2012-2013 - Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Open!

cynthia_h · Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:24 am

Thanks to some recent very heavy rains, the snail population in my (small) yard has been flushed

out of hiding. After yesterday's torrential downpour and the overnight deluge, this morning my gone-to-seed arugula, chicory, and kale plants were bearing odd-looking "fruit."

So, after driving DH to his carpool partner's house, I took advantage of the early morning light and the damp conditions. I got bored after "bagging" 100 snails and went inside.

But later in the morning, while it was still overcast, the dogs wanted to hang out in the freshly washed air. I obliged. 73 more snails.

Just now, I told DH about the 173 excargot (not a typo). He got all inspired and went to get a flashlight. I worked by the light of our driveway motion-detector lights.

Amazingly enough, the kale and chicory plants had been repopulated since this morning. The arugula had only a few strays. However, plants that I couldn't get to this morning and that he did...well, DH found some productive hunting grounds. We used the all-organic "drop the snail on the ground and stomp" method, recycling nutrients into the soil.

Our combined total for the day = 236 excargot, a new personal/household best for this location!

(For relatively new members, our lot is 50' x 100', but most of it is either house or pavement. We have approx. 250 sq. ft of dirt, 96 sq. ft of which are devoted to raised-bed veggie growing. Rose bushes, blackberries, rosemary, jade plant, naked ladies

, lavender, and Jerusalem artichokes fill the rest.)

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

PunkRotten · Thu Mar 29, 2012 1:35 am

Wow that is a lot of snails. I am lucky for now that I don't see them or many slugs. How long does it take for arugula to seed? I got 2 plants going right now that are pretty big mounds planted them last year. So far no pests have really bothered them.

applestar · Thu Mar 29, 2012 3:47 am

Cynthia and hubby!

cynthia_h · Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:20 pm

If any of my neighbors had chickens, I'd be happy to take them these snails. (But of course I'd want some eggs every now and then....)

Cynthia

GardenGnome · Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:02 pm

I have slugs but no snails.

cynthia_h · Fri Apr 06, 2012 8:30 pm

I got 67 more Friday and Saturday, and I've gotten a couple dozen randomly this week without any focused forays.

Probably won't get a chance over the weekend to do a Flashlight Run, but one's coming soon...I can feel it building up.

Cynthia

cynthia_h · Tue Apr 10, 2012 4:17 pm

So today there's more light, steady rain and the temps are in the low 50s F. I just took the dogs out for their mid-day "rest" break

and bagged 56 snails and 2 slugs. Took less than 10 minutes.

added at 8:00--got another two dozen (24!) when I returned from running errands this afternoon around 6:30.

That's 24 + 56 + 67 + 236 so far.... Bleah.

Cynthia

cynthia_h · Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:22 am

Last night was a real gully-washer, or should I say

a real snail-finder! Went out just now (7:00 a.m.) to get the paper and got another 55 snails. I left some behind--I could see them-- because in my other hand were the dog on a leash and the newspaper.

So now the count is 55 + 24 + 56 + 67 + 236 (438?!) just in two weeks. Hmm...I really need to do an all-out hunt with a flashlight, no dog, no newspaper, etc. and see if I can find those refuges where the rain drives 'em from. I'm almost afraid to know how many there are....

Cynthia

rainbowgardener · Fri Apr 13, 2012 10:56 am

That is just amazing... I have never seen anything like that... Something about your climate/ micro-climate must be really conducive to them.

Have you tried the beer traps? Maybe you could induce a bunch of them to just come and drown themselves.

cynthia_h · Tue Apr 17, 2012 3:43 pm

rainbowgardener wrote: That is just amazing... I have never seen anything like that... Something about your climate/ micro-climate must be really conducive to them.

Yes, the entire Mediterranean climate, which describes the S.F. Bay region (esp. climate zones 15 and 17) is [url=https://sci-toys.com/snail_references.html]conducive to snail...ah..."culture."[/url] Which is why that dratted Frenchman, A. Delmas, and his family wanted to raise them--the climate was so much like that of home.

Then, depending on which source you want to believe, la familie Delmas a) released the snails upon discovering that their taste here was not equal to their taste en la belle France, or b) some of the captive snails escaped and bred and bred and bred, eating their way north, south, east, and west, hindered only by the Pacific Ocean and climate extremes.

Now the snails are endemic in almost all of coastal California.

I got another 75 molluscs the last couple of days, so we're now up to 438 + 75 = 513 for the "season." Heaven only knows how many are on my neighborhood BLOCK, <shudder> esp. since our lot is 50'x100', and only 200 sq.ft. or so aren't paved or built on. All the snails have been "discovered" on this small amount of exposed soil. Bleah.

Cynthia

applestar · Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:47 pm

When I was doing the slug count, it got to the point that when I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I would see images of slugs behind my eyelids. ...are you at that point yet?

cynthia_h · Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:31 pm

I've just been looking for them as I go to the front of the house and walk back along the driveway the past few days, but...

...73 more, as of just now. This weekend disappeared under an Earth Day eveng (Saturday) with a migraine, and yesterday was the Day After A Migraine. But 73 is 73 of the little plant-eaters

, and I just have to hope that I'm preventing future "snail-lings."

So now the score stands at 513 + 73 = 586 for the month/season.

Cynthia

cyanidecotdpnuts · Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:33 pm

Ever heard of Decollate snails? They are predators to the Brown Garden Snail and White snail, and will kill/eat them. Once there are no more snails, they will benefit your garden by feeding on decomposing organic matter. I only recommend this because you are in California from what I see in your avatar. The release of Decollate Snails is restricted to AZ, NM, TX, and CA in the following counties (Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Tulare, San Bernadino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura) by the US Department of Fish and Game however.

cynthia_h · Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:16 pm

The Decollate Snails sound interesting, but I'm in Contra Costa County, which isn't on the approved list. How do those who use Decollates for control of brown snails (which aren't as severe in the areas you list) keep them from getting out of control, too?

Cynthia

cyanidecotdpnuts · Wed Apr 25, 2012 11:12 am

Aw, that is a bummer. I didn't know exactly where el cerrito is and didn't google it. that's a bummer. But releasing Decollates keeps the Brown Snail population under control simply by releasing them. It's as easy as that. The snails will start hunting every day as soon as the sun starts to go down. Decollates move about the garden looking for the egg masses of the slugs and snails as well as the adults. Each Decollate female can lay abou 200 eggs and will live for about up to 2 years. 100 Decollate snails are enough to cover a normal sized yard or garden, but the results are more gradual than if you were to go out there and hunt them yourself but at least they'll spare you a little extra time and stress knowing that someone or something is doing all the work for you

Kisal · Wed Apr 25, 2012 3:58 pm

Ducks love snails and slugs, if your city will let you have them.

cynthia_h · Wed Apr 25, 2012 4:42 pm

I know about ducks; a friend had one as her gardening assistant in Berkeley until raccoons unlocked the duck's overnight quarters and savaged it.

El Cerrito recently changed its ordinances re. "livestock"

but ducks weren't included--just chickens, bees, pot-bellied pigs, and goats. *sigh* And I can't afford the variance permit ($150 and up!) for a duck. That would be one happy duck, for sure!

Thanks for thinking of me, though.

Oh, and two brief forays today, each one to retrieve a rolling garbage/recycling can, yielded 73 snails. I hadn't dug around in the naked ladies' leaves for a while, and went from 17 (the arugula plants) to 73--again!--in about 10 minutes.

So, let's see. The count stands at 586 + 73 = 659 for the season. Jeez.

Cynthia

Rogue11 · Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:14 pm

cyanidecotdpnuts wrote:Ever heard of Decollate snails? They are predators to the Brown Garden Snail and White snail, and will kill/eat them. Once there are no more snails, they will benefit your garden by feeding on decomposing organic matter. I only recommend this because you are in California from what I see in your avatar. The release of Decollate Snails is restricted to AZ, NM, TX, and CA in the following counties (Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Tulare, San Bernadino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura) by the US Department of Fish and Game however.

Interesting, where can you get them?

Kisal · Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:29 pm

Please don't release them in northern CA. If they're released there, they'll end up in OR, just like the brown garden snail has.

cynthia_h · Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:02 pm

Rogue11 resides in Orange County, which is the second county up from the border between the U.S. and Mexico. cyanidecotdpnuts's message stated that the Decollate snails are legal in Orange County. Maybe he/she can advise Rogue11 on sources?

I agree: we do *not* need another gastropod on the loose, whether on the Pacific or Atlantic Coast.

Cynthia

Kisal · Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:54 pm

I do know Orange county. I lived there for a couple years on Calle de Los Alamos. Nice place, across the street from the beach and just up the street from the Nixons.

We lived in San Clemente. We worked in Capistrano Beach.

As I remember, the swallows flew right by Capistrano Beach, heading for the mission in Capistrano. They didn't like our real estate, I guess.

cynthia_h · Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:01 am

A small cold front moved through the East Bay late this afternoon, bringing some light rain with it. This brought the snails out in droves, emerging from beneath the amaryllis (naked ladies) leaves, chicory leaves, arugula, etc. Wilson--my January Berner rescue boy--just *had* to go outside and eat some "salad" (sometimes I think I have Bernese Mountain Sheep rather than Dogs

), so while he munched, I crunched...snails. Lots of snails, beneath my shoes, returning them to Mother Earth. Just a couple of slugs. (The slug count is incorporated into the snail count.)

110 more snails. (For those keeping count, that makes 183 for today.

)

So...Season To Date: 659 + 110 = 769. And it's still raining.

Cynthia

ETA @ 0016: 47 snails while walking the dogs around the block. Yes, they (snails) do just populate the sidewalk, "volunteering" more or less for snail-icide.

769 + 47 = 816

cyanidecotdpnuts · Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:06 am

Rogue11 wrote: Interesting, where can you get them?

Rogue, I usually order them from Gardeningzone.com here is a link -

[url=https://gardeningzone.com/pages/live-snails-rumina-decollata]Live Predatory Snails - Decollate Snail (Rumina decollata)[/url]

They have either 50 or 100 count packages, the snails are in epiphragm when you get them but this site has some pretty good info about the snail as well as how to properly release it once you receive them and stuff. Real simple, I love it. And like I said 100 snails is usually enough for your a normal yard or garden.

[/url]

dimiessler · Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:58 pm

https://www.defenders.co.uk/pest-solutions/biological-slug-control.html

I ordered this "Nemaslug", which is apparently only sold in the UK. Hard to gauge results, as the weather has been warmer and drier, but I see less evidence of slug damage. I also use Sluggo - iron phosphate and spinosads. Don't usually just try to kill pests, but slugs are SO destructive, especially to seedlings.

Thoughts?

cynthia_h · Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:47 am

dimiessler wrote:https://www.defenders.co.uk/pest-solutions/biological-slug-control.html

I ordered this "Nemaslug", which is apparently only sold in the UK. Hard to gauge results, as the weather has been warmer and drier, but I see less evidence of slug damage. I also use Sluggo - iron phosphate and spinosads. Don't usually just try to kill pests, but slugs are SO destructive, especially to seedlings.

Thoughts?

From the Defenders' website:

Defenders wrote:Phasmarhabditis is a tiny parasitic eel worm (nematode), barely visible to the naked eye, which occur naturally in British soils.

The Defenders product Slugsure contains these nematodes mixed with a carrier medium.

I would be very hesitant to release even beneficial nematodes in the United States which aren't a native species. The Phasmarhabditis which is predatory upon slugs is naturally occurring in Britain but not, according to their information, in the U.S. Imagine becoming famous as the person who introduced an invasive species into our country....it could happen. So I'll forgo the "pleasure."

I don't use Sluggo for the reasons I gave [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=201075#201075]here[/url] and elsewhere (links in that post).

If I had a neighbor with chickens or a couple of ducks, those birds could eat a fancy dinner many, many times a week! (And I would hope for some fancy eggs a couple of times a month....)

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

37 more snails Thursday, 9 yesterday (didn't go looking today): 816 + 37 + 9 = 862

applestar · Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:09 am

I'm following your snail count adventures.

dimiessler · Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:49 pm

@ Cynthia: My yard, being full of mulch including lots of straw, is a slug Shangri-La, alas. It's densely planted, with things all mixed together, as I'm a biodiversity nut. Except slugs. . .
I wonder if it's possible to hand pick in my situation. I can live with holes in my kale and spinach, but what's most disheartening is that I can't seem to grow seeds, as the slugs make it look like nothing was there. I start some inside, but would like to plant seeds in the ground. You know, like in nature.
Do you have any advice in my situation, where slugs are everywhere under straw? Their number is legion. I'm committed to mulching, which has turned my former slag heap of a yard into a pretty fertile spot. Less committed to slugs.
Thanks for your thoughts. Dim

dimiessler · Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:51 pm

Oh, and P.S. I could probably find a chicken, but they scratch up everything, based on my experience when I had them. Are ducks less destructive, while still going after slugs under the mulch? Dim

applestar · Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:08 pm

I think luring them out of the straw is the answer. They do like citruses -- you may have heard of putting grapefruit half after eating out. Orange wedges work too. They like dark moist places like boards and turned over flower pots.

Put them out on the paths and check under them in the morning for mass destruction.

I haven't been out slug hunting, but so far, each time I weed a particularly neglected patch a few big ones slugs either fall out or try to slime away. I think our early spring drought may have helped to keep down the population somewhat.

cynthia_h · Thu May 03, 2012 5:46 pm

Annette said that her duck did *not* dig up plants while hunting for slugs/snails. OTOH, there were so many of the gastropods that "hunting" hardly describes what the duck had to do; it was more like "helping yourself" at a buffet table!

Sounds similar to what you can offer a duck....

And there was a heavy mist/very light rain mid-day; the snails emerged from the amaryllis/arugula/chicory/et al.

Got 50 of 'em in about 10 minutes. "Helping myself," as it were.

862 + 50 = 912 since March 28, 2012

Cynthia H.

applestar · Thu May 03, 2012 6:13 pm

1000 soon!

cynthia_h · Thu May 03, 2012 11:20 pm

Wilson (the January rescue dog) needed to go outside about 4:30 this afternoon. The heavy mist had turned to actual rain; snails were hanging on the plants almost like fruit (again). While he busied himself in the back "yard" under the redwood tree, I started the search-and-destroy mission.

65 molluscs and maybe 12 to 15 minutes later, he came looking for me. Silly boy; didn't stay under the tree! He must have waited by the back door, where there isn't any overhang. He was dripping wet. But, being a Bernese Mtg Dog/Sheep, just the coat and his face were wet. He was still warm and dry under all that hair. So I got a towel and blotted him more or less dry before letting him inside to shake it all over everything!

That was a total of 115 today. I'm done for the day, even though it's just now getting dark; I think I'm fighting off the virus DH brought home from his work this week. Grrr....

Total is now: 912 + 65 = 977

Good grief.

Cynthia

applestar · Sat May 05, 2012 7:05 pm

Cynthia, you inspired me to go out early-ish around 7:30AM this misty morning and do a slug hunt. I DID NOT count them or I would end up joining you in tallying up the daly slug count. Besides, my "do not count" emergency relief switch was still thrown from the last slug count

Suffice it to say I filled a 6" diameter bowl of soapy water, and I mean FILLED.

I should really go out there now since the sun's starting to go down, but I turned my compost pile today and am not up to bending down and peering st the ground.

Tonio · Thu May 17, 2012 2:44 pm

cynthia_h wrote:The Decollate Snails sound interesting, but I'm in Contra Costa County, which isn't on the approved list. How do those who use Decollates for control of brown snails (which aren't as severe in the areas you list) keep them from getting out of control, too?

Cynthia

Still fighting them slimers Cynthia?

I don't have much snails/slugs, and San Diego is another known place for em. I noticed this early spring, that I have some Decollate snails in a few areas of the yard. They appear to be in the winter rain runoff areas-which is away from the beds.

Wonder if I could get them to pro create?

Tonio · Thu May 17, 2012 2:51 pm

And what is up with the endangered snail list? escargot?

Live Predatory Snails - Decollate Snail (Rumina decollata)
The US Department of Fish and Game limits the release of Decollate snails due to certain areas having local snails that are on the endangered species list. Currently the release of Decollate Snails is limited AZ, NM, TX, and CA. Release in California is limited to the following counties: Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tulare and Ventura counties. The release of the Decollate snails elsewhere is restricted or prohibited. Check with your local Ag department

cynthia_h · Thu May 17, 2012 4:41 pm

[Boggle the mind...endangered SNAILS???]

Ahem. Trying to regain control of my hands at the keyboard here...

Where did you find mention of a list of endangered snails? The common brown snail, nemesis of California/Oregon gardeners, is an introduced invasive (I.e., non-native) species. It can hardly be considered "endangered," even by a benighted bureaucrat. I hope.

But, anyway, if you have an url for me to read and become infuriated--oops! of course I mean "inspired"--so that I may correspond with our tax-supported governmental representatives about this threatened mollusc, please do provide it.

Been slow here for finding them lately. Thank God. Only 29 since my last post!

977 + 29 = 1,006

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Tonio · Fri May 18, 2012 12:39 am

woah,

Cynthia,

Introduced here:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43951&start=15

From the decollate snail source:
https://gardeningzone.com/pages/live-snails-rumina-decollata

Endangered snails???, so perusing I found:

The Trinity Bristle Snail

https://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/invertebrates.html

https://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/t_e_spp/docs/2004/t_einverts.pdf

Tonio · Fri May 18, 2012 12:42 am

Appears Gardening Zone is in Camarillo, and even have a store front?

Not sure El Cerrito is in a restricted zone?

T

rainbowgardener · Sat May 19, 2012 2:43 am

So you guys finally inspired me and I went out in my garden at 2AM armed with a pair of tongs and a bowl of hot salt water, looking for the slugs that have been chewing holes in my broccoli and pepper plants.

The first plant I looked at had no (visible?) slugs, but a bunch of earwigs. Would their damage look similar? I managed to shake about six of them into the salt water.

The rest of the plants I looked at had slugs, anywhere from one to three per plant that I could find. Does that make sense, that one not real big slug could practically skeletonize a big broccoli plant? I looked under the leaves and everywhere. Where do you find them?

Of course, the broccoli are the plants that live inside the deer netting cage. So I'm trying to lift the deer netting and the tongs keep getting tangled in it. So I'm trying to manage the netting and the flashlight and the tongs... And the slugs aren't fast, but they do move, always away from the light. In a couple cases all I managed to do was knock them off the plants, which I'm sure is very temporary.

So what do you use to grab the snails with? Maybe snails aren't as gross to hand pick, having shells... No way I could bring myself to grab a slug with my hand... But spaghetti tongs did not seem to be the ideal instrument!

All very creepy and gross! The things we do for love!

lorax · Sat May 19, 2012 9:24 am

RBG, one slug the size of your pinkie finger can eat: an entire head of lettuce, five or six leaves of chard, most of the leaves off of any crucifer (I fight with slugs for the right to grow Romanesco), and any ripe tomato withing sliming distance.

For slugs, I find them not so much on the plants as in the moist areas of the garden - under my bricks, near boards, against the walls (on the walls, even), and at the edges of the grass. Oh yes, and at the bases of the beets, which they don't eat but do slime up something fierce.

My slug count for the year is nearing 1,000, and I'm not dealing with the piddly little garden slugs that y'all are complaining about either. No, I've got banana slugs, which are longer and fatter around than my thumb. I have a picture of them somewhere.

I use a fork and a 1L takeout tub half-filled with very salty water.