I tried Doctor Donald's cure for the virus - bleach and UV light, and it *worked*!1

[UTUSN]

A year or two ago in DU Lounge laboratory, I documented one of my experiments, of which there have been several in several different areas of pristine, meaning lack of, expertise - such as how to scarify seeds for planting, determining which wine is least sour/bitter, etc.

So the one in question involved bleach, bearing directly on Doctor Donald's twin remedies in yesterday's news of bleach and UV light. The problem, spreading like a virus to make it all even more relevant, had started about two years before, being garden snails proliferating over what poor foliage I have. Digression: A little joke I used on a gardening call-in show was, if I didn't have weeds I wouldn't have any ground cover at all - got a good laugh from the call screener!1

So my scientific method is rigorous, as always, beginning with Googling, the basics, like finding out, "What is the deal with snails, do they eat the plants, but they slime themselves everywhere, not just on living plants but on buildings and all materials." Then testing however many remedies as available. And this is most important: Not giving up until some kind of acceptable outcome is arrived at!

So with the snails, the trials were:
1) Beer in saucers at the bases of the affected plants. Rationale, you know, snails have a Happy Hour, fall into the beer, drown.

2) Buying some kind of powder that lures them, ingestion by them leading to death?

Results: I expected results within a couple of days, and neither of these processes had any discernible effect in that time frame. Reading the instructions more closely, the powder needed to be sprinkled around the plants for a good two weeks or more with re-applications.


******* Decided on my own idea: Picking the snails by hand to throw away in the garbage. Result, *disaster*!1 I assumed that the snails would stay put in the container, didn't think of putting a lid on, and left the works overnight on the kitchen counter for next day disposal. Imagine my horror to find that the snails had CRAWLED OUT of the container and some of them had perched on dinnerware in the drying rack!1 Gross, gross, gross!1

Also gross, a known Lounge Lizard posted a graphic of snails in flagrante delicto, causing eye injury and the sound, "EWwww!1"

******* The ACCEPTABLE OUTCOME: Building on any part of the previous trials that worked, which was the hand-picking into a two liter ex-soda bottle WITH CAP. And here's the GAME CHANGER: Covering the snails in the bottle with BLEACH and letting them soak to death.

Since it was not known how long this would take, plus that the picking went on for several days or here and there over weeks, the pickled snails stayed soaking ------- and here's the rest of Doctor Donald's prescription --------- exposed and boiling in the UV rays of the sun!1

So, the findings, to be published and peer reviewed, are that bleach and UV light *work*!1 CAUTION: When opening the bottle to dump the snail soup, I was not prepared the first time for the FUNKY SMELL!1
___________
FOOTNOTE 1: The scientific control group consisted of the snails that were not picked and therefore lived out their life cycle.
FOOTNOTE 2: I chickened out of posting this in GD, being unwilling to risk potential repercussions.

[In_The_Wind]

1. Should we send flowers or a donation to your favorite charity?

[UTUSN]

2. For the snails? Since you're a Host, would this give me a demerit in GD?

[In_The_Wind]

3. I'm no longer a host.

As for as GD, I took a nosedive over there this week. Too many have forgotten the cruise shop where live carnivorous was found on board 3 weeks after the room was vacant.

[UTUSN]

4. "Host" is like riding a bike!1 And the body of the message is Greek to me!1