In article ,
cloud dreamer wrote:

The Guy wrote:

In article ,
cloud dreamer wrote:


From what I've read, it won't be as effective. Would you not be able to
get at least a season out of the mesh before it starts to tarnish? That
way, you need only clean it with regular tarnish removers every fall,
and reinstall in the Spring. Also, olive oil helps retard the tarnish,
so that would extend its life each season.

I've never used copper mesh myself. I've had great success with the
rough lumber and mulch. I'd be curious to hear of people's experiences
with copper.

..


I've read that you need at least a 3 in. wide strip (solid copper foil)
or the critters will cross it. Don't know about a 5 in. mesh, sounds
like it would work. I'm going to experiment with a 3-4 penny wide
barrier on a low-lying bowl of beer and see if the slugs will cross
that. Beer works great but the results are a bit gross and is more
effective at attracting slugs than snails (I've got both in abundance).
If pennies or copper mesh works I'd probably install it under a ledge
mounted on the edge of my raised beds which are made of 2" x 6" x 4ft
(or 8ft) redwood. I wasn't planning on removing any copper barrier I
install as I live in zone 9b and I plant winter crops. Slugs and snails
are year round around here. Pennies would certainly be cheaper than Cu
foil or mesh.


Come to think of it....is there enough copper in a penny to deter the
slugs? The US penny has only 2.4% copper (though it is the plating).
Curious to know if it works.


Ok, I've done the penny experiment and two concentric rows of touching,
offset pennies (US) around a shallow plastic bowl with a 1/2" of beer on
a flat piece of 15" sq cardboard with the bowl inserted in a hole of the
same size in the cardboard. I layed the whole thing on my gazania bed
which I know has lots of slugs and snails...the result: It works!
There were numerous slug/snail mucus trails on the cardboard but not a
single critter in the beer. Twenty feet away a similar bowl of beer
placed within the gazanias with no barrier had about two dozen dead
slugs and 1 large snail. I would have put another ring of pennies on
the cardboard but I ran out of them, 2 rows seems enough. Btw, 1/3 of
the pennies were shiny, the rest the usual brown tarnish, coins were
chosen and placed randomly.

At 3/4" diameter per penny, I figure 16 pennies per foot and twice that
for two rows or 32 cents per foot. For a 4ft sq raised bed made of
smooth redwood it comes out to 32 x 16 = $5.12 . The Cu mesh sold by
Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com) is 27.5 per foot plus shipping on
the 100' roll($27.50). I'm thinking the pennies may last longer,
although I was thinking that the mesh could be hung vertically on a
ledge in an L-shape that would require critters to try to crawl over
most of both sides of the mesh 5" wide mesh...that would stop them for
sure. There's also the cost of glue going the penny route.

Someone mentioned mulching with cocoa mulch, is this stuff close to 100%
effective in warding off slugs/snails. 90% is not good enough, if one
of those 1"+ snails gets thru my young seedlings are goners...learned
that the hard way...would a 4-6" wide cocoa mulch band around raised
beds be sufficient? Slugs/snails around here have no problem going up
my raised beds as they are only 6" high.

I still haven't decided what to do but need to act soon...any further
comments?

TIA
--
SteveO
I don't brake for FEMA.