Dear every one,

We germinated many seeds those were collected from various places. Many of them turned out available, well germinated and produced healthy plantlets. In many cases, seeds are often easily germinated. After few days of early germinated stage, we found many plantlets were cut off and the upper cut portions went missing. At first, we though the plants has been eaten by squirrels as there are a lot of them in the campus.

Common tree squirrel at UPM

We were so nervous to see the number of eaten plantlets had increased day by day. On the other hand, the culprit has not yet being confirmed. One day, when I rearranged the position of polybags, I saw a big size of mature snail on the base of polybags. I suddenly feel release to know the real enemy of our germinated plants. By this discovery, regardless the color and size, I see any snail species is potential as pest for plantlets. Therefore, I would like to suggest to keep away the snails from your germination area.

Regular checking on the presence of this snail within the germination site is compulsary.