"'Mike'" wrote in message
news
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 shiny 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