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I have many problems with snails and slugs in my garden. When I want to plant something I usually grow it far away enough from the garden until the plant is big enough to support some "attacks".

I was quite surprised today when I found 2 slugs and one snail in a plant, around 4 meters away from the garden (grass and other plants) and that is actually hanging in a wall support. I don't think they came with the plant so they had to spot it from the garden, walk 4 meters in pavement, risking their lifes, climb the wall, and then down the support.

This makes me think that I should reassess where I make my seed plot place and makes me wonder how far can they see or how do they find plants like this?

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  • Here's an interesting article, although it doesn't expressly answer your question: animals.mom.me/snails-eyes-10446.html
    – Brenn
    Commented Jun 8, 2016 at 16:51
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    Note that they also have olfactory (i.e. smelling) organs (rhinophores).
    – dakab
    Commented Jun 8, 2016 at 17:08
  • @dakab Your comment looks to me like the makings of a valid answer, as the last part of the question asks how, other than seeing, do they find plants. If you want to write it, I think it would be helpful and on-topic.
    – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
    Commented Jun 8, 2016 at 21:55
  • @Sue: Thank you for encouraging me. I’d really love to give an appropriate answer. Unfortunately—as a non-native speaker—I don’t feel like I’m up to it. Not if it’s ought to satisfy a minimal (layman’s) scientific standard. However, there’s an extensive article on the sensory organs of gastropods.
    – dakab
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 9:55
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    @Nic I understand your point and you're probably right. Regarding beer, I tried making traps and got one or two slugs a day - Which is very low given the amount I have in plants. I gave up on that when I realized that the slugs were actually drinking more than me :)
    – nsn
    Commented Jun 10, 2016 at 22:45

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A page about snail vision.

  • They have better eyesight than other animals in their group.
  • They can avoid larger obstacles.
  • They can't focus they eye.

Vision is not the most important requirement in terrestrial gastropods, because they are mainly nocturnal animals. From Wikipedia.

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  • Nocturnal and already there hiding till they come out at night. Put a wide board down with a little gap underneath, turn it over after a couple days. It will tell you what kind of slug/snail population you already have before planting.
    – Fiasco Labs
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 17:03

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