Snail and slugs where are they all?

normally at this time of the year I find snails and slugs under stones and leaves but this year absolutely nothing at all , apart from the odd empty shell.

Now do not get me wrong here I am not moaning just wondering,how is where you are?
I know I have posted about this before but two years running is unheard of .

G

 

I hope for your sake that they're either all dead or have moved somewhere else. Since we've had lots of bare frost I'm hoping our slugs are dead, but with my luck they've all survived somewhere, and are just waiting to bust forth and devour my little precious plants.

 

The never-ending slug and snail battle - one would think that it is far too hot and dry at this time of the year here in SOuth Africa, alas, those buggers always seem to survive. :-x

Maybe they are just wanting you to let your guard down. They evil little buggers - they devour all wonderful, soft new plants.

 

I wish I couldn't find any under anything here.

 

I'm sure they will be out soon - just when you least expect them!

 

I just got done reading an article in an old norwegian gardening magazine that the farmers of old, used to put out containers of beer, all thru their gardens an fields, they would go around every few days, an empty the containers that would be filled with snails an slugs, an replace the beer. i think i'm going to try this,, if all else fails an they don't like the beer, at least i won't go thirsty when i'm out gardening,,,,lol.

 

Glasfryn, I think they all ccame over here! Ha ha ha.
...well, actually what happened was, one evening late the lady from a few lotties further up was also working late and she came down to me with this worried, almost horrified look on her face and asked if I would come up to her plot., which of course I did. There all over her onion patch alongside the canal were.... well.... uncountable numbers of slugs. I have never seen anything like it before. It was like that Hitchcock film, "The Birds" -- but with slugs. I told her that I had to take pics, that no one would believe it. I just wish that it would have been possible to take the whole lot and have you folks be able to see them. I'm pretty happy with these. I had to take it on macro with a flash to get them.
Poor lady didn't know what to do with them cos she didn't want to poison them so I said that I'd help her pluck them up and flip them across the canal. It was well dark by the time we were finished, as you can imagine.
Who knows, maybe they floated across the North Sea channel on inflated innertubes in the dead of night.

 

I think gastropods, in general, go on a 12-year population cycle (yes, I am a font of utterly useless and often unfounded information!) anyways, if there was a population spike near you like Sjoerd shows, it would be completely normal to have a couple of years with far fewer of the little critters. Fear not, the populations will slowly build back up to plague-levels then die off again. We had a surge of tent caterpillars many years ago... ugh! had to use the shop vac just to get out the front door!

 

I'm in Washington state, and from my travel experience we've got similar weather.
I've has a delayed slug season for the last 2 years, and it hasn't been as bad. I'm not sure why. I could chalk it up to climate change and all--that's why mosquitoes are worse in the summer afterall, but you'd think milder winters (which we've been having here in WA) would lead to MORE slugs, not less.
But I did find some eggs while I was tending a pot of rosemary yesterday, so it won't be too much longer now.

PS nobody likes slugs, but they are a decent indicator of where your weather and environment is and what time of year it thinks it is (if that makes any sense). But my grandmother's crocus are trying to bloom...or were it snowed last night, I don't think they'll like that.

Oh, and beer does work quite well, just make sure you leave out enough to actually drown them. They like the taste, but if it's not deep enough, you'll just be providing a party for them.

 

Ooof, Sjoerd, that was a very unwelcome sight! Are those the so-called iberia slugs? Spain is getting very dry, so they've probably emigrated.

We get some very long ones with spotted hoods and striped bodies. They are nick-named boa slugs and can get very long if I don't find them first.

 

well I spend all of yesterday in the garden and counted 20+ empty snail shells and all recently emptied so we think its birds,we have a large jackdaw and magpie population = the frogs and Henrietta the hedgehog and lots of slow worms (and all this with 6 cats) and we have seen a badger in the garden who has definitely been digging around.
maybe we are just lucky and we do encourage this wildlife and maybe thats the payoff.

G

 

ohhh geeez Sjoerd,,,lol... dang, what a sight. thats just horriable looking. lol, poor woman i can see why she was panic sticken,,,hahaha. Thats so bad, but funny too, i can just picture it.

justa, thanks i have never tried the beer, i just read about it an thought that it would be a good idea an organic way to get rid of them. thanks,, i'll remember no parties for the slugs, just for me. lol.

 

Egads Sjoerd, that is NASTY! I'd propbably hand pick them off too and then put out beer traps. They DO work, you just need a strong stomach to empty them sometimes.

 

Put 5 or 6 on a long skewer, and roll them in a beer-batter, then in coconut, grill over hot coals for 15 minutes and serve with warm pineapple salsa.
Now THERE"S an image that will help my diet along.