Bauska and Iecava municipalities start fighting with Spanish snails / Article / LSM.lv

Today, 22:17

Authors:
Zemgale regional television

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Spanish snails are no longer just a scare of small garden owners this summer. Increasingly, they are also conquering parks and other recreational areas. In order to fight with uninvited guests, pupils are employed in reading snails in Gailīši parish of Bauska region, and it is also thought about the help of the parish, but special granules are used in Iecava.

This time, pupils employed in Gailīši Parish are given buckets for reading Spanish snails instead of the usual hoes or rakes. Uninvited guests have already been read at the parish bathing place last week, but even today there is no shortage of things to put in buckets.

“Gloves are easier, but rather disgusting,” admits snail reader Richard.

Buckets fill even faster for girls who read naked snails in the flower beds and lawn of the center of the parish. The students interviewed say that reading Spanish snails has already become their daily routine, not only during work, but also at home.

“It’s such a careful job. You have to see if it doesn’t crawl around, but it’s easier to read snails than to weed,” says Daniela, a snail reader.

Five Spanish snail deposits have been officially approved in Bauska region. In Gailīši parish, they were seen in a bathing place several years ago, but now the invasion has become much wider.

“At the moment, they have also reached about a kilometer to the village. I think that it is already in the whole radius,” reveals Aleksandrs Gurkovskis, the head of Gailīši Parish Department.

In August, Spanish naked snails lay their eggs most intensively, so try to keep it to a minimum. Although it requires a lot more labor, so the parish is considering the possibility of organizing a Spanish snail reading event.

“We could definitely restrict them more, but it is unlikely that a harder winter will help to get rid of them completely,” Gurkovskis admits.

The fight against Spanish snails has also begun. Other methods are used there. Three weeks ago in Iecava Park, all the edges of the paths were filled with special granules – about which the visitors of the park are warned by signs.

“The snails disappeared, but for the moment they are feeding each other again. You can already see, and in the middle of August you should sprinkle a second time,” says Sarmīte Avota, a horticultural specialist in Iecava municipality, adding that it is not a cheap pleasure, because one 10 kg bag costs 75 euro.

Snail bait is one of the plant protection products that should not be spread near the river, where the largest population of naked snails has now formed.

“It should be done at the national level. We need to develop an action plan, what we do, what we can afford,” says Avota.

Spanish snail deposits in Latvia have been confirmed in more than sixty places, and almost thirty more unexplored infestation sites are still present, however, in Latvia it is still not included in the list of invasive species.

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