Seed snails

[rary]

I have came across references to seed snails a number of time recently so thought I would give it a try, as I had read that you can use anything to make the snail I decided to try it using a poly bag used for bread, I split it open cutting down both joints, this gave me a strip of material ten inches wide and almost three feet long, I mixed 5lts. of compost with 2lts of vermiculite added one can (large bean tin 410grms) of water and mixed all together, I then spread the compost along the the poly strip in about two inches from the end and one inch down each side, which left about three inches at the other end the depth of the compost was about one inch deep, I then rolled the compost up and held it together with two strips of sticky tape, I sowed several varieties of tomatoes and some leek seeds I also placed a plastic lable after each sowing, once all the seeds were sowen I then covered the seed with some compost followed by a light application of water
My first conclusions are that thin polythene is not the best medium to use, the next time I will use some bubble wrap or thicker polythene but if it works it will save a lot of room when seed sowing and mean I only need a heat mat rather than setting up a heating cable buried in sand

[Peanut]

I remember seeing something about seed snails last year, but had completely forgotten about them. I might give it a try myself.
Do let us know how you get on Rary or maybe post some pics if you fancy? I'd love to see it

[Containergardener]

I saw it on gardeners world I think and thought oh I will try that, then forgot.

[Mark Rand]

I saw the mentions of it on the Vine and, this afternoon, sowed a dozen sweet pea seeds that had been soaking in water for a day and a half. I used a slice from a roll of heavy, black, plastic damp proof membrane. Spaced the seeds at 3" with a couple of inches of plastic at the start of the snail and about 10 inches at the outside end.

I would have done the other dozen seeds, but I ran out of sterilised compost. There's more cooking in the oven now.

I thought the technique might be a good way to allow the seedlings to develop deep roots without getting pot bound.

[Peanut]

I think it sounds like a fab space saving thing to do and yes, being able to easily control the depth too is a big bonus!

[Bren In Pots]

I’m going to give this a go I’ve got some bubble wrap.

[Containergardener]

I've tons of bubble wrap . I was thinking sweetpeas for depth too . I'm going to try cosmos also and probably others .

[rary]

I have now made another one using stiffer polythene and most definitely easier to use than the thin material, I was considering trying cardboard but as its a material that can only be used once I decided against it, which of course shows another benefit of seed snails, if they work less space taken up storing cell trays

[Nicos]

Thanks for posting about this Ray…my OH is very interested in experimenting with this.
I can see sweet peas would be so much easier to grow on if started off like this too Mark - I’d be interested in hearing how yours get on.

[Mark Rand]

No signs yet

[mothhawk]

I made the first two snails from bubble wrap, but they seem unnecessarily bulky, so the next ones are done with old compost bag strips.

[Snoop Puss]

Great idea. Bet it would work a treat for something like leeks or onions too.

Edited: very useful photos, MH.

Out of interest, do you all keep your snails contained inside a pot or do some of you leave them freestanding?

[mothhawk]

I put mine into pots because I will keep them on my windowsills, and they are not wide enough for a seed tray. I could stand them in pot saucers, but then if I knocked one off it would make a right mess as it would likely burst open. If I had a G/H I would put them in trays, and I shall do outdoor seed snails in trays next month. (If these ones are successful).

[Nicos]

I seem to recall from Biology classes that roots grow away from light?
Might the outside ones in bubblewrap struggle a bit with this?….be interesting if anyone using bubblewrap can confirm it does affect the plants.

[mothhawk]

Peas are liking the snail so far.