Please help I Found Snails

[maninair]

Hi everybody,

two days back I have seen two three small snail on the orchid compost. Is it bad for my orchids? How can I remove the snails which is very tiny to handpick.

Thanks

Mani

[kmarch]

Yes, snails will harm your orchids. I have seen where they have eaten flowers and I have heard they like roots too. People will have lots of recommendations. My friends use saucers of beer or snail bait (poison).

[orchid_lord]

Or , you can make a terrarium for them and grow them. They are very cute and they also live long . They are also easy to keep - just some fresh leaves or grass per day and fresh water . You can pick them with something sticky- for ex: a stick with honey . Good luck !

[Maxxreps]

Mani molluscicides are very nasty chemicals! I would take the organic route and do the saucer of beer thing. Let your plants dry out a bit to encourage the buggers to go drown in the beer.

If you go the chemical route choose an old fashioned copper sulfate base molluscicide. They work well on the most common pest around here (Bush Snails).

More inportantly as the big growers how they avoid infestation to begin with and incorporate what you can. I hang 60% of my orchids and the rest are on steel wire shelfs which they don't seem to like to slither on.

Let us know what you try and what works!

Mike in Charleston

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Bush snails, the tiny ones, are hell on orchids. Years ago, I found that when I repotted my Catts (when I used to use bark), their root systems lot like cholla cactus. The tips had been eaten off after just a short amount of growth over and over, so there were no long roots. My solution years ago was to go to a closed mix that the bush snails couldn't move around in. Never have been back to bark since. I use diatomaceous earth (DE) in my GH for slugs and snails that come in with new plants, and this works for me. Others have said they have no success, and I think it may depend on the source of DE. I keep a wheat flower sifter w/handle actuated stirrer in my GH to spread the stuff on the floor. Must NOT breath the stuff. Heard that stale coffee (caffeine) will kill snails. Good luck on your chore ahead of you.

[maninair]

Thanks all for your suggestion.

Mani

[Hummer344]

Ever try Sluggo. You can find it at your local yard/garden centers. Non poisonous to pets & children. I don't have a bottle around right now but I think its Iron sulfate. Snails eat it and DIE