Got Snails? - Invisible Gardener Weekly Column

So you have Snails

Snail Tales
How to Control Snails Organically

Snails help in the recycling process and just like ants, respond when the soil is out of balance. Most problems with snails can be explained by the law of cause and effect. The snail problem that many gardeners encounter is an effect - a reaction - and not the cause. Snail infestation occurs when the soil is no longer alive because the beneficial microorganisms within it have been killed with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, city water, or through otherwise improper soil care. And the continued use of snail killer year after year further upsets the balance and destroys the soil even more. This is the cause. When the soil is dead, the delicate balance that nature maintains has been upset. Deal with the cause and the effect in this case the snails will disappear.

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Here are some short term and long steps you can take to control snails on your property.

Whenever there is an infestation of any one pest, the balance of nature has been upset. Anything not naturally found in nature contributes to this imbalance, including chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, weed killers, snail killers or any other poison and/or synthetic toxin. City water has many chemicals and some with scary names like forever chemicals. If you have been using any form of chemical snail control year after year to keep snails away from your flowers, vegetables, etc., the first and most important step is to stop using any form of chemical snail bait whatsoever. Another reason to stop using snail poison is that it also kills birds and other friendly critters that you may like having around your home. If you want to deal with snails effectively, you will succeed only if you understand that chemical fertilizers are as bad for your soil’s health as pesticides are bad for your health. You must be willing to commit yourself to growing without chemicals of any kind.

Allow yourself and your property time to go through this withdrawal period. This is just as important to you as to your property. Chemicals only cause imbalance. The withdrawal period is a critical time for you and your property. During the time that you are providing microbes and other beneficial microorganisms back into the soil, you will need to do control damage. I will go over this more in upcoming columns.

“Beneficial diversity is described as the various interrelationships between living organisms and their contributions to the whole.”

“Snails can produce over 300 eggs per day during laying season and the eggs can stay buried in the ground for up to 11 years and emerge when the time is right for their survival.” Increasing the energy level of the soil increases the health of the soil. This process naturally reduces pests and diseases. The best way to increase the energy level of the soil is through proper organic nutrition. Compost that is rich in microbial life, minerals and bacteria naturally increases the energy level of the soil. Most sold in stores are dead if sealed in plastic bags. So find out who makes it Try Peach Tree Hill. Tell them you want Leightons compost. The addition of rock dust further increases it. Higher energy levels support a more beneficial diversity of life.

Coffee as a Barrier for Snails

Caffeine can repel or kill snails that might otherwise eat and ruin plants. Coffee, which is an environmentally acceptable and natural compound, has great potential as an alternative to today’s snail- and slug-killing chemicals. That’s according to Robert G. Hollingsworth, a research biologist with the agency’s U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural  Learn to use cold brewed coffee. Please only use organic coffee as regular coffee is full of toxic chemicals. Use it as strong as possible.

“Providing snails with hiding places makes them easier to locate and dispose of. Old nursery containers placed on their sides make excellent temporary hiding places for snails.”

Research Center in Hilo, Hawaii
Hollingsworth conducted caffeine studies in collaboration with research entomologist John W. Armstrong at the Hilo Center and Earl Campbell of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Honolulu. The idea of using caffeine to quell pests isn’t new. But Hollingsworth and colleagues apparently are the first to report its prowess in clobbering pesky mollusks such as Hawaii’s orchid snail, Zonitoides arboreus. The tiny snail is a common and costly pest to growers of Hawaii’s colorful and exotic tropical orchids. In preliminary experiments at his research greenhouse in Hilo, Hollingsworth applied a 2 percent solution of caffeine in water as a spray to the coconut husk chips material in which orchids are grown. This growth medium, called coir, was infested with the tiny snails. The scientists found that the caffeine spray killed up to 95 percent of the snails. In another experiment, the researchers showed that growth medium treated with the 2 percent caffeine solution had only 5 snails, when checked 30 days after the spray was applied. That’s in contrast to the 35 snails that they found in growth medium that had been treated with a standard dose of metaldehyde, a common molluscicide. So long term is soil health. That takes time.

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Checklist of Steps in Natural Snail Control

1. Control chemical use on property. Chemicals kill the soil’s micro-organisms. Organic coffee is soil friendly
2. Provide plenty of compost and mulching. Use an acid mulch.
3. Control overhead watering.
4. Avoid all chemical fertilizers.
5. Avoid using anything with Urea in it as it kills the soil biology.
6. Pick at first sign. One snail will lay over 300 eggs per day.
7. Learn to make and use snail/slug traps.
8. Attract birds and other creatures that naturally prey on snails and slugs.
9. Plant the right plant for the right area you live in.
10. Plant the right crop for the right season.
11. Learn timing, planting too early or too late will cause problems and attract slugs/snails and other pests.

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Ask Andy Your Gardening Questions!

Any questions or comments please send them to andylopez@invisiblegardener.com with "All Things Malibu" as the subject. Thanks for reading and keep sending those emails! I will respond here with my answers in future columns.

Thanks and have a great day!
Andy Lopez
Invisible Gardener