Rhubarb leaves are toxic to us but snails love them! It is Autumn the perfect weather for snails to lay their eggs in the cool damp weather. In our garden nestled amongst our Rhubarb crop we found  an amazing colony of snails happily breeding away and munching on the leaves.  We needed a natural pest deterrant that wasn’t harmful or toxic to children. Usually the kids will collect all the snails and slugs and feed them to the chooks, not that chooks actually like snails but the kids love the idea of going on a snail hunt and feel like they are helping out.

Gardening tips come  from near and far and we needed a natural one that wasn’t harmful to the school kids.  It was suggested to us to give the old vegimite in a jar a go. A jar full of water, a spoonful of vegemite had gardening club kids puzzled as to why would they like vegimite? Will they eat my sandwich too? said one student.

We recycled an old jar, fill it with water, added a spoonful of vegemite, mixed it very well and then ‘planted’ it into the ground. It took all of 10mins for a snail to make its way to the mixture and plop itself in.

One student sat and watched the entire time as the snail made its way in. He was happy that the experiment worked but was a little sad that the creature he had watched for so long was no longer going to entertain him.

Vegimite in jars works and is a  child friendly, non-toxic way to catching snails!