What's with the snails?

Hello Everyone! Long time no see me! It's Maddy Mason here, from  Accord NY. 
I usually pop back up in the Summer, at the height of gardening  season, then 
disappear to the depths of the other parts of my life for another  year!
 
I hope this season finds all of you thriving along  with your gardens! Now, 
this may not apply to everyone, since we all live  in such vastly different 
climates and parts of the country, but here in the  Northeast, or at least my 
little corner of it, we are so overrun with snails  that walking around sounds 
like the crunching of snow, but it's the crunching of  little snails! 
 
We've lived here 5 years, and always had plenty of slugs to  deal with. A few 
years ago we discovered the miracle of the new organic slug  killers such as 
Sluggo, that use harmless iron phosphate very effectively. Well,  harmless to 
other wildlife, which is good! This stuff works fairly well on  slugs, 
although frequent applications are still necessary for good control. But  where has 
this explosion of snails come from? (I noticed a lot of them last  year, but 
this year is worse than ever.) The stuff doesn't work nearly as well  on the 
snails, although it helps some. And it's not just my yard, due to some  upheaval 
of the natural balance of things. I have neighbors here, and  friends in other 
parts of NYS with the same problem. 
 
My garden covers various sections of a good sized area of land  (close to an 
acre), so barrier methods are useless. No matter what I do, I  still find 
scads of the crunchy critters chewing up my irises, daylilies,  delphiniums, 
Lupines, even hairy poppies, and anything else they can get their  slimy teeth on. 
(Slimy teeth?) Keeping the ground very clear of litter helps  some, but not 
all that much. And yes, I handpick, but, as with the Japanese  Beetles scheduled 
for imminent arrival, I could do that the entire day and never  get ANYTHING 
else done!
 
Anyone have a clue what might have caused this? We didn't even have  a very 
wet Spring this year either. I think next year I'll get out the Sluggo  much 
earlier. Perhaps that might put a lid on it, before it gets so out of  control. 
I dunno!
 
Happy digging to All!
Maddy Mason
zone 5/6
Hudson Valley, NY (No, do not even THINK of telling me to  eat them! )

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