Chemical Control of the Brown Garden Snail in a Commercial Nursery, 1985

In a commercial saran house in Orange Co., CA, 12 square wooden arenas (9 ft2 in area), lined with 3 mil thick polyethylene sheeting, were filled 1 inch deep with moist soil. The top of each arena was covered with wire screening to prevent the escape of snails. Fourteen bare-root chrysanthemum cuttings, 1-m. old, were planted in a 1-ft2 area on the east side of each arena. On the opposite (west) side of the arena, 20 mature (ca. 1 inch diam) snails, collected from an untreated biological control citrus grove, were placed beneath a 1-ft2 wooden harborage. Providing harborage for the snails at a distance of 2 ft from the chrysanthemums roughly approximates field conditions under which snails normally seek cool shelter during the day and actively forage for food at night. Materials were applied 4 Jun. An untreated check was included, with each treatment being replicated 3 times. Bullets and pellets were distributed evenly throughout foliage at a rate proportional to 4 lb (AI)/acre. Paste was applied as one dime-sized drop at each of the 4 corners of the 1-ft2 chrysanthemum planting at a rate proportional to 4 lb (AI)/acre. Arenas were irrigated daily for one hour by overhead sprinklers. The number of dead, moribund and aestivating snails was recorded at 7, 14, and 21 days after application of the materials.