fighting nibblers with diatomaceous earth (gulp) kitty litter

[Preface: when you live outside the major consumer markets, and neither Amazon nor normal mail can reliably deliver to you, it can sometimes be frustrating to hear about all these magic bullet products that will never, ever reach where you live.
When you glimpse one of these rare birds, it can be hard to resist buying out the entire stock in your glee, since it is most likely something you`ll never see again.]

So I have a snail problem. I've been trying to find DE for years, without success. Every so often when I travel I bring a small baggie back in my luggage, but random white powder and international flights are not a great mix, you can imagine.

Recently in the store I happened upon a bag of imported kitty litter that contains DE. I grabbed it thinking that I could probably find something interesting to do with it. The ingredients allegedly are just clay and DE.
From what I understand, the advantage of DE is its "spikiness", and if it's coated in clay i imagine that is reduced.
Do you think it would be worth sprinking some around my chinese cabbage and other snail magnet plants? Would it be better to dissolve and strain the whole mess and make a spray?
Or is there some brilliant use for DE kitty litter that I've never considered? (we have no snowy walkways, alas)

I suspect that the clay will be a problem. It is rather unlikely that the litter would be higher in the DE than the clay and clay can be its own problem with slugs. Also DE while great for something’s (like aphids) it  has never worked on slugs or snails for me.

I live on the Oregon coast so slugs and snails are a normal here. Ducks have been my best defense. A brand called Sluggo uses iron in bait that the slugs eat then just go dormant and then die has also been helpful. Broken oyster shells are also good at the base of plants if you can find something like that. The other thing that has worked is if you have any pots or beds you can put a bare copper wire around it and they can’t pass.

We can get one kind of Snail Poison (i can't recall what is in it but it's covered with warnings, so I suppose the Toxic Gick level is high).

Clay is the problem with slugs, eh. My soil is almost entirely clay (laugh, cry).

Thanks!  

Tereza Okava wrote:We can get one kind of Snail Poison (i can't recall what is in it but it's covered with warnings, so I suppose the Toxic Gick level is high).

Clay is the problem with slugs, eh. My soil is almost entirely clay (laugh, cry).

Thanks!  

Yeah some of the slug poisons are really really dangerous. Sluggo is the only one that I know of that is safe for organic gardens. Beer traps and paper tubes from things like toilet paper can be used as traps to catch them but they need to be checked first thing in the morning. I hope you can find something that works for you.

I make a home made DIY slug biat which seems to attract and drown small slugs (attract but not keep the big slugs). Now I am trying Nemotodes. I feel your pain. I can not find the product to buy anywhere in USA.
Do you know about slug-killing nemotodes? If they are native in your soil you can grow your own.
I want to learn more about slug-killing nemotodes,  if they are native in my (USA) soil I can grow my own (a cost saving vs buying NemoSlug even if I could find it - which I can not). Here is the thread I started on it - with the How to DIY video link, it may be worth a try.
https://permies.com/t/142460/DIY-Slug-Killing-Nemotodes
also search Sluggo here on permies. I just read someone making a slug compost tea experiment.  Or look at my comments in my profile maybe?