We had the same problem in a commercial Gerbera operation up here in Canada. The bush snails were causing irregular leaf growth and no flower production, looking much the same as a viral or broad/cyclamen mite infestation. I took some plants that showed more pronounced symptoms and drenched them in plain water. Within minutes, the snails were crawling out of the soil and up the leaf stems. In my experience, I would suggest using a slug and snail bait. We have a bio-friendly product up here called Ferramol, the Active Ingredient is Iron Phosphate. It AI is a naturally occurring mineral, used in many agricultural fertilizer products and is found in the soil. It is harmless to people, animals, birds and aquatic life. The bait actually drew the snails out of the soil, where they fed on the pellets. The label suggests that even a small amount of ingested bait causes the snails to stop feeding and within 3-6 days, they begin to die of starvation. Within 2 weeks, the plants were growing normally and we could not tell which plants had been infested.
Hope this helps! Regards, Cody Cruise Valley Pest Consulting _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids
