snails and grasshoppers eating buds
 

Dang, now that everything is growing and blooms are starting, I now have snails climbing all over and eating my buds. Plus, the dreaded lubber grasshoppers are joining in. I've been watering them and then putting down slug and snail bait- any other ideas? I sneak out at night with a flashlight and find and kill the grasshoppers (they're slower and easier to catch after dark) and now that they are full grown, chopping their little ugly heads off is the only thing that works.

You could go to Lowe's or Home Depot and look in the gardening section for products to take care of roses, flowers, ornamentals, and vegetables and use them.

For the common garden snails I use standard garden organic slug pellets from my local garden center. I try not to put them on the orchid medium, but arround the outside of the pots.

If they are the tiny tiny orchid snails that live in the post then aparrently most treatments don't work, but coffee is thought to kill them by drenching the medium in a strong coffee.

Coffee, hmm. Grounds or liquid?

I got the advise from Ray's website. Take a look here (about half way down the page)...
First Rays' Home Remedies
I actually just used a strong cup of liquid coffe (make sure it's cold).

Coffee took care of a snail a few months ago. I think it is also a repellent. I would drench medium and spray leaves with a 1:1 solution of coffee.

Now I have leafhoppers eating my chili pepper leaves, anyone know of a remedy? I have Imidclorprid Bayer systemic but do not know if it safe to use on chili peppers I eventually I want to eat!

I have problems with snails too but of gigantic proprtions....the shells are about 3-4 inches long...inside body huge.....Also birds want the petals of the flowers for building nests too!!.... i have put up jingle jangle wind chimes up and a couple disco balls to reflect light...has helped a little bit but no where enough.....HELP!!

For the big snails/slugs I'm using the standard pellets from the garden center. I sprinkle them arround the outside of the pots, haven't dared put them on the surface of the medium as I don't know what's inthe pellets.

The ones I use are certified for organic use but of course I don't know what you can get where you live.

RosieC , rogerman,stefano.
Thanks for your much valued information about slugs and I read all of them.
I have suffered a lot from them.
I will apply sand paper theory too.
What I do is I collect all of them into a shopping bag throw them into a nearby stream .Another method is when you find their thousand eggs in your soil when you dig it ( pastel yellow color beads) collect everything and hum.! You know the rest! Put them into your garbage bags.

Other wise They come out as thousands.

hmm.....Sorry I missed the post about using sandpaper, and I can't be out searching around at night with a flashlight, but if coffee works, would a tipsy snail just fall out of the pot.?