Escargot anyone???
Posted by dennis on Jun 05 2009 | Tagged as: Green Choices, Urban Gardening
Snail (Helix aspersa on Hosta leaf)
Caught this not so little snail (25 mm high, 35 mm diameter) in the garden this morning rapidly devouring a Hosta leaf. Looks like the snail found all over California brought to this continent for eating purposes.
I wasn’t aware we had them here in Seattle. A quick trip to the “Identification Guide to Land Snails and Slugs of Western Washington” (http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/TESCBiota/mollusc/key/webkey.htm) and following the dichotomous key I ended up at Helix aspersa (http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/TESCBiota/mollusc/key/hel_asp/hel_asp.htm). Indeed it is a European intruder.
Hey that was fun, following a branching (dichotomous) key answering one question at each step to arrive at a definitive ID.
Couple of questions here: 1) Are you seeing these voracious land molluscs in your yards? and 2) Ecological/Organic control methods?
I recall as a young lad in the Silicon Valley getting 50 cents a bucket for collecting them by hand, and there was a never ending supply. We then poured rock salt into the bucket to keep the snails from ending up back in the yard.
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