[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

The greatest damage I ever had, worse than the Fusarium, was from bush snails (the tiny ones) and my misguided attempts to get rid of them. They are very damaging to plants in a course mix like bark. They live in the bark, eating off the green root tips. I would unpot a Catt to find that the root system looked like a Cholla cactus. The roots had grown only a short distance, been stopped by the loss of a tip, then sprouted side roots , which also only grew a short distance, and this was repeated over and over again, leaving this Cholla looking like root system. When you have several hundred plants, soaking in water for a few hours is not practical. I won't bother with the story how in my failed attempt to get rid of them, I transfered virus to nearly my entire collection.

So, my solution back then was to go to a closed mix, peat and vermiculite (vermiculite is now deadly to orchids since it started coming in from South Africa), and now days, peat and perlite. I just ignore the little buggers when they come in on a new plant now, cause I know they will soon be dead for lack of a habitat.

For situations where you need a large scale treatment for snails and slugs, I have had great success with diatomaceous earth. Some claim that the stuff from a pool supply doesn't work, but it worked great for me, where the stuff from a feed store seemed to silky to be abrasive enough. I have a little hand pump flour sifter I use to spread it around the GH every 2 or 3 months. MUST wear a dust mask, or you could get something similar to silicosis. Once down, it is safe for people and pets. Beer is useful if the bowl is large enough to keep the really big slugs from stretching their way out and just over the lip, where they can then use their shape to escape. Saw one do this, then went to a bigger bowl. It is a slow process cleaning up a greenhouse with bowls of beer all over. The diatomaceous earth wiped them out in 1 day.