In article ,
rhubarb wrote:

Malcom \Mal\ Reynolds;956450 Wrote:
I have two mulit-variety fruit trees and have been picking snails off of
the
trunk and lower branches, but I was wondering if they are harmful to the
trees?

Snails can be harmful to young trees eating through tender bark or to
trees with low-growing leaves. Most often the latter are citrus where
they cause the most damage.

We have had snail infestations on citrus trees which required some
serious hand-picking on an almost daily basis. However, the tree still
produced quite well.

If these are young fruit trees and not yet well established, you are
well advised to continue picking the snails off. If the tree is older
and larger, it's not as big an issue. We currently have a very mature
large apple tree which often has slugs and snails on the lower trunk,
but these do not seem to cause a problem to the tree.

I pick the snails when I can. I've had the trees for two years and they've
doubled-tripled in size so I consider them fairly well established. I've seen no
problems I would attribute to snails

thanks