Re: What's with the snails?

I have to agree that sugs are just about the nastiest, worthless thing in
the garden.   Never have seen any snails though.  I never had any slugs
until I bought some cheap hardwood mulch, but now I have plenty.
Escar-Go! (suggo) is the best material I have found to combat them, but
nothing is perfect.

Kitty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <MyTGoldens@aol.com>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>; <gardenchat-digest@hort.net>
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2005 10:57 AM
Subject: [CHAT] 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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