"WPB" wrote in message
...
Hello, all: I'm a new homeowner and first-time gardener so you'll have to
forgive questions that no doubt will seem naive and silly.

In any event, I bought some Safer's Slug and Snail Bait because I have
snails in my front garden. Which has some assorted annual and perennial
plants and flowers in it. The box says that it contains ferric phosphate
at .76%.

I spread these pellets throughout the garden, but was a bit concerned that
I had used too much. It's hard to say in a newsgroup how much is "too
much" (like "there are on average 97 pellets per square foot"). For the
sake of argument, let's say I did use too much. Will these pellets hurt
my
plants?


I've found that you don't need to shotgun the entire yard with snail bait
for it to be effective. There are typically only key areas where you
want/need snail bait, such as near roses, flower gardens, near key plants.
Surprisingly you don't need a lot of bait to do the job, the snails/slugs do
a good job of finding the bait on their own.

Also if you have dogs or small children, consider using the powdered
version, instead of the pellets, until the pellets soak up enough water to
turn into a clump of sawdust you run the risk of a kid or pet thinking it's
something tasty to eat. I like the powdered kind, because I can take an old
laundry soap cup and use it to lightly dust the stuff around and get better
coverage with less product.

If you drink coffee, the old coffee grounds supposedly works as a repellent.

-S