Does ANYONE know how to get rid of snails in my cat palms....i noticed them when I brought them home from store but didn't know they would eat and harm my plants
What kind of snail are they? The brown ones will eat plants but the decollate snails (ice cream cone shape shells) are good guys, they do not eat plants they eat the smaller brown snails and decayed organic matter. When you see the brown snails pick them off the plants/out of the soil and toss them in a bucket of water or squash them. By getting rid of the adult brown snails you help the decollate snails keep the population of the brown snails under control. Ooops, just realized you were talking about a houseplant. Changing soil would best. When dumping the old soil, if they are brown snails dump it in a pot of water to drown them, if they are decollate then dump the dirt in the flower bed to let the good guys help outside.
Thanks...i have tiny cone shaped shells and various sizes of round ones...all the ones i have removed from leaves or stalk are round and can see where they've been munching and where it was removed has a black round spot about the size of the opening of the shell...I've only seen 3 actual snails...they were tiny kinda tan color with dark antenna looking things on their heads...I've just been removing everything because I don't know which is which and I'm going to repot asap...i just worry about them being from another country,if I let them loose and they dont belong here that's not good?idk
Where did the plant come from? Not knowing where you are we can't help you with a possible introduced species problem but I would guess that unless your plant was a recent import there should be no problem. If it came from another country, the importer would have to verify that the soil was clean, if it grown fairly local to where you live then it's most likely a native snail. We don't want your exact location, but USDA zone if you are in the U.S. or your country if you are not. If they are the brown snails http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/gastro/brown_garden_snail.htm then doing away with them is best no matter where they came from. If they are the decollate http://www.entomology.wisc.edu/mbcn/kyf703.html then they are keepers. Click on the blue links to help ID them.
