Snails are vile, except on a plate ...Please HELP!

It’s not just poa annua we are infested with; snails (perhaps because I am a French deserter) have decided to persecute us; I say us, but it’s really my wife (as she is responsible for the borders and I am for the lawn [yes, I have pulled the short straw!].

She doesn’t want me to put this question on the forum because she says “they won’t have the answer”. So, I am posting this behind her back (much as I like eating snails, I would prefer not to have to hear about them all the time); we have a friend — an animal lover (but then, so are we, within certain parameters — who says: “But they are only being snails!” a remark which has not helped.

She has, she says, tried everything, from beer to copper, eggshells, abuse, obscenities, pellets, but all to no avail. There is no doubt that they are pernicious creatures (snails, I mean) and they will, in one minute, destroy what it has taken her weeks to evolve.

Has anyone got a novel and effective answer?

 

I don't have the heart to put them in Salt water, I just stamp on them

 

I use the pellets, you can still get the ones that are based on iron.
They do seem to work although you don't see the evidence like you used to with the metaldeyde ones.

I prefer to see them in the garden rather than on my plate.

 

The Good:
Used coffee grounds around your plants help repell slugs and snails.

The Bad:
Collect them all in a bucket with soapy water and pour them down a drain in the streets.

The Ugly:
Take a pair of secateurs and just snip them in half wherever you see them. Other will come to try and eat their fallen slug buddies. Repeat until there aren't any more.


Extra hunting Tipps:
They love rainy days. Especially between dusk and dawn when rain hits for the first time after a dry spell.

 

That’s fantastic news ... and, oh, such beautiful irony that they don’t like garlic when we love them with garlic!!! (Do they hate butter as well? What heaven if that were true).

I am buying my wife a bouquet of garlic as we speak and look forward to reporting a victory (it will be my revenge for Waterloo!).

 

Booooh!

 

There is a thread on here somewhere (The battle with slugs and snails is over) where I posted I was absolutely plagued by them in my borders. I literally couldn't put anything in without it disappearing the next day.
I couldn't use pellets as I have a dog and visiting hedgehogs. I tried organic pellets that did nothing.
There are far too many to hand pick.
Each night they come over the fence from next door (not gardeners) eat all my plants then drag their full bellies back by morning to snooze.
In the end I had to bite the bullet and replace all the plants over time. I got a brilliant list of slug resistant plants from @Perki and help from lots of other members and this year apart from buying 2 lupins in a moment of madness (they lasted a week) my borders are looking really good.
It's extreme I know but for me the only option.
I wish you luck

 

What are snails?

 

Very droll!

 

Droll but true. I've never seen a snail in my garden and only a few slugs.

 

That budgie of yours must eat them all!

How can anyone not have snails in their garden? ... Of course, when one lives that close to the North pole ...

I was grinding my teeth and growling when I read your post. As I don’t know where to find emojis on the forum, I tried to copy and paste one from the internet, but it was not accepted.

How do you do those emojis?

 

The emoji's or smileys as we call them are at the top of your posting box. Just over half way from the left there is a smiley face, just click on it and there will be a drop down box with plenty of choice.

Never had a budgie.

I have gravel paths, patio and drive and sandy loam soil that is like dust, a good deterrent.

 

John, I planted young Lupins three weeks ago that I've grown from seed and are still in perfect condition and starting to bloom. I think I'll pass on the snails thanks.