Aww, cute...! ?

[snohare]

Do snails eat ground elder?

Er...spot the fly in the ointment.
I might have known that it wouldn't be that easy - there had to be a reason there was so much of the damn stuff. Oh well, it wouldn't have been me, if I'd had money !

[FijiBob]

Poked with a bamboo kebab skewer, skewered then thrown over the back fence onto the electrified railway line (which is also about 20 feet below my garden)...come back from that Mr Snail!

[veggiechicken]

Since we're back on the subject of slugs & snails, has anyone tried this - one of Which's Top tips in their last 30 years........
On Non-porous pots, spray WD40 around the rim to deter slugs and snails.
Seems simple enough, anyone like to test it?

[ladylottie]

Since we're back on the subject of slugs & snails, has anyone tried this - one of Which's Top tips in their last 30 years........
On Non-porous pots, spray WD40 around the rim to deter slugs and snails.
Seems simple enough, anyone like to test it?

I think the phrase "deter" says it all

[snohare]

See now, I thought that it was on porous pots. On account of, otherwise the WD40 would degrade with heat, light, rain etc - or simply run off due to gravity.
There are complex molecular signals in molluscs mucus (try saying that with a mouthful of hot cheesie toast!) and in fact, the slime trails they leave behind actually tell them which direction they were going, whether they were well fed, sensed food,etc, so that they can cross a trail and immediately know whether, and in which direction, to follow it again. This is sufficiently important that they devote much of their biochemical energy to creating this slime - so anything that will muck it up is worth trying. (The reason crushed eggshells may have an effect is that the signals are based on calcium; but I'd guess eggshells need mixing with vinegar to liberate the calcium.) Perhaps ***** would have the same effect - like WD40, isn't it based on naturally occurring phenols ?
I think to have any worthwhile effect, any signal disruptor would have to be spread over a large area. That would mean that slugs and snails could effectively go in circles and be unable to tell where they have already been, gradually decreasing pressure on plants due to inefficient foraging leading to starvation. (Imagine a drunk man trying to navigate in the dark in unfamiliar surroundings.)
Meantime, I will continue to use a saucer full of water under my pots. I know, there is a re-moat chance they will evolve the ability to swim...

[veggiechicken]

Snails the size of a fist

Special delivery for Snohare
BBC News - Glasgow Airport staff seize 36 giant African land snails
I wonder how you eat these - would they need to be carved?

[alldigging]

Someone on my local freecycle was giving those away by the bucket a while ago.

[veggiechicken]

Don't suppose you'd get many to the bucket

[alldigging]

Don't suppose you'd get many to the bucket

You'd get none to the bucket in this house. I can't see my OH being very keen at all to bring some of them home.

I bet they take a bit more crunching than normal snails.
Can you imagine the horror of finding them on the cabbages? :-0

[Dusty Rhodes]

Poked with a bamboo kebab skewer, skewered then thrown over the back fence onto the electrified railway line (which is also about 20 feet below my garden)...come back from that Mr Snail!

If he managed to crawl to the electrics, your neighborhood will smell like French cooking!