Topic: Slug attack and copper

[MOGDENT]

Just a quickie really.

Heard a rumour at the weekend that slugs can be avoided by using copper.

I have raised beds and placing copper strips/tube on top of boards would be very easy................but don't want to bother if it will not work.

All questions I ever ask are always answered by you guys so I put it out there. Will my veg be saved by the copper???????? :-\

Thanks

Mogdent

[ceres]

I sow things that get slug attacks direct into home-made copper rings.  This has enabled me to grow brassicas for the first time.  Slugs live in the soil though so an odd one will still come up inside the ring.  I saw Monty Don doing what you are proposing on GW a while back.  To get round the problem of what is already inside the bed, he watered in nematodes.  But they don't last long so you have to repeat and it gets expensive.

I didn't use slug pellets previously as I didn't like the potential harm to beneficial creatures.  However, the new organic iron-based pellets work a treat and I'm now a convert!

[MOGDENT]

Thanks for that.

As you say I was against the use of pellets. But the organic ones sound great.

Where can I get info/ purchase the pellets?

Mog

[electric landlady]

I've grown flowers in containers with copper tape round the top and this seems to work well in my back yard, which has the highest concentration of snails I've ever known and where everything even a bit snailfriendly gets eaten within minutes. I assume if it repels snails it will repel slugs just as much.

Probably best to try several methods at once though - copper tape, beer traps and the trusty old favourite "pick and squash" technique.

PS you can get organic pellets in Wilkos or most garden centres - they work well too but I don't know if they make the slugs poisonous to birds/hedghogs etc so i try to avoid using them.

[manicscousers]

we bought some from the pound shop,called doff, they were ok, also, aldi, one is called growing success, I think, they're all over the place  ;D
they're safe for animals and children  :)

[ceres]

Yes, it's the Growing Success ones that manics says.  Blue tub, £3.49 in Wilko's.  I use them for the snail population at home and the slugs at the allotment.

[MOGDENT]

Thanks for the help guys.

you're never beaten are you!

Mogdent

[northener]

I'm using copper wire. Its working brilliant on the raised beds bit like an electric fence. I've bared the wire and clipped it around the top of the scaffold boards. Other areas i've made copper rings about 2-3 innch in diameter and placed around seedlings again good but when the plant goes over the ring they get nibbled. I'm a sparkie so its all for free :D