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I am a totally failed gardener due to a MASSIVE plague of snails. What is the best way of extermination without having to resort to the poison? I have baby foxes and stray cats that I dont wish to harm with pesticides. Not to mention the birds and whatnot. I will admit to making snail soup with the salt last year, but to no avail. HELP!!

oh ick

put out small containers of beer... they love beer, get into it and drown.

Try :-

How to Get Rid of Snails and Slugs Naturally | eHow.com

minks;1353834 wrote: oh ick

put out small containers of beer... they love beer, get into it and drown.


Yup. Works for me. I'm often found lying on the lawn with my head stuck in a jar.

Here in the NW we have slugs slugs and more slugs. It's all out war!!! Beer does work but you just can't kill enough of them. I use chemicals, it's the only way here. The garden is a fenced area so no dogs ect can get in. And I get a good body count.

massive slugs everywhere in Vancouver! I put out beer in small, wide containers and it did help some. Then I got a slug killing kitten. Try washing slug off a kitten's face and you'll quickly gain contempt for the slimy satans. I think the kitten started drinking the beer and ended up scaring the rest of the slugs away after a time. I remember it stopped being as big a problem after awhile but I'm not sure why.

koan;1353885 wrote: massive slugs everywhere in Vancouver! I put out beer in small, wide containers and it did help some. Then I got a slug killing kitten. Try washing slug off a kitten's face and you'll quickly gain contempt for the slimy satans. I think the kitten started drinking the beer and ended up scaring the rest of the slugs away after a time. I remember it stopped being as big a problem after awhile but I'm not sure why.


I guess after drinking a few pot poor kitty would just have to breathe on them to scare them rigid.

I've heard the garden expert on the radio recommend the tuna can full of beer placed in the ground, and he also recommends ringing plants with "sharp sand", a coarse grade available at building supply and gardening stores.(Don't use kiddies' sandbox sand. Too fine and sugarlike in texture).

The "sharp sand" (used to mix with topsoil and for concrete mixtures), along with crushed shells and diatomaceous earth is abrasive. It tears away at the soft body of slugs and snails, causing them to die of dehydration. Harmless to other creatures.

Get some ducks, our Mallards here consider them a delicacy, slugs at least I don't know about snails. Try finding and disposing of 100 every day? Keep the places they hide to a minimum, rocks, boards ect. Eliminate their hiding places. It's a battle.

Bryn Mawr;1353890 wrote: I guess after drinking a few pot poor kitty would just have to breathe on them to scare them rigid.


The kitten was named Hamlet. I think it just soliliquyed them to death.

koan;1353931 wrote: The kitten was named Hamlet. I think it just soliliquyed them to death.


That figures

Scrat;1353928 wrote: Get some ducks, our Mallards here consider them a delicacy, slugs at least I don't know about snails.


Get some Frenchmen for the snails.

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Funny enough I was considering hedgehogs as well. But alas...I have a fox nursery next door, and any wildlife I bring into MY garden would not last the spring. So it either serious poison or gravel over the lot. When it is damp outside, you cant walk out back without crunching snails underfoot.

I am going to try all of your suggestions! I will report back on which works best!

It's like trying to walk on a sidewalk after it rains and the worms have come out.... just too gross to think about.

flopstock;1354073 wrote: It's like trying to walk on a sidewalk after it rains and the worms have come out.... just too gross to think about.
Too right! The slimey buggers have GOT to go! I wouldnt mind, but they totally devastated the food I was trying to grow! I tried the pellets, I tried the eggshells, and while the pellets helped a bit, obviously there were a few sturdy ones with snail armour on apparently! So I put salt rings around the veg, and then it would rain! When they started on my sunflowers, I went mad. I gave up in the end. Funny enough, they left my tomatoes alone.