Re: echinacea and slugs

This is a popular practice in western Oregon, where I live, although I haven't tried it.  Friends who have say that you definitely need to keep the ducks (and geese) away from young plants, but that they don't harm older plants.  Geese are too aggressively scary for me, but maybe I should get some ducks!

At 11:55 PM 7/20/2002 -0700, RStarkeson@jschlesinger.com wrote:

I was eating dinner with members of a plant society a month ago in a garden in Oakland with a pond.  Just as the shadows began to creep across the garden, a mallard duck alighted on the pond.  His mate and 8 ducklings soon appeared out of nowhere, and they all began walking slowly through the garden, and with nearly each step each of them gobbled up a snail.  What a wonderful sight.  We almost cheered.  I knew that ducks ate garden snails, but had never seen them in action.  Has anyone purposely used them as a means of snail predation?  I hear they are also inclined to eat small plants.  Turkeys are also reputed to be great snail hunters, and not to eat small plants (and can be then eaten themselves after snail season for - in the USA - the traditional 4th Thursday of November meal.  Anyone tried turkeys for this use?

Richard Starkeson
San Francisco,California 

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