"'Mike'" <3d&6d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:pZKdnQnok9e6BbjVRVnyjwA@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Following postings about slugs and snails and copper wire etc., I am
> performing some experiments which gardeners, (that does not include me,
I
> am a non gardener, 'her outdoors' is the gardener) might like to follow.
>
> The Cathodic/Electrolytic Action experiment with two dissimilar metals
> round a pot may follow later.
>
> Mike
Many years ago (about 30+) I read about copper deflecting the onslaught of
slugs. It so happened soon after reading this tidbit of information I
spotted a box of copper tape on the counter of my company 'store' while I
was getting spare fuses for my truck. I asked the fellow what it was for.
He
had no idea nor who ordered it. We paved roads. He said if I wanted it I
could have it. Whoopie! Two dozen lovely 100ft rolls of 2 inch wide copper
'tape'.
I ran a single strip of tape this all around the outside of my wooden
raised
vegetable beds and flower planter boxes. I live in the Pacific NW,
USA.......we have SLUGS! I did this in early spring, just before I
planted.
The first few weeks I picked slugs out of the beds and boxes but I assume
these were already there or hatched from existing eggs. I never saw trails
or evidence of slugs crossing the tape. By mid summer my raised beds and
boxes were slug free. THEN......as the corrosion started covering the tape
(heavy green-bluish stuff) the slugs began to creep over the most heavily
corroded areas. Apparently this insulates the electrifying effect. Problem
easily solved organically. I cleaned the copper bottoms of some of my
cooking pans with tomato juice. I poured tomato juice into a small bucket,
rubbed down the tape using a rag dipped in the juice, hosed off the
residue
and once again the tape was ****ny and repelling slugs. This continued to
work the 15 years I lived there.
One hint about attaching your copper. I used roofing nails and soon saw
that
electrolysis occurred from the metals reacting to each other. It wouldn't
be
long before it corroded through and the tape would fall off. I pulled the
nails, predrilled holes about every 3-4 feet or so, applied a dab of
silicone caulk and inserted a nylon staple type peg. The 'peg' was from a
piece of crap Buttoneer Tool I was given, never used the useless gadget.
My
young son had been using the tool for a "ray gun", had to dig that out of
his toy box. Never throw anything away, never know when you might need it
;)
Val
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