Snails

[Leesifer]

My garden is awash with snails at the moment. They're eating my new plants. Anyone got a good way of getting rid of snails?

I don't like to use slug pellets as they are poisonous to the birds if they eat the snails/slugs after they've been fizzed up by the pellets.

[Legs]

Under the broiler with a little garlic & butter :yup:

[Leesifer]

Ewww. :puke:

I've tried garlic snails once when I was in Paris. They were OK - reminded me a bit of winkles (now watch the language barrier rise up). :yup:

[Dingfod]

Winkles?

[Leesifer]

See, I knew it.

http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_marine/Littorina_littorea/

Nice with vinegar and black pepper.

[livius drusus]

My grandmother used to leave cups of beer out in her vegetable garden. Slugs are apparently problem drinkers.

[Leesifer]

D'oh! You've just reminded me. I've got a little contraption that I bought last year that you fill with liquid, preferably beer and half bury in the garden. I haven't had a change to dry it out.

I'll have to pop out and get some cheap booze. There's no way I'm wasting my Stella on slugs and snails. :tapbeer:

[Legs]

See, I knew it.
http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/invertebrates_marine/Littorina_littorea/



After boiling, the soft body is ‘winkled out’ from the shell with a pin or a special ‘winkle-picker’.

:eek:

[livius drusus]

D'oh! You've just reminded me. I've got a little contraption that I bought last year that you fill with liquid, preferably beer and half bury in the garden. I haven't had a change to dry it out.

:giggle: Did you mean try? Either way it works.

I'll have to pop out and get some cheap booze. There's no way I'm wasting my Stella on slugs and snails. :tapbeer:

Good plan. May I suggest Budweiser? You see what it does to Americans who drink it, and they're like 300 times bigger than any slug.

[Miss Shelby]

Under the broiler with a little garlic & butter :yup:
When I first glanced at this from the front page, I thought originally that it was in the food forum, and I thought the SAME thing. yummy.

Michelle

[Leesifer]

D'oh! You've just reminded me. I've got a little contraption that I bought last year that you fill with liquid, preferably beer and half bury in the garden. I haven't had a change to dry it out.

:giggle: Did you mean try? Either way it works.

I'll have to pop out and get some cheap booze. There's no way I'm wasting my Stella on slugs and snails. :tapbeer:

Good plan. May I suggest Budweiser? You see what it does to Americans who drink it, and they're like 300 times bigger than any slug.

My gawd, what was I on when I typed that.

[livius drusus]

Stella?

[Leesifer]

:innocent:

[viscousmemories]

Ironically I didn't even notice the 'try' and 'dry' swap, focused as I was on 'change' for 'chance'. :D

I seem to remember Stella (if you mean Stella Artois) being the cheap stuff when I was in Belgium. Of course it was still light years better than the best American swill.

[ChuckF]

Half a canteloupe full of beer also works well.

[Petra]

Sprinkle crushed egg shells around the plants. I've never tried it, but someone once told me that the snails don't like it as the egg shells are too sharp on their plump little tummies.

[Leesifer]

Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know if they work.

vm, yes I did mean Stella Artois.

[Noodlenader]

we always sprinkled kosher salt on them. MMMMmmm fizzyyy

[Corona688]

what's the difference between kosher salt and non-kosher salt?

[livius drusus]

Kosher salt is a coarse-grained salt. Unlike your usual table salt, the size and surface are of kosher crystals are ideal for curing meats. IOW, it's not kosher in and of itself; it's just used to ensure all the blood is drained out during the curing of kosher meats.

It's less salty than normal table salt and other fine-grained varieties which in turn are less salty than sea salt which comes in both fine and coarse grains. It's also additive free - no iodine, no anti-caking agents.

[Ymir's blood]

...It's less salty than normal table salt ...
Isn't that like saying 'clean dirt?'

[livius drusus]

None of your sass, young man. :glare:

[Ymir's blood]

None of your sass, young man. :glare:
But the only thing else for me to post is how utterly depressed I am and how no one really cares and maybe life isn't worth living and oh my... the sheer pain of being me....

:melo:

[Dingfod]

Don't do that, they'll be all over you for it. Trust me, I know.

[Sauron]

what's the difference between kosher salt and non-kosher salt?


Kosher salt: "Don't worry about me - I'll just sit here on the shelf, neglected."

non-kosher salt: (silence)

[Sauron]

My garden is awash with snails at the moment. They're eating my new plants. Anyone got a good way of getting rid of snails?

Frogs eat snails.

Both kinds of frogs, I mean. :yup:

[Gavin]

Hedgehogs or geese eat slugs and snails.
Else they are attracted by beer, dig little beakers half filled with bear near their nisting places, and they will drown in them.
The least painful and quickest way to kill them is to cut them in half. But it feels and looks horrible.
Be aware that dried out snails and slugs attract more, since they eat anothers dried out corpses. So if you kill them, dispose of them.

[Leesifer]

My garden is awash with snails at the moment. They're eating my new plants. Anyone got a good way of getting rid of snails?

Frogs eat snails.

Both kinds of frogs, I mean. :yup:

Well, I never knew that.

[Leesifer]

Hedgehogs or geese eat slugs and snails.
Else they are attracted by beer, dig little beakers half filled with bear near their nisting places, and they will drown in them.
The least painful and quickest way to kill them is to cut them in half. But it feels and looks horrible.
Be aware that dried out snails and slugs attract more, since they eat anothers dried out corpses. So if you kill them, dispose of them.

We only get geese flying over the garden - they never land.

We used to get hedgehogs but I haven't seen any for a couple of years. Possibly, they've been scared off or eaten by the foxes. :(

I didn't realise they eat their own dead - I'll have to start chucking them on the shed roof for the birds.

I don't think I could cut them in half. Yuk! I accidently picked up a slug once without my gloves on. It took ages to get all the slime off my hands.

[ceptimus]

Gather all the snails together in a plastic bucket and go empty them in the nearest wood.

Or into your neighbour's garden if you're feeling mean.

[Gavin]

I don't think I could cut them in half.
Not nice at all, I know. But covering them with salt and letting them die slowly is far more horrible for them.

I accidently picked up a slug once without my gloves on. It took ages to get all the slime off my hands.
Scrape the slime off with a sharp knife or a razor blade, it works best.

One can also buy snail- and slug poison (little blue corns), but it is most likely not too good for your garden itself.

[JoeP]

Scrape the slime off with a sharp knife or a razor blade, it works best.
And if that fails, slice off the unclean fingers.

[Leesifer]

:girltong:

[natasha]

My grandmother used to leave cups of beer out in her vegetable garden. Slugs are apparently problem drinkers.

I do that; put beer in tuna cans. It works!

I don't like to use poison because of other animals, cats, etc.

[Shake]

what's the difference between kosher salt and non-kosher salt?


Kosher salt: "Don't worry about me - I'll just sit here on the shelf, neglected."

non-kosher salt: (silence)
:chuckle:

winkle-picker
:laugh:

[PinkRose]

My garden is awash with snails at the moment. They're eating my new plants. Anyone got a good way of getting rid of snails?

I don't like to use slug pellets as they are poisonous to the birds if they eat the snails/slugs after they've been fizzed up by the pellets.

what a delicacy you have there, marinate with garlic and oil then stir fry. the garlic disinfects any parasites that may linger then fry...banana rings on the side with a glass of chardonnay, the best. :wave:

[livius drusus]

Are all snails edible? For some reason I had a random thought in my mind that escargot snails were unique or at least special in some way. :scratch:

[beyelzu]

You are right about snails. As you say, they are not inherently poisonous, but they can become poisonous with the plants they eat, but I think if you give them wheat flour and lettuce for 2 weeks (or more...) , they can be prepared after starving 4 or 5 days, as I say in the site.

from here http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2844&page=2

and you liv will probably remember some romans eating wild snails in one of the first men in rome books, mind you I know that that doesnt constitute proof completely.

[livius drusus]

I do remember -- the Ligurian dude found the snail cave route to Jugurtha's stronghold -- but I thought those might be special ones too, as well as not existing anymore. Thanks for the reminder link, though. :thankee:

[Western]

I heard that they're good in relation to negligence law.

[Leesifer]

My grandmother used to leave cups of beer out in her vegetable garden. Slugs are apparently problem drinkers.

I do that; put beer in tuna cans. It works!

I don't like to use poison because of other animals, cats, etc.

It does indeed work. Luckily my Dad had a crate of out of date beer which he kindly donated to me. Filled up a couple of bowls and left them in the garden overnight - at least 20 slugs in each bowl along with a couple of snails.

[livius drusus]

Daaamn... Forty slugs in one night?! That's just amazing. I'm glad it worked so well for you, Leesifer. :thumbup:

[Leesifer]

liv, you wouldn't believe the amount of slugs in my garden. :slug:

There has been a program on tv recently called "Springwatch". They had a small slot on slugs and said that the problem ones are the small slugs. Happily, most of the slugs caught in the beer were small, so now my plants should stay uneaten.

[Sauron]

liv, you wouldn't believe the amount of slugs in my garden. :slug:

There has been a program on tv recently called "Springwatch". They had a small slot on slugs and said that the problem ones are the small slugs. Happily, most of the slugs caught in the beer were small, so now my plants should stay uneaten.

You don't feel the least bit guilty for killing such helpless, innocent creatures? :giggle:

[Leesifer]

I plead Not Guilty m'lud.

[JoeP]

You don't feel the least bit guilty for killing such helpless, innocent creatures?Killing's OK when it's for food. Specifically in this case, lettuces.