"jww" wrote in message
...
my neighbour says if i put my 'slug chewed' plant in a pot and then stand
the pot in a saucer and smear the saucer edge with Vaseline, the slugs
wont cross over the vaseline. any truth in this please? or any other
recommendations of what arrangement to stand the pot in please? thanks

No idea about that but I saw the copper ring barrier advertised in an
unsolicited brochure we received.

Spouse uses copper sheet to make lanterns so I asked him to make me a few
such rings just to see what would happen. He was very sceptical (I was a
little too) but did make some.

I transplanted lettuce seedlings into the greenhouse border using six rings
(one on each plant). Slugs have been a terrible scourge of lettuce in the
past, this time the plants haven't been touched and they're thriving.

I planted some tiny brassica seedlings in the open, using the rings. They
haven't been touched.

I put some rings round the already growing - and slug eaten - runner beans.
They have recovered and there's no more slug damage.

I used them on small tomato seedlings, they weren't touched. When the plants
got to 8" I removed the rings and used them on other plants.

There are plenty of slug trails round all these sites.

I'm convinced, more importantly so is Spouse. He's ordering another sheet of
copper tomorrow without being asked. The rings will last more than a human
lifetime and will stack for storage. They are no danger to any animals or
birds, unlike pellets (which we won't use anyway, growing our vegetables
organically and having free range bantams). When they're new and shiny they
look attractive, as they dull they are almost invisible - he made some from
old copper cylinders to start with.

I wouldn't buy any though - they're very expensive and we might not have
enough life left to make them worthwhile. Younger people would benefit from
them but copper is easy to cut so you could make your own.

HTH

Mary

Mary