based slug & snail pellets (from Home Depot) - it's not a poison, but kills the snails, then breaks down into fertilizer. You simply sprinkle the pellets around the area you want to protect - several co.s make it.

Will give the beer a try until I can get to the store and get some iron phosphate. Thanks for the suggestions. :-)

writersblock,

Just how much beer do I have to drink before the snails leave?
I suppose if I drink enough beer I wont care about the snails.
Do I have to drink the beer in front of the snails?

MOO

Lou - I think since snails are generally recognized as a delicacy in French cuisine you would probably have to drink a French brand. Jenlain comes to mind but not sure it is available locally. You might try Stella Artois (Belgian) and see if that works. Anyhow:

No, no...Lou needs to marinate the snails in the beer, then cook and eat them. He should use the marinating liquid to make a fine sauce. (That way the beer doesn't go to waste!)

Not being such a devotee to haute cuisine, I used to pour the cheapest beer I could find into a dish and set it on the ground with the lip roughly level with the ground, so the snails would crawl in and drown. I used to set the beer out in the evening, since more slugs and snails will come out at night. Apologies to Lou, but I used to dump the beer and dead snails in the morning rather than sautee the snails for breakfast. ;-)

At first I used a pie pan, which worked just fine. But since this was to protect the hostas in the front bed, I eventually upgraded to a cute little ceramic snail designed for this purpose. Then I realized my hostas were going to die even if I kept the snails and slugs off them, and left the ceramic snail in the yard for all slimy legless creatures to worship.

Lou, that is too funny. Well I did try the beer, it worked but there are probably hundreds of these snails in my yard, on my house, my neighbors houses and just everywhere. http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/malacology/fl-snail/snails1.htm

I had a big problem and have just resolved it. I got the pellets slugo stuff from home depot. There is one type I avoided it had a poison. I got the iron only. I found that using a hand crank broadcaster was the most efficient method. I put it in all bushes, around trees, anywhere there was no grass. Very good results.

Decolate predators are illegal. Could do more damage than good. So they say.

I feel that I will never get rid of them and the best hope is to control them. For now, I have the upper hand.

I've heard of a giant invasive snail down south. The thought of them concerns me. That could be a big menace.

Good thing you don't need Vodka...sound like getting rid of snails could be too much fun. My grandmother got so mad at me when I was about five, I thought snails were cool and went around and collected them from neighbor's yards just for her.

I just toss any snails I find on my plants into the pond. Judging by the number of empty snail shells I found at the bottom of the pond last time I cleaned it something in there has a taste for snails! I seem to have plenty of snails and slugs in my garden but either I have so many plants that I've never noticed the damage or something roaming the garden also has a taste for snails and slugs. I have found empty shells of the rosy wolf snail (Euglandina rosea), which is a native snail that eats other snails, in my garden so maybe they are what is keeping the pest snail population in check.

I found an interesting article about various terrestrial snails in florida if anyone wants to read it.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/gastro/terrestrial_snails.htm

This post was edited by karalynn on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 13:09