And it is a mesh, which constantly redirects snails and slugs away from your plants. They have to make degree turns over and over to slime their way to your garden beds. This exposes it to more copper so it can produce less slime and it is more likely to turn around. Support the mesh with little stakes at 1-foot 30 cm intervals. Moist soil offsets the effects of copper exposure. The more copper snails and slugs have to climb up and over, the more likely they are to leave your plants alone.
Curl the top edge of the mesh outward so snails and slugs will naturally fall back to the ground. Copper mesh barriers work best when they are dry. There are times you really need foil instead of mesh for slug and snail protection in your garden, like around your potted plants. Foil dries quickly. It can be used decoratively, especially on potted plants. It gives first class results if used in double-wide strips. Click here to check out the best prices for Copper Foil Tape on Amazon ad.
A major benefit is that the bracelet expands with the growing plant for protection all year long. But make sure the mesh extends completely around the plant, leaving no gap between the two ends of the coil. Click here to find out if it is in stock on Amazon ad. Slug and snail barriers only work if there are no slugs and snails inside your planting beds when you install them. To make sure your plantings are snail-and-slug-free, you may need to use baits or killers first.
Download your Free Garden Planner today. And while there is no official scientific explanation, there are many quite similar theories:. Slugs and snails hate copper because it causes a harmless electric shock-like reaction when they come into contact with it, so they crawl away. We, and all other mammals, have iron in our blood [ haemoglobin ].
It enables us to have our own independent magnetic field, anchored on our blood. Slugs and snails do not have iron in their blood. Their blood contains haemocyanin , based on copper. This means that they do not have an independent magnetic field. I find copper strips around veg beds and pots to be a fairly effective deterrent.
Organic and sustainable gardeners know that using copper in gardening repels slugs and snails without introducing harmful chemicals to the landscape. Slugs hate copper. When their slime touches copper, it gives them an electric shock. With that in mind, I would say copper provides some protection against certain slugs and snails.
Conclusion: We watched lots of different kinds of slugs and snails try to climb into pots with copper barriers that were 5mm, 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, 25mm, 30mm, 35mm, 40mm and 45mm wide left to right.
While several attempts were made, only one snail successfully crossed the thinnest barrier. This tells me, if a copper barrier is too thin, a large slug or snail can arch up and pass without touching the copper tape.
It started on the normal copper, then slithered to the tarnished copper and spent a significant amount of time attempting to cross this oxidised barrier.
This leads me to believe, the more tarnished a piece of copper becomes the easier it is to cross. And with that in mind, I recommend keeping copper barriers clean and shiny. Conclusion: This video compares copper tape, shiny copper pennies and tarnished copper pennies left to right.
After the previous video, I had assumed the tarnished pennies may be passable but the shiny pennies would not. So, while some people recommend creating a protective barrier with pennies, I do not.
I was surprised to see how easily slugs and snails managed to cross these copper coin barriers. And although several attempts were made to cross the copper tape barrier, none were successful. However, as you saw, those that tried to climb the PET-coated copper succeeded. This must be because they are no longer in direct contact with raw copper, and the PET coating is a protective buffer.
And again, we saw that if two pots are place too close together,. Here are the most common ways to use it:. However, with so many natural remedies available you really have no need to use toxic slug and snail killer pellets. I also discourage you from pouring salt on a slug or snail, since it harms and sometimes kills plants.
Here are our top tips and home remedies to get rid of slugs and snails:. Place a deep container or the bottom half a bottle in the ground and fill it with unwanted beer. If you speak nicely to your local landlord, they may let you take their barrel dregs or drip trays. In a similar vein, you can buy wool pellets that biodegrade over time and protect plants from slugs and snails.
If you have a summer BBQ or winter log burning stove, save your ashes and scatter them around the base of your seedlings in a nice, wide barrier. Collect the spiky leaves and arrange them around your plants to make it difficult for slimy critters to pass. Collect unwanted eggshells from your kitchen and scatter round the base of plants as a natural slug repellent.
So, if you have a pet dog that malts or live near a sheep field where you can pull unwanted wool off a fence, save it and lay it around the base of your plants. It makes for a brilliant organic slug and snail repellent. I bought a 25' roll, but would recommend shorter pieces to better set it up flush on the ground. Good luck and let me know! Love4Bugs , May 28, The other thing that works wonders is a pair of guineafowl. Your yard will be pest free in two days, and they won't go after the plants.
I've found copper to be very effective against slugs and snails, but I buy a fine mesh about 5" tall and stretchable, that I can flex easily around the corners of my beds. I think Lee Valley Veritas was where I was buying it I tried copper pipes but this is soo much better, since they'd have to climb it to get at the plants.
Messages: 92 Likes Received: 0 Location: los angeles. I have had good luck with copper. I used it around pots but it gets expensive I use the rolls that I buy in garden store or catalogs I have found that diatomaceous earth around the seedlings does protect them. Since I water with a drip system and it doesn't rain often in Los Angeles I can don't need to reapply often I am also over a canyon and carry buckets full of snail and slugs down the hill. I know it is useless and I take the same ones back every day.
JCardina , May 30, Messages: 28 Likes Received: 0 Location: Vancouver west side. I have collected up to 20 per peel. Orange peels also work. Bob Vancouver west side. Ok, tried the copper trick. We found a roll of copper strapping at the hardware store. It's flexible, about a half inch wide and is not coated with anything, it's bare copper. I made a corral out of it about a foot across and connected at the open end, walked down the trails in our back property and immediately came across a big green banana slug.
I tossed the ring over the slug so he was trapped inside. He continued on his way, came to the copper ring and slimed right over it like it was nothing.
I put it in front of him to block him and he checked it out for a second then crawled right over it. So copper has zero effect on our large banana slugs we have here on Vancouver Island. To summarize: Sharp gravel - no effect. Seaweed - no effect other than they love to eat the stuff. Copper - no effect. Wood mulch sawdust or shredded mulch - no effect. We have millions of slugs here I can test anything but I won't pour salt on them because I think that's cruel. Also I can't use salt around my plants for obvious reasons.
Any other suggestions? I had thought the idea with copper wire was to used it to make an actual electric fence, with a battery. Has anyone here tried that? Ha fantastic! How generous of you. Saving us time effort and much needed cash.. I too love anything with Monty Don and sobbed last night after watching Gardeners World to hear Nigel had passed away. Thank you for this Tracy. Thanks for taking the time to do this experiment and share the results. I was just about to buy cheap copper tape but will look at the guitar tape instead.
Thanks again and happy gardening! Great stuff. My plants are loving it, and no more blue pellets!! I sprayed everything…fence,wall,plant lightly , ground. The foliage seemed unaffected, but all else had failed so now its established fingers crossed for springtime. Greenfly too. What you have to do is purchase a few quids worth of copper nuts and bolts or workshop offcuts, then open up some 12 bore cartridges and replace the shot, with the copper pieces… One shot, at a range of 1 to 2 inches will repel ANY slug.
That way I should be able to make copper mats of any size or shape required. What percentage should it be at least? Do you mean the percentage of the copper itself? What brand and online store would you recommend going to? Many thanks. Thanks SO much for this.
Will try this!
0コメント