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More snails than usual

clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 331
in Plants
I have more snails than usual and I am finding them on plants they do not usually associate with Anyone else having this? It has been quite dry recently but the snails are very active. Maybe they get moisture from the plants....unfortunately quite a few plants have been ravaged!
Where the Wild Things Are
 ...that is where I would prefer to be...
COASTAL SOUTHERN ENGLAND...silty-sandy-loam ravaged by wind
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  • LynLyn Posts: 21,923
    We seem to have more than usual as well.  Every flower pot I pick up has loads in. 
    My pet snails are going mad laying eggs too. 🐌 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 331
    I wonder what is going on?! @Lyn Pet snails did you say? Are they indoor or outdoor snails?! 
    Where the Wild Things Are
     ...that is where I would prefer to be...
    COASTAL SOUTHERN ENGLAND...silty-sandy-loam ravaged by wind
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,124
    Can't say I've noticed much of a difference, although as it's been a mild winter again, there's probably more.
    There's always tons of slugs, so it's just the normal state for us.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 331
    I always forget about the slugs @Fairygirl because they are much shyer than the snails! 
    Where the Wild Things Are
     ...that is where I would prefer to be...
    COASTAL SOUTHERN ENGLAND...silty-sandy-loam ravaged by wind
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,124
    Slugs generally do more damage than snails, especially the smallest ones.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • McRazzMcRazz Posts: 207
    Loads here this year on account of it being wet march/april with very little in the way of frost. We usually keep on top of them by lobbing the snails over into the wild patch next door and skewering the slugs (cruel but necessary), however with a newborn and such high numbers already we've been lax and many of our plants have been decimated. The Hosta's are a write off and i expect the kniphofia will lose their flowers again. We could really do with some hedgehogs, frogs and thrushes to help keep the numbers down.

    Peculiarly this year they've attacked en mass our Hydrangea Petiolaris and Clematis Montana...They seem to climb the walls and hide in the shade of the leaves ready to munch that evening. Villains. 
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 9,370
    I was on a nocturnal vine weevil hunt this week and the amount of stripy snails I found around the garden was unreal. I blamed my son for boosting the gene pool with illicit imports but I guess the mild, wet winter may have helped. Normal levels of garden snails, small snails and slugs but noticably overpopulated with the stripy ones.
    Tradition is just peer pressure from dead people
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,124
    I think there's a misapprehension about frosts stopping them. If that was the case, we'd have very few here in most springs.... ;)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,241
    I've noticed industrial quantities of snails on things they don't eat. That being said, I don't grow anything they eat anyway. I've rounded most of them up and chucked them in the council bin. I don't mind treading on the odd one but I didn't have the stomach for mass murder.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • floraliesfloralies Posts: 2,313
    Loads more snails than usual down here, although it was a dry winter, the recent heavy rains has brought them all out to play.
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