What is the best way to get rid of snails?
Snails and slugs are a problem in many landscapes, even here in New Mexico. They are often imported into the landscape with new plants. Once they have been introduced into a landscape, they are difficult to eradicate. It is even difficult to keep their populations low enough to minimize the damage that they do. Many people don’t even know that they have snails and slugs in their landscape – they just find plants eaten by some secretive critter. It is easiest to find them after a rain or irrigation. You may also recognize their presence by the silvery slime-trails that they leave on sidewalks or plant leaves. They lay down a layer of mucus (slime) as they travel across a surface. This slime protects them from sharp objects, even allowing them to crawl along the edge of a razor blade. There are some techniques that do work to a limited degree to help manage snails and slugs. Some people have had success with copper screen or copper bands surrounding areas they wanted to protect from snai
