Nothing to do with recipes - gardening. What natural way can I control snails in my vegie garden. Have access to plenty of untreated pine shavings or sawdust, will this kill them. Heard that it clogs up their pores. Many thanks
indy95,
Jun 10, 10:04am
I can't give you an answer to your question, pericles, but when I read it I suddenly had visions of "crumbed" snails ( i. e. covered in sawdust ) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity for one of "those" threads. I'm not sure whether any other posters in here have the same slightly warped sense of humour though.
pericles,
Jun 10, 10:08am
like it
barloo,
Jun 10, 10:09am
let them drink beer! ! Once they get in as the beer attracts them, they will drink and drown as long as they can not get of the container! !
uli,
Jun 10, 12:13pm
After I have seen snails and slugs crawl over my hooked spine cacti to eat the flower buds off I am convinced that short of collecting and killing there is nothing that can deter them if they really want to go somewhere. They just slime a bit more to protect their under carriage.
So all the good advice of crushed egg shells or sawdust or coffee grounds is not really working in my experience.
What does work perfectly well is feeding them iron though - they will simply die. There is a product on the market called "Quash", some garden centers stock it, which is just iron in a bran pellet. Once it gets rained upon all you have is bran and iron in your garden bed - something even an organic gardener can live with ...
pericles,
Jun 10, 12:15pm
just read that on the net. The old boy has plenty in the bar fridge, glad they don't like wine - mine.
pericles,
Jun 10, 12:16pm
thanks, should remember that name
fisher,
Jun 10, 12:57pm
hey pericles... yup good ole "cheap' beer. . dig a few wee holes and plant some small marmite jars. . half fill with beer... they head for the beer, drop into your wee well and can get out and drown... .
fisher,
Jun 10, 2:01pm
My vege garden is spray free... The only thing I concede to use are slug pellets. .
uli,
Jun 10, 3:39pm
Hope they are "Quash" though fisher and not the real baddies ...
antmannz,
Jun 10, 8:45pm
I use crushed egg shells for snails, and for caterpillars, I use chilis (from the garden) whizzed in the food processor with water added and sprayed onto the plants. Works a treat!
pericles,
Jun 11, 7:02am
many thanks for the replies
uli,
Jun 11, 9:45am
Let us know though if the crushed egg shells worked for you - they sure didn't for me :)
elliehen,
Jun 11, 7:49pm
The beer has always worked for me - jars full of slugs, and what a party they have on their way out ;)
fisher,
Jun 11, 8:52pm
Only prob is when it rains ... :}} LOL. . have to drink more beers to refill the jars... oh well someone has to suffer for the cause... :}}
buzzy110,
Jun 12, 6:48am
uli. The egg shells didn't work for me either because they dispersed with the first watering and disappear entirely if you are, like me, a consummate weeder and tiller of the soil around the young plants to give them a fighting chance over the weeds.
However, I still throw them onto my garden because every little bit helps, though I'm not certain that crushed eggshells actually add anything to the soil.
beaker59,
Jun 12, 4:39pm
Well the egg shells are pure CaCo3 or garden lime Buzzy so good for soil structure and nutrient availability for the plants even if they don't deter the smails. I used to collect them by hand and feed them to the chooks but I think the key is keeping the edges and garden tidy so they don't have places to hide close to the garden.
Nowdays I don't keep chooks so I use slugslam.
However I am told our common garden snail is an edible species does anyone know how to prepare them and if its worth while.
uli,
Jun 12, 5:28pm
Beaker it is hardly worth the effort, you end up with little rubbery bits that taste like garlic butter LOL.
You need to fast them for about a week before even going about the cooking ... it is not very nice for the animals at all. Even snails have feelings.
http://escargot. free. fr/eng/cooking.htm
pericles,
Jun 14, 6:50am
well the snails are winning. Did the beer thing, didn't catch anything. Now have a prob with sparrows chomping away.
fisher,
Jun 14, 7:49am
bit of cheap netting over the top. . old cd's on string. . scarecrow... :}
pericles,
Jun 14, 7:50am
scarecrow, good idea. do you think i would make a good one?
fisher,
Jun 14, 8:45am
Lol... naaaaaa... put the ole fulla out there with a slab of beers... Pericles. . any way of finding out the name of the shop you got those choppers from please ? ? ? Want / need to get another one... relegate this old one to pumpkin and frozen goods chopping. . :}
pericles,
Jun 14, 8:48am
card says Japanese lifestyle goods westfield shopping mall henderson
fisher,
Jun 14, 8:51am
thanki ma'am...
pericles,
Jun 14, 8:52am
sorry I have never got back there for you. I very rarely go out that way
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