I live in a snail and slug mecca, until 20 years ago we didn't see snails just slugs but things have changed. One evening a couple of years ago I picked 40 snails off the trunk of my pink dogwood, I don't know how many more there were I couldn't reach them. The same year any window we looked out in the evening you'd see them slithering across the window panes. It looked like a massive escape from a escargot farm. I think Floral can relate to this. I use copper tape on pots and have bought several rolls of copper mesh, the later I even covered one of the benches in the greenhouse with it. I've seen slimy trails over this at times the little %#$^% must have put rubber boots on. I have no problem with hand picking, it's pick and stomp when I see them, why waste the salt. Annette

In the morning I went out in the garden and the pathway between two flower bads was full of snails passing from one side to another. I killed like 70 or so. After 50 I stop counting. Inspired by Randy's experiment with DE I did the same and went a bit further. I made a ring of DE and put a few snails in the middle. After they passed it with no problem I took them and put all of them with some leaves in a cup and I cover the cup with a piece of wood leaving a small opening for air. I wanted to see if they die from DE not from starving and lack of oxygen. They eat some of the leaves and are pilled up at the top of the cup. I checked them every day and give them fresh leaves. After 3 days they are still alive. I guess the DE is not working with my snails. pat

Many years ago I lived in a tiny house with a tiny yard that had a ridiculous number of slugs. I'm not sure if the the slugs were coming from the surrounding woods, under the house foundation, or where, but one dared not walk outside barefoot in the evenings for fear of having a slug sliding up between the toes. (shudder!) Since it was a small yard with mostly rough field grass and only a few garden areas, we tried setting traps (the beer type,) but the found the traps were overwhelmed by the sheer number of slugs. We ended up getting some 6" spikes and going out on damp evenings and skewering slugs and then scraping them off into cans of soapy water which we would then be sure were full of water and fasten lids onto to drown the slugs. We also put out boards and during the day we would flip the boards and squish the slugs which had taken shelter from the day's heat. I'm not sure how much of a dent all this made in the slug population, but it sure made me feel better. Since you have kitties, Escar-Go! Slug & Snail Control is a slug bait made by Gardens Alive which is pet-safe. Don't know if that is the case with Sluggo since I do know that some slug baits aren't safe around small kids and animals. There are probably other pet-safe slug baits - this is the only one I know about. I have heard that crushed eggshells around particularly vulnerable plants is supposed to help keep out softbodied critters, but in my experience the birds remove the eggshells faster than I can eat eggs so I don't know if it actually works. Here is a link that might be useful: Escar-Go! Slug & Snail Control

Hey Nathan, I hope you're not offended. My husband said 'Watch, he'll be from Victoria!' and I said 'Oh he is!". All this after I posted the message, of course! I didn't know what VB stood for. Of course, being an aussie, you should be able to take some teasing. =) ; ) Ah, all in good humour. I ended up getting Coors light. Personally I didn't care which brand I used, because I don't drink beer (nasty stuff!). I don't think I've caught a single snail though! Perhaps I had fewer than I thought. Except that I've seen baby snails on the glass. Why aren't they going for it?!? Stupid snails. . .