[Losttheplot]

Please help me!! I have a major snail problem in my garden.  It has come to the point now where I was outside at some ungodly hour last night in my pj's collecting them up in a plant pot and swearing at them!!  The neighbours think I am a mad woman!  I even checked at around dusk and removed a few then but when I went out after, there were hundreds of them (35 to be exact - see I am even counting them!)  it was like a scene out of a James Herbert novel.  Now I am not one for killing God's creatures but these fellas must die!! They have eaten all my brussell Sprout, cabbage, Kohl Rabbi and Celeriac plants.  the only ones they haven't touched are the leeks and tomatoes.

Has anybody got any ideas other than neplam?

[mixdiver]

Build a wildlife pond near your veg patch and see if you can get some frogs to move in - they love slugs and snails

MD

[WG.]

Has anybody got any ideas other than napalm?

Best suggestion is to take off the pajamas; then the neighbours would come out and help you ...      Oh, and Wellingtons, you needn't post the piccie of you in shorts any more ... ...

Seriously though, collecting them is the best (organic) way I know; rainy nights are best.  I do have a pond and a healthy population of Song / Mistle Thrushes but there are always a few remaining to be gathered up & euthanased.

[Little Miss Muffet]

do a line of salt on the garden.i was told that for slugs its fine untill the rain.

[richyrich7]

Piles of bran they eat it and dehydrate, slug pubs, or sour milk works just as well, If you have a totally enclosed garden then why not contact your local hedgehog rescue and give a home to a couple of invalids, usually 3 leggers after visit from the fox! they will eat your snails for you in return for a plate of cat food and place to sleep.
We used to house under weight hedgehogs boy can they eat!

[Losttheplot]

Thanks for your replies, will definately be trying some of those out tonight!  Escargo anyone?

[loubylou29]

Do Eat them!!! Gordon Ramsay did!!


http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/F/fword/snails.html

"Remember, before you eat your garden snails they have to be purged of any toxins. For the first two days, leave the snails in a container without any food and wash them regularly with clean water. On day three, give them a carrot and leave them for a couple of days until you see that their droppings have turned orange. Finally, wash them again and place them in the fridge in a sealed container - this will send them into a deep sleep. From here they are ready to be cooked."

Let us know if you do it.. I would have a go if I had collected that many!

L.xxx

[celtbhoy]

i have eaten snails but not slugs!!!
are you sure you can eat them??

[Losttheplot]

I don't think I am brave enough to eat them.  OH did once in Paris but I was pregnant and puking at the time so all I could stomach was ready salted crisps and Coke!!

[celtbhoy]

snails are good grub if done right.
CB

[mkhenry]

If like me you prefer to collect them instead of killing them,remember they are like homing pigeons. If you do not take them far enough away they will crawl right back to your plot. A lot of people throw them over the fence not realising that they just come straight back. Its good fun to dab a bit of paint on a couple and see how long it takes them to return home. You could try a sweepstake,it might make up for some of the food they eat.

[apywell]

If like me you prefer to collect them instead of killing them,remember they are like homing pigeons. If you do not take them far enough away they will crawl right back to your plot. A lot of people throw them over the fence not realising that they just come straight back. Its good fun to dab a bit of paint on a couple and see how long it takes them to return home. You could try a sweepstake,it might make up for some of the food they eat.

Are you serious....  homing snails!

[Smudge]

I am also over run by slugs and snails, i could just not believe how many there were yesterday!
I'm going for slug pubs this afternoon, as i get free beer (ale) from my local brewery, going to see which variety they like the most!
If you have a local pub near by it may be worth asking them to keep a bucket/container for you from what they pull through at the beginning of the night. Then its free!
I have tried stuff called 'slug stoppa' a kind of grit but as soon as it rains its dodo!
Slugs are the bane of my life! I need to toughen up and actually kill them!
Leave a mound of the * to scare the others!

[WG.]

i get free beer (ale) from my local brewery

Why on earth do you bother gardening, mate?  Hell, I don't know any gardeners who wouldn't swop you a courgette for a couple bottles of ale!!!  

 :idea:  :idea: I'll trade you a holiday for a pallet of beer ...

[Smudge]

Well any more than two pints of this stuff and you will know about it the next day! :mrgreen: Free red wine would be better!