I was advised by Wiggly Wigglers that there sin't a nematode treatment for
snails.
David T
"Rupert" wrote in message
...

"Sacha" wrote in message
oups.com...

Des Higgins wrote:
I normally manage to happily ignore slugs and snails EXCEPT at his time
of
year when they massacre seedlings or
my Cardiocrinums which only come into leaf for a few months and just sit
there and get eaten down to the bulb before they can put on food for the
following year.
snip
I suggest most seriously that you try nematodes. They work here and
while we do have slugs, we have nothing like the quantity one might
expect in green, wet Devon. And - touch wood as I say this - neither
do we have vine weevil. But you MUST use this method exactly as
instructed and certainly repeat frequently, as instructed.
And do all you can to encourage wildlife into your garden, birds,
hedgehogs, frogs, toads etc.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon

Have you found nematodes also work on snails? There are conflicting
stories

Here is the section from the RHS website for non chemical control of
Snails

There are various measures you can take:

Transplant sturdy plantlets grown on in pots, rather than young
vulnerable seedlings. Protect transplants with plastic bottle cloches.

Encourage predators such as thrushes, toads, hedgehogs and ground
beetles. The nematode used against slugs is unlikely to control snails.

Place traps, such as scooped-out half orange, grapefruit or melon
skins, laid cut side down near vulnerable plants, or jam jars part
filled with beer and sunk into the soil. Check these and empty them
regularly, preferably every morning. There is also a range of
proprietary traps and barriers available from garden centres.

Go out with a torch on mild evenings, especially when the weather is
damp, and hand-pick snails into a container. Then, if you can, take
them to a field, hedgerow or patch of waste ground well away from
gardens, or destroy them in hot water or a strong salt solution.

In winter turn over likely hiding places and expose snails for thrushes
to feed on.


Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

This does seem to be true. I suspect that it's because the nematodes can't get in to the snail body very easily whereas they can crawl through the slug's breathing hole which is on their right hand side under the mantle. This probably explains why it is the mantle that seems to be the nucleus of the infection when a slug begins to die.

Have a look at the pictures in this article:

http://www.just-green.co.uk/8b-Photo...pr05_Slugs.pdf