Sunday, October 26, 2008

Snail damage in the garden.You can not win, get used it..
This morning was a lovely cool morning, one of
 the last cold fronts over the western cape before
 the long hot summer. I stroled through the garden enjoying it for a few moments then my eyes
caught this aloe. The snails were out late on this
 cool morning having a brunch before they hide
 for the day !












"People pay to have snail slime on their skin,
 I am getting this for free" - I told myself
while squashing the snails between my fingers.
In case you do not know it seems the word
 is going around that snail slime is one of
those "proven" remedies for a youthfull skin.
 I took many years off the age of the skin on
 my hands but it did not improve the beauty
 of my hands which were scratched and
bitten by the sharp teeth of the aloes at the
same time. It is not easy to get the snails
 out between the aloe leaves.


















I feel like doing something to that neck !
Something slower than a quick squash
between my fingers.









Unbelievable ...this juvenile snail could not
 have eaten all that much in one sitting, he
must be the last one remaining after a party.
Rot can set in where the skin is broken in
aloes and other succulents. The hole, on
the top right side of the photo above this
 one must be from the previous party,
 it dried out well so there is no danger
of rot any more.










I believe these two snails are an endemic
snail species. I do not know anything
about the identity of snails, you are
to help me out there. We see them often
 along the western coast (South Africa).
 They climb on the wooden fence poles
 and sit in a bundle. It seems easy to kill
 them, but those on the poles is only the
 tip of the snail-mountain. I have not
seen them sitting in bundles on poles
where we live, 100 km inland. They
are not as many as on the coast, but they
 do a lot of damage all the same.










Could this be the delicatessen snail which
 arrived here from France? I am not tempted
 to try, but if we would learn to enjoy eating
  escargot that would solve more than one
 problem.

19 comments:

Lucy Corrander said...

I think I'd rather have rough skin!

But . . . do you think snail slime from aloe-eating snails is better than from snails who eat other things?

Lucy

ericat said...

I can feel the difference if I use the gel from the aloe on my skin. Now regarding the aloe eating snail - To be honest I do not think so. The snail digest the plant material and I would think the body absorb what it needs and discard the rest. The slime would contain the same ingredients in the end ? I cannot imagine anybody covering themselves with snail slime, but I am so furious that I do not mind as long as I kill them. Thinking about it, the slime is without odor and it leaves no residue. Very clean. Thinking about it is the worst part.

Anonymous said...

It seems like you had a huge party in the backyard last night! This is my first time seeing snail eat aloe. Aloe's skin is very thick. right?

ericat said...

If you look at the photo on my web site it will seem that the skin is thick, but the skin of the aloe is very thin. It is a transparent thin skin followed by a dark green layer with the soft gel layer in the middle.
More like a tomato, not near to an apple.

sabbaar said...

Every thing here ..beautiful

Anonymous said...

I didn't know snails ate aloe--or that people used snail slime as a skin youthener. Well, I've heard of worse.

Too bad you can't try salt, which works for slugs, but of course that wouldn't be so great for the aloes. Let's hope this snail turns out to be edible, and you can just use salt and butter!

Ashraf sharif said...

nice blog ...it is eating succulent and lophophora i collcted snail and kill them .

ericat said...

I am sorry xav.
posts like "your blog is nice.... link" seem like spam to me. I visited your blog and it is open on invitation only. I do not see the advantage to link to your blog for readers of my site.

Anonymous said...

aloe is said to be healthy but now I learned it not proven

Antigonum Cajan said...

Aloe veras are over used in Puerto Rico, particularly, in our San Juan, Metro Area.

In my wide collection, however, there is one. The beauty of its architecture, and most Agavaceas with this shape, are hard to ignore.

On the other hand we do not have
Sabilas loving snails!

Excelent blog!

Antigonum Cajan said...

Your comment to xav is pertinent, for your reasons and others.

What is the point as in some blog I frequent, to see the groupies as in a command, all stating: nice, beautiful, I dream of tropical breezes,and so on.

I am glad when someone looks at whatever, or read whatever and comes with some thought/idea/concept that will help me
improve my garden or the concept
of gardening I work on.

Until then.

Granny J said...

Your second snail looks just like the ones I fight up here in the mountains of Arizona, meaning that, yes, indeed, it is the very same import from France. Just because they are escargot does not make them any nicer in my garden!

ericat said...

Hi Granny !
It is nice to see you are on the run as usual. I had some drama with my new comper and the slow www service in South Africa but I am going to hop over to your site ASAP.

ericat said...

Granny I hope you see this note and I hope other bloggers will take note and have sympathy with us web-tortoises. Please change the setting that wants a new page to open for comment. It times out for me. It seems that the whole blog must load before the comment thingy loads.

Even though you retired I can still see your journalistic talent for adventure, photography and a gift to use words all over your blog. I like the " big cats", in a perspective I would not even have noticed.

You might like my big and small cats playing on my blog felinetalk

Anonymous said...

I LIVE IN SOUTH FLORIDA AND I HADN'T KNOWN THAT SNAILS EAT ALOE EITHER UNTILL MINE GOT EATEN, SOMEONE TOLD ME ABOUT MIXING 3 TBS OF LEMON DISH LIQUID IN A GALLON OF WATER AND SPRAYING SO FAR IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING AND THE ALLOW DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ANY WORSE AND IMPROVING SLOWLY.

ericat said...

Thank you Anonymous, for that tip. I am going to spay the dishwashing liquid as soon as the sun is up. (now 2:53 surfing is faster at night )

Oh yes !! I can not wait!

bathmate said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Debi said...

Ericat dear,
Just love reading your blog and the many comments you get. I don't blog much about my plants, but do love my small gardens. As I live in Kansas, I am not as fortunate as you and some of your many readers with your aloe plants. Thank you so much for sharing all these wonderful pictures, words of wisdom and just plain love of these beautiful aloe plants with us!! I found you by going to the next blog button at the top of my blog. Loved finding you!! As I said in earlier comment, I will be back soon. I logged in here to tell you about the dishsoap and lemon juice idea, but some one else beat me to it. I can pass on the if there is a weed that you wish to kill, you can use 1 Tablespoon of dishsoap, 1teaspoon of vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of salt to 1 guart of water and spray on plant a couple of times in two days, and it will dry and die. Don't know if you will need that hint. (Hopefully you don't!)
Thanks again.
Hope you have a wonderfully blessed day.
Debi
+

Sonya Brown said...

I was SHOCKED to see my Aloe plant is being devoured by snails!! HELP!!! 😱