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Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:51 pm
by cynthia_h
The reclaiming of our garden continues. The weekend of June 3 and June 10, DH and I weeded Box #1 (cinder blocks stacked two deep), the 4'x8' box, and its immediate surrounds, including the Doughty Sorrel Plant. Well. That was another 148 snails and slugs.

1,268 + 148 = 1,416

Then, after transplanting veggie starts into Box #1 and sunflower starts into the north verge to make it look as if we actually take regular care of our yard/garden for any prospective home buyers *sigh* of the immediately northern property, I performed two night snail patrols. :twisted: The snails seem to be losing heart (or dare I hope that our efforts are, at last, paying off?).

1,416 + 17 = 1,433 for the season so far...

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:04 am
by Tina_n_Max
Hi, Cynthia

I'm new to this forum as of a couple of days ago.

I know this is an older post but thanks to this forum I finally figured out what gobbled up my flowers to about 3 inch stems in a matter of days. :(

The plants include 2 coreopsis, 2 daisy may, 2 Jacob ladder, and purple cone flowers.

I just have to tell you that you have inspired me to go out this morning to catch some slugs and snails.

Thank goodness I don't have as many as you. I only caught 28 slugs and 2 snails.

Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 5:03 am
by Garf
Every time I do a night patrol, I find a few more of these things. No slugs, just snails. No more big ones, only small ones, so I must be having an effect on the snail population. I can't seem to get them all, but that's the way it works.

Re: 2012 Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Open!

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 2:11 am
by cynthia_h
It's time to introduce ...

The 2013 Snail Hunting Season! This year's season started somewhat later than the 2012 season, primarily due to (1) lack of rain and (2) canine health drama (my 105-lb Bernese Mtn. Dog rescue boy--not the same rescue boy as last year *sob*--was bitten by another dog 29 March 2013, neutered in late April, and bloated late night/early morning 14/15 June; my 13-y.o. Berner girl has had a difficult spring and I'm concerned about her continuing lack of interest in her favorite foods).

But today was The Day. :D Northern California had a highly unusual summer :shock: rain system pass through--according to the radar, we might even get more rain tomorrow!--and the snails were absolutely thrilled to come out of hiding and bathe themselves in the water from the sky. Heh, heh. :twisted:

This afternoon I ran a couple of quick errands, including one to purchase Little Girl's *absolutely favorite* foods--sliced "people" roast beef!!!--on special at one of the local grocery stores this week. :roll: I got home approx. 2:00, during a fairly steady shower, and thought I'd see whether there were any snails hanging on the arugula.

No, they weren't on the arugula, but WOW! they were everywhere else: in the valerian; on the planting strip, sidewalk, and paved pathways; in the ivy, the geraniums, the camellia bushes, the naked ladies, the jade plants, the miner's lettuce, the chicory (flowering right now); climbing up the containers where I grow herbs; on the ground, and just about everywhere my eyes happened to look. Many of them, I didn't even need to move--I simply stepped on them in situ, counting all the while. :D

This evening, I attended a meeting from approx. 7:00 to 8:45. It wasn't quite full dark when I got home, but I figured I'd do Phase 2 of the Snail Hunt, just in case the afternoon areas had been repopulated.

They had. :!:

Same story, plus flashlight.

87 snails this afternoon + 64 this evening = 151 to start the 2013 season off!

Cynthia

Re: 2012--and 2013!--Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Ope

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 12:09 pm
by cynthia_h
It's unclear whether I had a "high hit percentage" yesterday or whether, overnight, the snails became much more clever.

This morning, just after the additional rain stopped, I went out Snail Hunting.

I found only 16 snails. :shock: If it rains again later today, I'll take another look. Otherwise, I'll be dis-covering snails as I cut back spent valerian and clear the north setback soon. :twisted:

Cynthia

151 + 16 = 167 for 2013 "season"

Re: 2012--and 2013!--Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Ope

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 2:05 pm
by imafan26
Well, I find slugs and snails everyday. I just tossed 2 snails and 3 slugs I found while weeding my shrub border into the road hoping the cars would eventually squash them.

I found 2 more tomatoes gorged on by slugs, and I found one fat blond one. I am sure there are more. I put out more slug bait, but I am thinking they are becoming immune to the stuff.

Re: 2012--and 2013!--Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Ope

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:55 pm
by cynthia_h
DH and I performed our annual :oops: clearing of the weeds on the north setback (4 feet or so of pavement) a couple of weeks ago.

Very "disappointing": maybe 24 snails.

I've picked off 2 or 3 here and there every couple of days until, Tuesday this week, I hit what's passing for a Mother Lode this year: 17 snails hiding in one plant near the street.

New Twist: One of the fellow scientists in DH's research team keeps chickens. DH took these 17 snails to her in a yogurt container with its lid perforated for air (gotta keep 'em alive until the chickens eat 'em :twisted: ). Too bad we didn't have this arrangement in place a few weeks ago! But she and her chickens will now benefit; she'll keep track of the number of eggs laid before and after Snail Supplementation.

And this reminds me: I need to get my kale seeds going. She and her family absolutely love kale, but live in a much hotter Sunset climate zone than we do (they're in 14; we're in 17). It's been a while since we've gifted them with a batch of kale. :oops:

Snails for the 2013 season:

167 + 24 + 17 = 208

Cynthia

Re: 2012--and 2013!--Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Ope

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:19 pm
by applestar
Wow far cry from near... Or was that OVER 1000 you reported in previous years. :o

...is that good or bad now that you have the chicken arrangement? :|

Re: 2012--and 2013!--Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Ope

Posted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:48 pm
by cynthia_h
applestar wrote:Wow far cry from near... Or was that OVER 1000 you reported in previous years. :o

...is that good or bad now that you have the chicken arrangement? :|
Those snails to ChickenMom were the very last snails we've found. We took out the valerian last weekend--the first yard work we've done since my previous post in this thread. We found...one...snail. I may have depopulated the place! For now. I've learned, though, never to relax on the topic of snails. Sure as anything, if I grow/plant young plants, something will eat them.

Something with a rasping, walking stomach/foot (gastro-pod).

So 2013 is at 208 snails and holding; one snail found from mid-July to mid-September. Very weird.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

Re: 2012--and 2013!--Snail Hunting Season Now Officially Ope

Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:28 pm
by cynthia_h
There was an unseasonal rain last Saturday. It absolutely POURED down rain for a couple of hours. I had to be at a meeting (quilt show committee, show is March 2014) during the heaviest rain, but had hopes that snails would be lured from their lairs :twisted: by this rain. The large number of snails in late June had been drawn out of cover by unseasonal rain, too. :twisted:

I drove home while the rain was tapering off and lost 10 minutes while looking for the "official snail container for the chickens." :evil: I forced a strawberry clamshell into service. Quite a while later, I had a collection of 45 snails for the chickens. :)

208 + 45 = 253, a weirdly low number. I'm definitely waiting for the other shoe(s) to drop!

Cynthia