Snails, slugs and Cannabis
We all know what they look like. Slugs are slimy creatures about an inch long with long probing antennae. Snails are slugs in a mobile home. Their shells are spiral shaped. The snail can completely withdraw inside the shell when threatened.
You know you have a slug or snail problem, even if you don’t see them, by the tell-tale glistening silvery trail they leave behind when passing through the area. These slimy nocturnal mollusks attack seedlings and carve holes in older leaves.
Providing a mulch layer to house frogs and toads offers a biological method of the food chain coming to action, ridding your cannabis plants of these critters.
When in doubt, throw a party for the snails and slugs in the area. They love beer! Submerge several cans in the ground, with the upper lip protruding just above ground level and fill them with beer. You can also use jar lids placed on top of the soil. Don’t use your good beer, though – they are not preferred guests. Give them the cheap stuff, they’re not picky. Snails and slugs are attracted to the beer, crawl inside in a greedy effort to absorb all they can, and die. Death by beer; what a way to go! Be sure and empty the beer traps often as they fill up quickly.
Salt will kill the marijuana eating slugs also. Placing several dishes of salt on the ground entices them to the salty delicacy and they literally curl up and die. The salt absorbs the water in the mollusks’ bodies and dehydrates them so severely they can no longer function. Be sure to clean up after the going away party; you don’t want dead bodies all over your planting site!
