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Curative control

Pest controlling plants

  1. Eupatorium
  2. Neem
  3. Purging cotton
  4. Garlic oil

Other solutions

  1. Yeast and water solution (Olkowski, et. al., 1991; 1995: pp. 592-96; 244-48)
    Dissolve 1 tbsp of yeast in 100 ml of water. Fill any shallow container with the solution. Bury up to the rim near the plant. Make some modifications to cover your trap to avoid non-target pests from entering. The snails drink, get drunk and drown in the pan. Monitor the pans and the trapped snails. Change the solution when necessary, especially after rain.

Physical control

  1. Remove all vegetable debris and other possible sources of food. Remove all their possible places of refuge such as bricks, boards, and piles of debris that are directly in contact with the soil.
  2. Remove the fallen leaves and thin or prune the plants to let the sunlight penetrate through to them easily.
  3. Handpick the snails and crush their eggs. Feed them to ducks or chickens, or cook them, they are good source of protein.
  4. Screen the seedbed or seedling plot with a fine mesh screen of about 7.5 cm high that surrounds the plot and securely fix about 2.5 cm of it into the ground (Olkowski, et. al., 1991; 1995: pp. 592-96; 244-48).
  5. Trap the snails and slugs using 30 cm x 30 cm white painted- surface wooden boards. Place them securely along the plant's rows. At daytime, slugs and snails take shelter underneath the cooler places. Be sure to check the wooden traps before sunset and collect the snails and slugs. Crush or place them in a bucket of soapy water (Olkowski, et. al., 1991; 1995: pp. 592-96; 244-48). Potato or cabbage (Doubrava; Griffin, 2004), cereal bran or chicken food (Port; Ester, 2002: p. 341) can be placed under the board as an attractant.
  6. Over-turned earthen flower pots, placed under the shady part of the plant, is another way of trapping them. Make sure to make an opening to let them crawl underneath, and to collect them before sunset. Crushing them in the pots also make the pots more attractive to other slugs and snails (Olkowski, et. al., 1991; 1995: pp. 592-96; 244-48).

Other methods

  1. Plant ash, saw dusts, sand, D.E. or eggshells (PMRA, 2004)

  2. Sprinkle enough ash, sand, or crushed eggshells at the base of the plants. The snails are sensitive to harsh objects which prevent them from crawling into the plants. Remember to keep these substances dry to be effective. But make sure that your control method is not a waste of time because snails are problematic only when the soil is moist.

  3. Grapefruit and melon peel as bait (Olkowski, et. al., 1991; 1995: pp. 592-96; 244-48)

  4. After eating grapefruit and/or melon, invert the peel as food and as a cool shelter for the pests. Be sure to collect peels before sunset and kill the trapped pests.

  5. Bottle traps

  6. To protect grapes from snails

    Cut the neck of the plastic bottle large enough to fit into the vine, as well as the bottom as an entry point. Do this after pruning the grapevine when most of its leaves and branches have been removed.

    To protect an individual plant from slugs and snails

    Cut the bottle at its shoulder, just before it starts to taper toward the neck. Stick the piece you have just cut off into the bottle, neck first. Tape the two pieces together with electrical tape. Fill the trap half-full with a yeast-water-solution, bury it sideways in your garden so that the entrance is level with the ground. When the trap is full, open the top and empty its contents into the garbage or compost. Make sure that the slugs and snails are killed before disposing of them.
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