Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yup, it makes the ph rocket up when it rains

No problems with rain here....everything is in inside my greenhouse. It's the high humidity that's the battle.

I have lime granules I spread on my lawn, but I think I'll get some powder to get a finer, spreading.

Thanks.

Webby, I've used lime dad brought home from the farm, straight from the super spreader. This is used on paddocks of grass and worked a treat for me.
How big are your granuals? Dad said the only finer stuff to get would be builders lime.

I buy it in 80 pound bags for my spreader. The pellets range from 1-3mm. There's some dust in there too. I spread some over the beds today....couldn't wait to go to the store to buy powder....can't stand the thought of another night of my leaves getting eaten by those little devils!

I also checked the pH of the water too...it was way down around 6.0! I was wondering why my goldies stopped eating the past few days.

Well it can only help then :-)
wow, 3mm is pellet like... 1mm is ok though, and it will crush in your fingers.
Good luck, go out tonight and see how it's going, you should see a decrease in numbers

Has anyone tried cooking up garden snails? Got any good recepies?

Hmmmm umm, no.

EEw

Yes I have. They are actually very nice.

Collect them and feed them on carrot until all the poo is red (5 - 7 days). If you have any major fatalities throw the lot away as they may have gotten a feed of snail pellets or something equally unpleasant.
Boil them in slightly salted water for about 45 – 60 minutes then run cool water over until cool. Now gently pry out of their shells with a toothpick.

Make up some garlic butter with a touch of chilly and parsley (all AP grown of cause). Stuff it in the shells and stick the snails back in the shells. Shove a little bit more butter over the top if you can and then lay then on a baking tray open side up so everything does not drip out. Now put them in a hot oven just long enough for the butter to melt and the snails to get hot.

Edit -
You will need quite a few as a snail isn't very filling.
Nice alternative is to do more of a chilly butter with a good lot of crushed chilly and only a bit of garlic.

I love the above warning!
I found this quite amusing and just wondered if you were talking about the guests that may have eaten them or the snails that died premautrely!

No the quest almost died BEFORE eating the snails.

Biggest problem that I can see with using garden snails is all the poisons the neighbours chuck around trying to get rid of their snails.

They breed SOOOOO easily that you could be sure they were not poisoned, by farming them.
Others you collect can be kept for a month or more, and allowed to breed before harvesting.
Still not something I'd invest time of money on

I contemplated breeding a few but basically too much trouble. Just get a good old feed from the garden whenever I get the urge.
It’s not as if you can really eat snails every day but they are nice for a treat or to take along to a BBQ and watch the look on people faces

BTW, that reminds me of another variant to the recipe. Prepare as per my above post but instead of chucking them in the oven cook them quickly on the barby, particularly on someone else’s with people watching, they will either all walk away with green faces or you will attract quite a croud.

I'd love to see that one on You-tube JPCW

Have to remember the video camera next time