I haven’t always been out to get snails – but I did start out naive and inexperienced… When I first grew seedlings (a few years ago) I was delighted as they germinated and grew before my eyes in the safety of the indoors. Once large enough, excited with the thought of future vegetables to harvest – I planted out some zucchini, bean and sunflower seedlings, picturing the start of what was to come. The next morning I passed through the garden on my way to work and smiled down at my seedlings, – only to find…. nothing. They were gone. All of them. At first I thought I’d simply forgotten where I’d planted them (foolish hope), but then the realisation sunk in and I began to understand all the stories I’d heard about the “gardening war”. A short search revealed all that was left was the stems/roots of the seedling under the ground. All my weeks of work and care had been destroyed in one night.
A collection after an afternoon shower (not even night yet) – what chance do my seedlings have?!
At first I tried relocating the snails onto the nature strip and further down the street. They all came back though, and brought my neighbours’ snails with them (I probably deserved that). I tried egg shells, coffee grounds, beer and orange juice traps – all which seemed useless. I then got ruthless. Frustration and desire to have a vegetable garden set in – the number of snails that have ended up under my shoe or in our numerous skips as the renovations progress would amaze you. Spotlighting at night would find 20-40 snails every dry night and 100-150 on wet nights. Every night. The saying should be changed to “breeding like snails” rather than rabbits.
Copper tape has given me a bit of relief, and I do feel I can leave the garden alone at night now. But I still lose seedlings from time to time as snails have managed to find their way under a container, or over the top with the help of nearby plants and grass. They never seem to give me a break – I have even seen snails start moving towards seedlings while I’m still planting them!
Comparison of copper tape protecting a seedling vs one without
So you tell me, what is the point of snails? What good are they to me and my garden? I actually searched for this online and the main answer I found was “food for frogs”. I have no frogs, but I am now thinking about acquiring some. The second most common answer was to consume dead plant material – however the snails never seem to do this, preferring my seedlings over anything else. Another reason I found was “to keep gardeners humble”. Well you can see how well that went down!
Unfortunately for now the war will continue, which means I will continue to be a snail killer purely as my love for gardening is obviously much higher than my humanity for snails. But when people think I’m mean, insensitive and ask why I’m cruel to snails – I offer to help them start a vegetable garden…
Penny's Garden: a harvest beyond my front door 
The chooks would eat them. Or the fish once we get into aquaponics…. 🙂
Good! I’ll start saving them for you 😉
ha… you give them the input and we’ll save you the output 😛
We gave our chooks so many snails Colin would not eat their eggs.. However we seem to have very few snails these days but many slugs. Colin put a circle of copper piping around my lettuces but I am sure their would be slugs lurking in the mulch.
Spelling correction………there not their
We have the same war going on in our gardens! I’ll try the copper strip trick. I wish I had a solution to give back to you. They breed in dark places so always check your shrubs, etc. (they also love our water hose box). Good luck and solidarity against the snail population!!
Kenley
I find loads of them in all our ornamental grasses, but the fence between our neighbours’ place and ours is just lattice at one point, so I think they hide from me there & come across at night. You have to try copper tape! It’s amazing
When you are as old as me you will get used to sharing your garden with every living creature possible. It is an uphill battle trying to change the situation; snails are a small problem in comparison with the other inhabitants. Good luck anyway.
Wow, with that many snails you could support a couple of ducks, who love to eat snails and slugs. Most likely these slimy offenders and their microscopic eggs are hiding in your mulch. Remove the mulch and burn it or treat it to a couple of dry days on the driveway. Also mix 5 heaping teaspoons of Epsom Salt in a 2 liter bottle and spray your plants generously after every rain. Allow your garden to get bone out. Vampires hate Sol. Personally, I never met a snail that was tougher than the bottom of my gardening shoe, but it’s the eggs you have to worry about. Also potash or any kind of ash sprinkled around your plants can gum up the snails traction. Snails, who don’t got to AAA meetings will drown themselves in a cup of beer buried to ground level.
Oh my goodness, so many snails! We don’t have too much of a problem with them here, we’ve lost a few plants but nothing too major. Caterpillars are what we go to war with. Good luck with the experiments, it’s heart breaking to lose so many seedlings I know.