Topic: copper round raised beds

[dirtyfingernails]

read an article in kitchen garden mag about making a cold frame with copper round the bottom to deter slugs - does this work? and if so would it work on raised beds? thought I might have a go at one but have no idea how expensive it might be - anyone tried it?

[Doris_Pinks]

I put copper piping, (odds obtained from my plumber friend) around my runners, seemed to keep them off, mind you I had also surrounded the plants with crushed eggshells as they got my first row I put in >:(
Will be trying it again this year with my delicates! ;D

[tim]

I used a good wipe of 'yellow paraffin' ( cheap) - petroleum jelly - vaseline - on mine this year & had no slugs.

[spacehopper]

Yeah we read that too and were going to build one...til Baz googled for the price of copper sheeting. I can't remember how much it was but it was prohibitive.

[amphibian]

I used a good wipe of 'yellow paraffin' ( cheap) - petroleum jelly - vaseline - on mine this year & had no slugs.

Where do you apply it, round the whole bed?

I am gluing rough sandpaper onto my edging boards.

[BAGGY]

You can get those copper brillo pads from poundland (they look like platelets) and they unravel ok to make a copper razor wire for slugs. Might that be an idea?

[daveandtara]

thats what we do baggy!
we tend to pull the brillo til it makes a do-nut shape then put each one round a seedling. it DEFINATELY works. we have slugs the size of dogs on our plot and only the kohl rabis with brillos on survived in our experiment!
they don't stop any other pests though.
other types of copper is super expensive, one small sheet more than sixty quid :o
brillo pads are certainly the best way to go!
good luck!
Tara xx

[Gardenantics]

Try buying 15mm. copper tube at B&Q, and fit it at the top edge of your raised bed using 90' corners, that you can just push in rather than solder. If you then connect it to an old car battery to one terminal, then the other trminal to a piece of tube pushed into the earth, it will repel all slugs & snails. You can even recharge using a small solar panel. It works.

Brian