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Crushing snails effective?

6 years ago

Hello, as many other of you i also have a big snail problem in my garden, and i recently got into just crushing them in the evening, i even bought a pair of wellies for that purpose, i find it the easiest and fastest way to get rid of them.

Now, i wanted to ask if this really is effective, and if there maybe even are easier methods? (I don't want to use any chemical solutions or beer traps)

Featured Answer

Jean

6 years ago

Yep. Quite effective.

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Comments (9)

peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
6 years ago
Agree, You can take out a container filled with water and a little dish soap to break the surface tension. Drop any into it that you can't crush.
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tost lo
Original Author
6 years ago
Okay thanks, but where do i put the dead snail-soup afterwards? Also the thing that i like about crushing them is that i don`t have to pick them up or throw them away or things like that, because the remains are often gone the next day.
peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
6 years ago
They are nasty things to handle. You can strain the water after they have drowned and toss in the trash.

I find garden cleanup is essential in breaking the cycle. I do a thorough fall cleanup of all plant. They can lay their eggs in that debris. Where are you located? The closest large city is all the info we need.
tost lo
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Well, actually i am from germany but there aren't german forums as good as this one, so i decided to ask here. And to be honest, i don't want to pick the snails and slugs up every time, even if the looks are more gross when stepping on them, i don't want to touch them by hand and like that i am seperated by them by my wellies ^^. Also, i don't want to get water and dish soap every time, so just crushing them is in my opinion the easiest and fastest method.
NHBabs z4b-5a NH
6 years ago
"I don't want to use any chemical solutions or beer traps"

Are you worried about the toxicity of slug bait and the mess of beer traps? Or is there other reasoning here? There are slug baits that are nontoxic to birds, mammals, etc., and so would be safe to use for other than the slugs and snails.

One other trap that would fit with your wellie stomping is to lay down some boards. Then when you are needing to get out some frustrations during the day, the slugs/snails tend to gather under the boards, so you just have to flip the board and stop any on the underside of the board and on the ground under where the board was.
Mark Parfett
2 years ago
Went crushing tonight. We had heavy rainfall in Johannesburg today and I expected to find them. I have made traps too. I use plastic ice cream dishes and cut a doorway in them, turn them over and put the snail bait underneath and then go and empty them once a week sometimes longer. They are dreadful pests. I don’t bother wasting my beer! I have cats, dogs and plenty of birds coming into the garden so they all safe.
nancyjane_gardener
2 years ago
As a kid we would make snail cannons! We had a metal tube of some sort, dropped a lit fire cracker in, then the snail! Great fun!

Now I just use Sluggo.
HU-576191113
last year
Actually I don't seem to have any snails in my garden, but slugs have been a problem the last several years, I usually just squish them barefoot it really doesn't get easier than that! But the last season not much in the way of slugs but the chipmunks are really working over my tomatoes, and the squirls have just taken out every single ear of corn I have tried to grow from last year and it looks like this year will be no different, anyone have any ideas on how to keep these critters at bay?

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