Bush snails!

[Atzau]

Hi guys, found a couple of bush snails in one of my twinkles... Figured there's probably more than just one. It's due for a repot anyways...will that get rid of the snail problem??

[Plodde]

Good luck!

[Cym Ladye]

Bush snails love broken down media. Try a repot into fresh media and see if this stems the problem. Not a guarantee but should help.

[isurus79]

Pesticides don't work with bush snails. I've doused my plants repeatedly with the only chemical out there that's supposed to work; to no avail. However, I recently bought some caffeine pills to add to my water regimen. Here's why: https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/foo...t-out-caffeine

[Atzau]

Well, I repotted it. Didn't see anymore snails other than the ones previously but then again, I want looking closely... Made sure the roots were super clean of media, dunked it in some coffee, rinsed again... And reported in New pot and media. Hope that will take care of it.

[Jenn4a]

If you find some more, this site has organic remedies.
Garden Slugs and Snails by The Gardener's Network

[naoki]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Pesticides don't work with bush snails. I've doused my plants repeatedly with the only chemical out there that's supposed to work; to no avail. However, I recently bought some caffeine pills to add to my water regimen. Here's why: https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/foo...t-out-caffeine

Steve, when I looked into this, caffeine can work against bush snail as you mentioned. But you should be careful because the high concentration required for controlling bush snail is at the level of phytotoxicicity. More specifically, it has been shown that high concentration of caffeine suppress root growth. I think DavidCampen pointed out this here, and I also read the paper describing this phytotoxicity. I believe that even at 100ppm, you can see the suppressed root growth (in lettuce). Note that the caffeine experiment showed death of bush snail with 1000ppm (0.1%) or more. Healthy plants probably can handle the brief suppressed root growth for a couple times. But it may not be a good idea to use it for a long time.

I think Caffeine Powder from eBay is a cheaper source than caffeine pill.

Thymol (reasonable powder from eBay) could be also effective, but again there is a phytotoxicity issue.

Bush snails don't like Copper based fungicide (e.g. Copper sulfate), and it can chase them out from the media.

DavidCampen mentioned that Physan-20, RD-20 etc can kill snails at 200 or 400ppm (1000x dilution will give 200ppm). This seems to be promising. Physan's tech info says: "PHYSAN generally is not phytotoxic to plants at concentrations below 400 ppm. However, this can vary depending on the type of plant and its stage of growth." 400ppm is 0.5TBS (or 1.4tsp) per gallon, I believe. But a bad combination of timing/environment seems to cause some minor injury (like bleaching) for some plants.

If you can use a bit more powerful stuff, Metaldehyde is supposed to work. I got Deadline Force II Slug & Snail Killer. I received this today, and I haven't looked into the phytotoxicity aspect yet.

But repotting is probably a good way to get rid of them instead of using some chemicals.

[lepetitmartien]

Metaldehyde is also a very effective for a lot of other issues (dogs, cats, hedgehogs, kids intoxications).

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by naoki

Steve, when I looked into this, caffeine can work against bush snail as you mentioned. But you should be careful because the high concentration required for controlling bush snail is at the level of phytotoxicicity. More specifically, it has been shown that high concentration of caffeine suppress root growth. I think DavidCampen pointed out this here, and I also read the paper describing this phytotoxicity. I believe that even at 100ppm, you can see the suppressed root growth (in lettuce). Note that the caffeine experiment showed death of bush snail with 1000ppm (0.1%) or more. Healthy plants probably can handle the brief suppressed root growth for a couple times. But it may not be a good idea to use it for a long time.

I think Caffeine Powder from eBay is a cheaper source than caffeine pill.

Thymol (reasonable powder from eBay) could be also effective, but again there is a phytotoxicity issue.

Bush snails don't like Copper based fungicide (e.g. Copper sulfate), and it can chase them out from the media.

DavidCampen mentioned that Physan-20, RD-20 etc can kill snails at 200 or 400ppm (1000x dilution will give 200ppm). This seems to be promising. Physan's tech info says: "PHYSAN generally is not phytotoxic to plants at concentrations below 400 ppm. However, this can vary depending on the type of plant and its stage of growth." 400ppm is 0.5TBS (or 1.4tsp) per gallon, I believe. But a bad combination of timing/environment seems to cause some minor injury (like bleaching) for some plants.

If you can use a bit more powerful stuff, Metaldehyde is supposed to work. I got Deadline Force II Slug & Snail Killer. I received this today, and I haven't looked into the phytotoxicity aspect yet.

But repotting is probably a good way to get rid of them instead of using some chemicals.

Very interesting! I'll use the caffeine sparingly then; once today and then again one time next week. I'll dose them again sometime in late summer with a similar 2 week regimen. I have Physan, which I can rotate in sometime between caffeine doses. I've also used the Deadline several times and it knocks them down for a while, but the little buggers keep springing back up. It also leaves a purple viscous residue for a loooong time on the outside of the pot, so I assume its the same on the inside of the pot.

[naoki]

Steve, did you try to spray the legs of benches with copper fungicide (or copper something)? I think one of the paper mentioned that this probably helps, but I didn't pay too much attention to it because I grow indoor. I'll see if I can find the paper.