Q. I am attaching a picture of tiny snails that have invaded
and killed off quite a few patches of our grass. I cannot seem to find any
information about these tiny snails anywhere! I was hoping you might be able to identify them so we can
eradicate them from our lawn.
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| Snails on lawn area of reader |
A. It is unusual for snails to be a problem in lawns in our
climate. My guess would be that parts of a lawn that might be susceptible to
snails would be on the shadier sides of the yard. Usually those areas in full
sun would not suffer as badly. Secondly, these snails usually come in on
landscape plants brought into the yard from nurseries. Your strategy should be
to remove any habitat that is favorable for them and reduce their numbers.
Mowing the
lawn shorter, watering more deeply and less often should help. Try to avoid
daily applications of water when weather permits. This may not be possible in
midsummer months. Frequently lawns have irrigation systems that are not what we
called "zoned" for different microclimates. When irrigation systems
for lawns have valves that water a hot side of the landscape and, at the same
time, water the cooler side of the landscape (west and north sides or south and
east sides) then the cooler sides of the landscape may become overwatered just
because the hotter side will determine when to irrigate.
This may be
too late in some circumstances or not possible but whenever possible try to
zone irrigations so that west and south sides may be irrigated at the same time
and east and north sides are watered or zoned together as well. In other words
when a valve comes on it should be designed to water different microclimates
separately.
If you have
to pair sides of the landscape then pair west and south together and east and
north together. Never pair north and south or west together or east and west
and south together.
As far as
getting rid of existing snails there are a couple of things you can do. They do
make a snail and slug bait commercially that you can put out into your shrub or
ground cover area. You can also make your own bait by using beer. Open a can of
inexpensive beer and leave it opened for a day or two until it gets stale. Take
a shallow bowl or plate and place it into the shrub area buried up to its lip.
Pour in the stale beer into this shallow plate or bowl so that they can crawl
into the stale beer and die a happy death.
You can
also place pieces of cardboard into this landscape area and wet them down so
they don't blow away or put rocks on them to weight it down. Snails usually
come out when it is dark and retreat into shady spots during the day. During
the day pick up the cardboard and remove the snails from under it or on it and
dispose of them. Place the cardboard on the soil again and repeat this until
your numbers dwindle or they disappear. You will have to repeat it in about a
month when a new crop of them emerge. I hope this helps
what species of snail is this? They are also in my yard but I don't want to kill them. Just curious about this tiny little creature.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Any snail experts out there?
DeleteI don't believe the snails kill the lawn. I think the snails are the result of dead lawns suffering from brown patch or bermudagrass decline. Fungicide should be applied to the lawn as soon as there are patches of dying or dead grass. The snails don't seem to hurt the grass but I am no expert. The lawn should be treated with an insecticide in the spring and perhaps in the summer if needed but the fungicide should remedy the dead lawn issue.
ReplyDeleteif you don’t want them to spread beyond their boundaries. In order to prevent reseeding, harvest the flower heads before they’re fully dry. lawn mowers lowes
ReplyDeleteAre dogs seem to want to dig up that area were the snails are We found them in a sunny spot. Are they common in Utah
ReplyDeleteNot if the lawn is in the sun. They might be if they are in the shade.
DeleteThe tiny brown and white ones are mildew snails. They always eat candyants and tiny aphids etc. And teenys we cannot see. They like the moistness...they usually come out at night and sleep days.. Never fear they are our friends! And wayyyyy before us, they were here first!
ReplyDeleteHow do you get rid of these mildew snails They are in my bermuda grass.
DeleteDoes anyone know if these snails can carry lungworm?
ReplyDeleteI live in las vegas a d have a infestation of these tiny snails, i want to make sure my dogs are safe...
These snails have been in my backyard for over a decade. We had sod brought in and it was obviously infested. I've taken them everywhere to find out what and how to get rid of them. Even the NV co-op extenstion had no idea. I just gave up. My dogs have had no problems. I've had chihuahuas & retrievers in the yard. I'd love to know what to do...
ReplyDeleteMy Sod was brought in from Henderson Nevada in 2020. I have been fighting these snails that ARE DESTROYING my lawn for over a year. Removing dead area of grass. Covered with nitrogen. Now my pest control company is going to start spreading snail and slug bate to kill them off during winter months here in Topock Az, with plans to reseed in late February. I wish i had a recourse on nursery that sold us the sod. Sad. Soooo sad
ReplyDelete