PEST PATROL FOR SLUGS AND SNAILS

Walking to work very early one damp morning I spotted hundreds of snails on the white picket fences lining street after street of Ponsonby villas. It reminded me to go on a snail hunt at home.

A snail can lay up to 120 eggs at a time every six weeks or so. Every snail disposed of now won’t be around to contribute 500 or more babies to the potential explosion over the rest of the season.

My usual hunting technique is to take a late evening stroll with a bucket of hot water and a torch, but this year I have a new weapon. It’s

a nifty beanie with built in LED lights so I’ve got both hands free to gather the blighters.

Top snail hangouts at my place are on the strappy leaves of dietes and bulbs, under the rims of glazed pots and among bromeliads. You can even make tempting places for them to hang out so you can gather them up easily. Half grapefruit skins placed upsidedown are ideal. Prop the skins up slightly on one side so slugs and snails can slither in underneath.

Feed the corpses to the thrushes and blackbirds the next morning.