[Ccpg] Re: slugs, snails

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

I just caught the end of this thread, but having compiled a very large 
database on slug and snail control, I thought I'd make a few comments.  (If someone 
wants to intern here and make the database into a useful pamphlet, it will be 
available.  I haven't had time.)_

First, hand picking slugs and snails is a good way to get some protein, but a 
bad way to control them.  Never, under any circumstances, are more than 5 
percent of the slug population above ground at any one time.  And what percent do 
you think  you will get of those.  Besides human food mentioned (and slugs 
are as good as snails), though, they are excellent fish bait.  Because they are 
tough, they do not come off the hook easily.  I've caught several fish on the 
same slug repeatedly.

Toads, rather than frogs, are the best vertebrate control, because they live 
in the same areas and because both are nocturnal.  Ducks come in a close 
second, prodding under surfaces to "dabble" for them.  Ducks will not scratch up 
plants like chickens do, but they will eat some crops.  Never leave them alone 
in the garden.  A few hours at dawn, when the air is coolest, will probably 
result in enough harvest to provide the protein for the day's egg supply.  
However, it can take a long time for positive control.

Certain species of grass are contact neurotoxins for slugs and snails, so a 
mulch of such grasses keeps them away from crops, at least while the mulch is 
reasonably fresh.

Caffeine, at 2 percent solution in water, is also a fatal and fairly quick 
neurotoxin for the mollusks.  Strong espresso is much weaker than this.  
However, neither slugs nor snails will cross a ring of coffee grounds, at least while 
they are fresh.  After several rains, probably they will need replacement.  
Maybe you can cultivate a friend at starbucks.  :-)  Coffee grounds are 
outstanding fertilizer also.  Probably someone will start manufacturing caffeine in 
concentrated solutions to provide a relatively organic control.

Chickens, by the way, don't necessarily like to eat slugs and snails.  
However, if you run a few ducks with the chickens, the ducks will pounce on them and 
then the chickens will want them, being probably the most competitive animals 
in the universe after Homo sap. This is my experience, not speculation.

If you have room to rotate your garden with a fallow area, run your ducks and 
chickens in it and add all your compost scraps there.  Treat these areas as 
permanent mulch.  Grow the most slug/snail vulnerable crops., e.g., Oriental 
brassicas, in the next rotation.  

I've noticed in permanent mulch gardens that usually a few Chinese cabbage 
plants are heavily infested.  Apparently the mollusks are attracted to already 
damaged plants.  I just pull these, slugs and all, and toss them to the 
poultry.  Seed is cheap, especially once you start saving your own.

For Mother Earth


Dan Hemenway


In a message dated 5/12/04 3:16:08 PM, seedmind at usa.net writes:

<< "Nina Gelman-Gans" <nina at pitome.com> wrote:


> pick the slugs up by hand at night. Then throw them in the garbage. It 

takes

> time, but it does reduce the population.

> I've done this very successfully with snails.

> Nina

--------


Try not to put living organisms in the garbage. 


they are good food for chickens and others (including frogs who eat 

prodigious amounts of slugs). 


if you let snails live on a bed of organic corn meal or something like 

that for a few days, it cleans them out and makes them tasty for human 

consumption. In santa barbara they're usually the fancy "escargot" served 

in French restaurants. maybe you can sell your free-range, organic 

wildcrafted local snails to a restaurant or trade them for meals.


sorry orthodox jews, snails ain't kosher. i feed them to the chickens and 

then eat the kosher chicken eggs. you can fashion cooked egg as "mock 

snail" and thus have a kosher way to eat snails via chickens. 


if you get a lot of eggs, you can fashion a really big mock slug or 

snail, name it, and have a ritual feast with all your friends paying 

homage to these humble and protein-rich creatures which you'd you'd never 

throw in the garbage.


bon appetit!

akiva werbalowsky >>



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