cafiene as a slug & snail killer

remo · #1 04-24-2010, 02:28 AM

Have been reading online about cafiene sprays & drenches to kill/drive out slugs & snails from potting media. Do any of you have any experience using cafiene?
Have any of you made a tea to spray? One research finding suggested .5% cafiene spray would work over several days and applications but a 1-2% concentration drove them right out or outright killed them on contact. I wonder if it is really safe to the tender new roots. Any thoughts or experiences?
Thanks,
Remo

trdyl · #2 04-24-2010, 07:43 AM

I have not had to as of yet but this is what Ray Barkalow has posted on his First Rays Orchids website under Home Remedies:

Spray: Don't throw away the left-over coffee! Mix it 50/50 with water (some say use it straight), and spray. I add about 2 ounces per gallon rubbing alcohol to keep mold from growing on the liquid surface when the stuff is stored. Seems to work great on Bush Snails.

raybark · #3 04-24-2010, 09:34 AM

This was all the rage several years back, but then "studies" indicated it was bunk, unless the caffeine concentration was much, much higher than that in coffee. (They were using pure caffeine solutions, not coffee, so maybe it's not just the caffeine.)

My own experience with it for driving away bush snails told me otherwise, which is why I added it to the "home remedies" list.

remo · #4 04-24-2010, 10:53 AM

Thanks a lot guys! I have some 100mg caffeine pills and thought I'd brew up some really strong black tea solution and give it a whirl. Ray, do you think it will be irritating to new root growth?
Thanks,
Remo

K Barrett · #5 04-24-2010, 11:17 AM

Remo, you should be able to do a google search on 'caffeine' and 'coqui frog' - or maybe just 'frog' - and 'Hawaii' and see if you get the paper on trying to eliminate the invasive (to Hawaii) frog species using caffiene. It was done by a US governmental agency, but I don't recall which. There may be a few papers by the University of Hawaii too. These are older papers, maybe from the late 90's or early 2000's. Maybe you could come back and report on any updates you find. Also you should be able to find caffeine pills in higher doses online too. IIRC there was one shaped like a bullet named 357 or somesuch, named for the dose. Clever marketing.