Re: metaldyhyde in the garden

   Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 08:20:24 -0700
   From: Fiona Gilsenan <gilsenan@well.com>

   I have heard from vets that there isn't possibly enough poison in
   metaldehyde pellets to hurt a cat, never mind a dog. 

Those vets must be in denial.  Every vet I have talked about this with is
well aware of the dangers.  When I was in Jr. High (late 70's in San Diego)
our dog got very sick very suddenly.  We rushed him to the 24 hour
emergency pet hospital.  The vets said snail bait poisoning, pumped his
stomach, and he lived.  It took a few weeks for him to completely recover.
Several other dogs in the neighborhood died (I am guessing the critical
period is only a few hours and if you miss it, the dog has no chance).

We traced this problem to a neighbor who had recently put down snail
pellets.  When told what happened they immediately cleaned up all the
pellets and the problem never happened again.

   Does anyone know of an actual scientific survey that would put this to
   rest? There are a lot of conflicting opinions about this one.

I've seen this discussed many many times and you are the first person who
has brought up any question that it might not be true.  Even the jerks who
think dogs with owners who can't/don't keep them in deserve to die agree
that snail bait is a killer.

Do you really need a "scientific survey" to convince you of the data that's
in front of you?  But, if you insist, I'm sure you could find any number of
articles in vetrainary journals.

Metaldyhyde is also known to kill earthworms and it probably gets the soil
organisms too.  More reasons not to use it.

Snails and slugs are a huge problem in my yard and I'd love to find an easy
and 100% organic way to deal with them.  I don't mind some loss but it
would be nice if more than 1% of my seeds came up and if more than 25% of
my seedlings survived.  We handpick but that is not so easy to do.  Btw,
dropping them into plain water with some ordinary dishsoap (we use Trader
Joe's; it's nontoxic and unscented/undyed) does the trick.  No need for
salt or anything more caustic.  You need a bit more than a light layer of
soap to keep them from crawling out.  Leave the bucket over night and then
dump the whole lot in the compost pile.

We save eggshells and crumble them up to put around seedlings.  This does
work but only if there is 100% coverage which is hard to do (doable for a
couple prized plants).  I think we'll try the liquid amber fruits (I assume
this means the dried balls?) since we have access to them.

Cyndi

_______________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, California            Zone 9 USDA; Zone 16 Sunset Western Garden Guide
Chemically sensitive/disabled - Organic Gardening only by choice and neccessity
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                     Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)           cyndi@consultclarity.com
                                                 http://www.consultclarity.com/
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