How to Get Rid of Snails Organically

Snails and slugs can lay eggs up to six times each year.

When your is lettuce being eaten by something other than people and there are mysterious holes in your hostas, your garden my be under attack from a slow-moving army of slimy snails and slugs. You can rid your garden of snails without harming pets or exposing yourself and the vegetable garden to toxins.

Things You'll Need

• Iron phosphate
• Copper tape and/garden accessories
• Bucket
• Dishwashing soap
• Flashlight
• Rubber gloves (optional)
• Jar lid
• Beer
• Decollate snails

Instructions

1. Remove potential daytime hiding places near your plants. Snails shelter under boards, stones, leaf debris and low-hanging branches and shrubbery.

2. Dig small, shallow holes near affected plants and insert jar lids. Fill the lids with beer. Snails and slugs are attracted to the beer, fall in and drown. Dispose of them each morning in the compost pile and refill the lid.

3. Recruit kids who aren't squeamish to handpick snails from around your plants as a nighttime adventure. University or California Integrated Pest Management recommends watering in the afternoon to lure snails and slugs out, then combing the area in the evening with a flashlight to capture the snails and slugs. Fill a bucket with soapy water and just drop them in. Dispose of them in the compost pile the next morning.

4. Scatter iron phosphate, a molluscicide approved for use in organic farming, in the area where snail damage is occurring. It is also non toxic and biodegradable. It will not harm pets, plant or the environment. It is found in products like Sluggo and Slug Magic. According to California IPM, the snails usually hide before they die, so there is little cleanup needed.

5. Band the area around prized plants and tree trunks with copper tape and copper garden accessories. Copper carries a slight electrical charge that snails will not cross. Protect your vegetable garden and special ornamental plants with copper tape.

Texas and California Gardeners

1. Import predator snails to your garden. If you live in Texas or the California counties of Fresno, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tulare or Ventura, you can purchase predator snails, Rumina decollata, that eat your common brown snail and slug pests. Make sure to wait a couple weeks for the iron phosphate to rinse away -- you don't want to kill the new additions to the garden.

2. Purchase 100 of these decollate snails to cover about 400 square feet of landscape. Predator snails will breed and lay eggs. If you previously used the iron phosphate you won't have as large a prey population, so can purchase fewer predator snails.

3. Let the predator snails loose. Ensure they have some daytime cover available. The decollate snails may eat seedlings and small plants when no other snails or slugs are available, so use only in established gardens.

Tips & Warnings

• Some plants really seem to attract snails and slugs- keep an eye on those plants and relocate decollate snails to them or use iron phosphate on them.

• Snails are attracted to beer. Shallow bowls of beer left out will attract snails, where they will become intoxicated and expire. However, slugs living underground may not come out for your beer trap. Iron phosphate will get watered into the ground to reach slugs.

• Ducks or poultry would also be happy to eat your slugs or snails.

• Most snail and slug baits are highly toxic to pets and wildlife. Be sure to read the label of all pesticides used in your home or garden.

• Decollate snails can crowd out some endangered mollusk species, so can only be imported to highly specific geographic areas.

References

• University of California Davis Integrated Pest Management: Snail and Slug Management
• University of Florida Entomology Department: Brown Snail Fact Sheet