About Us

The Snail Jail was the invention of 90-year-old Bill Miller, longtime proprietor of Ironsgate Ranch in Moorpark California. Miller, who grows organic lemons, blueberries and avocados on his ranch. Studying his enemy, he knew that snails' sensitive skin means they dislike certain textures and experimented with different materials, creating his first prototype out of wire that snails would naturally avoid. There were problems with scaling up that model – including raw material costs, rust, etc. – so once he realized he could translate his rough-textured model into a plastic mold capable of functioning in all kinds of weather – he knew he was onto something. Bill’s storied life includes a background in engineering, so he kept tinkering with his invention, adding a wish-list of features that would goose up the Snail Jail's value to his fellow farmers. One of the essential components of farming is water-distribution, so Miller incorporated spaghetti hose ports to solve longtime irrigation challenges. The design of the spaghetti hose ports allow water to be evenly and efficiently sprayed 360 degrees around the tree but away from the trunk, allowing a more consistent quality and predictable yield for each tree. Plus it solved the ongoing problem of trampled sprinklers between trees from pickers, pruners and farm laborers.

But the final innovation was to make The Snail Jail expandable – up to 19” so the device could remain like a snail sentinel on the tree, keeping snails away year after year – even as his trees continued to grow. Plus the device doesn’t actually kill the snails – just keeps them from feasting on his lemons, pockmarking otherwise pristine crops until they're only fit for juicing, reducing hard-earned profits to pennies on the dollar. Miller remains proud that his pesticide-free device means organic farmers like himself can use The Snail Jail and stay current with consumers’ buying trends. “It allows me to create acre-after-acre of pristine, unblemished citrus by maintaining rind integrity, staving off snail-related diseases. “For the past five years I’ve used The Snail Jail on all my lemon trees with great success and my neighbors kept bugging me to manufacture it so they could use them on their trees too.” Miller finally got around to patenting the device and set up manufacturing and distribution right here in the USA “so my fellow farmers don’t have to deal with the headaches and costs to keep those things off their trees,” he said with his signature grin. “It lasts for years there is no maintenance - especially compared to every other option.” The bottom line? "It works."