Snail found in collection

[Kailyn]

A timely post for me. I just repotted a cym from home depot and found a single snail on the bottom of its root mass. the plant isn't suffering yet (in fact I think it has the best roots of all my orchids) but im assuming it is just a matter of time? And where there is one there is more? I rinsed the roots when i repotted but does anyone in Canada have a particular snail death method they prefer and we can get?

[bil]

Can you get slug pellets there?

[Cym Ladye]

<<Originally Posted by JanS View Post
Well, I must disagree with some of you - in the past I did manage to kill some orchids by sprinkling anti-snail pellets on the bark in their pots. I guess it depends on what kind of pellets you use. I don't take that chance any more. >>

Something you did not mention was how much you used. Not that it could not happen, but I have never heard of anyone losing plants to "SPRINKLING" bait over the media. Now if someone puts a TBS in a 3" to 5" pot, which is not what the directions say to do, one might get into trouble. Too much of a good thing is not the way to go.

---------- Post added at 10:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Kailyn

A timely post for me. I just repotted a cym from home depot and found a single snail on the bottom of its root mass. the plant isn't suffering yet (in fact I think it has the best roots of all my orchids) but im assuming it is just a matter of time? And where there is one there is more? I rinsed the roots when i repotted but does anyone in Canada have a particular snail death method they prefer and we can get?

I would suggest Deadline if you can find it. It is a liquid which dries. You only need a couple of drops on the top of each pot. In addition, I run a bead around the entire flat surface perimeter of my benches and in between pot rows. Ortho and Cooks are the granules I scatter intermittently.

[JanS]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

<<
Something you did not mention was how much you used. Not that it could not happen, but I have never heard of anyone losing plants to "SPRINKLING" bait over the media. Now if someone puts a TBS in a 3" to 5" pot, which is not what the directions say to do, one might get into trouble. Too much of a good thing is not the way to go. [COLOR="Silver"]
.

Errr, "directions"...what are those? Yeah, I am sure I was heavy-handed in my "sprinkling"! All I cared about was murdering the snails and didn't assume anything would happen to the plants. I also must say I put the stuff in a number of pots and the other orchids did OK. Maybe I just got unlucky with those two.

[tucker85]

As far as I can tell, snail bait has not harmed any of my orchids. I only put a small number of pellets on top of the media. I've also used slices of potato to attract snails. Place a freshly cut slice of potato on top of the media, in the evening. Check it first thing in the morning, preferably before sunrise, and the snail will often be on the potato. You can just throw the whole thing out and put another fresh potato slice the next night. Try not to touch the snails and wash your hands afterwards because snails can carry diseases.

[The Mutant]

I hope it's okay for me to ask a question about snails on orchids in general.

I've realized, in hindsight, that my Phrag. Sunset Glow had snails when I got it home. I found one almost immediately after unpacking it, and thought nothing of it (removed the snail of course), then I found another one during the repot (removed than one as well), but still thought nothing of it. I didn't realize they were pests, I just thought they were general hitchhikers.

Now, after reading about them, I can't help but feel a bit perplexed. I've now had this Phrag for about a year, and aside from the two I found when I had purchased it, I have seen no sign of any snails since. It seems rather weird for them to disappear that easily. Can that happen and why? I can't think of a single thing I might have done that could've discouraged any snails.

[ula]

Good luck, I'm battling bush snails myself- they can be quite devastating to roots. Drowning, cleaning and repotting without the use of any chemicals seems to be working so far for me, but I'm checking every day for signs of any new damage.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Originally Posted by The Mutant

I hope it's okay for me to ask a question about snails on orchids in general.

I've realized, in hindsight, that my Phrag. Sunset Glow had snails when I got it home. I found one almost immediately after unpacking it, and thought nothing of it (removed the snail of course), then I found another one during the repot (removed than one as well), but still thought nothing of it. I didn't realize they were pests, I just thought they were general hitchhikers.

Now, after reading about them, I can't help but feel a bit perplexed. I've now had this Phrag for about a year, and aside from the two I found when I had purchased it, I have seen no sign of any snails since. It seems rather weird for them to disappear that easily. Can that happen and why? I can't think of a single thing I might have done that could've discouraged any snails.

I'm wondering the same thing. I found a dried dead one just the other day laying on the towel I have my Masdies on in my kitchen window. It was dead but I have never seen one before. I have my old Madies and my 3 new one separated by my humidifier. I wondered if it came from the new ones but I have not found any more. I wonder if I should water them with neem oil?

[JanS]

As far as worrying when you found a snail or two, I think it is important to note what kind of snail you have. From my experience the most destructive and hardest to get rid of are the little "bush snails" or "orchid snails". They are tiny and breed right in the orchid bark, so are very difficult to get rid of. They are a huge problem in Hawaii - here's a short but good article about them:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/MP-1.pdf
I am also attaching a photo of them.

I have also had damage by larger snails and slugs that we have here in Southern California. Those leave a visible shiny slime trail and, while they can do a lot of damage, don't seem to breed in the orchid pots and so are much fewer in number. So when you find signs of one or two, you can usually find them or lure them with beer, etc. and your problem is over...at least for the time being.

[The Mutant]

Originally Posted by JanS

As far as worrying when you found a snail or two, I think it is important to note what kind of snail you have. From my experience the most destructive and hardest to get rid of are the little "bush snails" or "orchid snails". They are tiny and breed right in the orchid bark, so are very difficult to get rid of. They are a huge problem in Hawaii - here's a short but good article about them:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/MP-1.pdf
I am also attaching a photo of them.

I have also had damage by larger snails and slugs that we have here in Southern California. Those leave a visible shiny slime trail and, while they can do a lot of damage, don't seem to breed in the orchid pots and so are much fewer in number. So when you find signs of one or two, you can usually find them or lure them with beer, etc. and your problem is over...at least for the time being.

I have no idea what species they were, but they were the smallest snails I've ever seen, really tiny, and they were yellowish/light brownish in colour. The description in the document is fitting, unless your picture is showing the bush snail, then the shell looked different i.e. upright. Maybe they simply were hitchhikers?

The Phrag in question is pushing itself out of the pot, so I doubt there are any snails left in the substrate.

I'm wondering if I actually managed to get the only two snails it had, and possible eggs were removed when I repotted it (if they were indeed pests and not innocent snails).