Snails

Natural Predators. Gardener snakes, grass snakes, ground beetles, box turtles, salamanders, ducks, and larvae of lightning bugs all feed on snails.

Clay Pots. Place overturned clay flower pots near the shady side of a plant. Rest one edge on a small twig or make sure that the ground is irregular enough for the slugs and snails to crawl under the rim. They will collect there during the warmest part of the day. Remove slugs and snails regularly and drop in a bucket of soapy water.

Sand, Lime, or Ashes. Snails avoid protective borders of sand, lime, or ashes.

Tin Can. Protect young plants by encircling them with a tin can with both ends removed. Push the bottom end of the can into the soil.

Here are some snail-prevention methods, I found, during my research for a more peaceful way to get rid of the snails than the well known beer-trap. The negative side of the beer-trap is that the snails drown, which I think would be a horrible way to die. It would be better, if you want to kill them, to crush them under your heel. This way it's over in a second. Furthermore, a beer-trap is quite expensive, because beer isn't cheap and if it rains in the beer-trap the effect will soon be gone.

Now for some I think better ways to get rid of your snails:

The best way I found is to get a hedgehog to live in your garden. Of course this can only happen when you live in an area where there are hedgehogs. You'll need to make arrangements for the hedgehog in order to let it live in your garden. First of all don't keep your garden too tidy, because the hedgehog likes to have places, which he can crawl under. Put some sticks, branches with leaves and tree trunks in a corner of your garden, so there's a bit of open space in between the branches, through which the hedgehog can crawl to get into the heap, and this will have a great place where he can sleep.

Chicken meal is full of little seeds and meal/flour from ground seeds. You put this on an open space in between your plants, and the snails will come in the night to eat from it. They like it much better than your plants, so they won't have any room left in their bellies for your plants. If the chicken meal gets wet, it's all the better, because then it will smell more and will attract the snails. Of course you haven't gotten rid of the snails, but at least they're not eating your plants anymore. To get rid of them, you can combine this with the next point.

Provide a living space for the snails. Put a rhubarb leaf on the ground and the snails will crawl under it. Then you will know exactly where to search for the snails and can gather them, to bring them far away from you garden. You can also use a plank, or a piece of cloth, pieces of wood or wool, or whatever you can think of.

I haven't tried this one, but according to a magazine I read, it works very well. You must make garlic-water, by bruising some garlic parts and letting them soak in a bucket of water for a day. Then you spray your plants with this water and the snails won't like the taste anymore and will leave your plants alone.

I also haven't used this, but it does make some sense I think. Make it hard for the snails to crawl to your garden, by throwing sawdust, crunched egg-shells, needles from conifers, or something like this around your garden and plants.

Offered by Jeroen.