How to Get Rid of Snails in a Lawn

Q. I have some snails in my lawn. How do I get rid of them?

Snails like it wet and darker than most lawns.

A. The best way to control snails (or slugs) in lawns is to give the lawn more light. Snails hate light but they like to eat!  Snails and slugs eat young plants and microscopic plants such as “large enough to see” algae.

The worst situation for snails and slugs is lawns growing under trees producing shade. The bigger and denser the tree gets, the more shade it produces.

Dappled shade produced by the branches of trees may need to be thinned if it gets too dense. Snails and slugs hate sunlight, prefer shade, and wet soil. Right now there is enough light for the lawn as well as snails and slugs....if the lawn is kept wet.

In cases like that, get rid of the lawn, or both, but in the desert never favor the lawn over the tree. A good-looking fescue lawn uses a lot more water than nearly any tree and usually requires daily applications of water in the summer. Fescue lawns in the shade of a tree might still need 6 or more feet of water annually to look good. Many of our trees in full sun will need anywhere from two to 5 feet of water applied under their canopy. Xeric trees like acacia need less water, annually, than mesic trees like pistache or vitex.

Snails and slugs in lawns

There are baits made for snails and slugs. Those baits usually contain iron phosphate which is low in human toxicity. But it is a pesticide.

Sluggo is the old tried and true chemical control for snails and slugs.

If you are into organics, then you might not want to use Sluggo. Your only options are to increase the light and trapping. During times of high light levels snails and slugs look for places to “hide” so laying out boards or other places so they can hide during the day provide places where they “collect”. Their numbers can be reduced if you are willing to dispose of them after they collect during the day such as under something.