ACK! Tiny snails!

[Lady Tottington]

Hi friends! I was happily getting ready for bed this evening when I glanced over at my catts to see how they where, when something tiny caught my eye! ACK! LOOK! These were all the ones I could see happily scooting around on the moss I have on the top (which was mildly moist from today's watering). How did this happen? These are indoor plants that I got about two months ago and repotted to a bark/charcoal/perlite mixture as soon as they were mine. I have never seen these little buggers before.

What do I do? I'm not even sure what type of damage they could do, but I don't suspect they would be at all beneficial. Rrrgh.

eeesh.

Thanks friends!

[susiep]

Oh dear! Maybe there were snail eggs in the moss. They are tiny little things! I use "Sluggo" pellets for the big snails we get here. But maybe you can just wash your plant down real good and repot. Better check all your plants really good, too. Some people just put a thin slice of apple right on the surface of the media in the evening and apparently it will draw the snails to it and then you can just discard them. Good luck!

[RosieC]

Aparantly coffee is meant to kill them.

Take a look at Ray's "Home Remedies" info on his website which talks about that. It did seem to work for me.

First Rays' Home Remedies

[Gin]

I have used very strong coffee dregs to get rid of them on mounted plants and the apple as Susie mentioned .They eat the tender root tips and new growth ..I would re pot .

[Ray]

Those are commonly known as "orchid snails" or "bush snails", and are one of the most destructive pests one can get in a collection, and one of the more difficult ones to control. Standard snail baits are ineffective, with measurol - a restricted use pesticide here in PA - being one of the few known toxins. Being that I could not get that, I tried the coffee thing, and it appeared to work.

Keep that plant away from the others until you have eradicated them, or they will be in everything.

[Lady Tottington]

Thanks to all! I will try coffee today!!! And likely repot.

Tell me, should I leave the moss off the top?

[Gin]

I think I would at least until you are sure they are gone .. one way to check the others is to use the apple or slices of potato works best when the plant is on the dry side and slices are moist .. Take no prisoners !

[DavidCampen]

I am trying to eradicate bush snails in my collection.

Measurol, which is restricted by Federal law to people with an applicator's license, is methylthio-xylyl-methylcarbamate. Sevin, which is easily available in garden stores, is naphthyl-methylcarbamate and both are cholinesterase inhibitors.

So I purchased some Sevin 5% dusting powder. At night I would apply this to the surface of the media in pots that has bush snails and it seems to be effective in killing snails that contact it. The other week I was reading an old book, "Orchid Biology" by Dressler, and there it was recommended to use Sevin as a drench for bush snails. So I purchased some liquid Sevin concentrate and applied that as a drench to my pots last weekend. Before I started using Sevin I had also tried drenching the pots with copper octanoate 1000 ppm. These treatments seem to have reduced the number of snails but even after the Seving drench last weekend I am still seeing some when I search at night. I will probably run through most of the pesticides that I have, applying them as a drench, to try to eradicate the snails.

I was also thinking of trying to drown them by submerging the pot in a bucket of water; I wonder how long it takes for a snail to drown.

[silken]

If you are using the same media to re-pot, maybe you could boil or microwave it first. I have started microwaving bark chunks before using. that way they should be pest free and they moisten quicker than soaking overnight.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If you're in SoCal, I might be able to use your snails!

I own a Slug Eating Snake. This snake solely feeds on slugs and snails. If you're able to collect them, I could probably help you eradicate your problem with very few hassles.