Copper

[Lumpy]

I think I should have put this in the pests section but here goes anyway....

I was thinking (which can be an achievement for me) about copper and slugs, snails. I know that copper tape can help protect pots and plants from these little garden helpers but.....

what about copper paints? I found this site
multiseason antifouling. 10 years protection hard wearing copper filled epoxy resin copper antifoul | Coppercoat

and thought about using a copper rich paint to do some lines around the outside of my raised beds and pots - I suppose even painting tyres with it is not impossible so as the tape is so expensive what do you think about the possibility of paint?

[maverick451]

To be honest I have found copper to be totally ineffective, ive used tape and even copper pipe.

The only think that was worked for me really well is night time patrols.

[Guest]

Someone mentioned copperslip grease not that long ago. They didn't know if it was the copper or grease, but I liked the idea of 2 in 1 and it is not particularly expensive so am giving that a bash. I have only tried it on a tray with a few odd dahlia seedlings and other bits and pieces and they are untouched but I have not fully tested it yet.

[Nicos]

Only one way to find out!

Why not give it a go and do a comparison with tape and nothing?
It'd be very interesting to see the paint results- I think if it worked as well or almost as well as tape I'd be more likely to use it!

[Jay-ell]

You may have to sand or burnish the surface of the paint to expose the copper as all the particles will be coated with the epoxy.


From what I understand the slug is supposed to get an electric shock when it's slime touches the copper. From my high school chemistry I seem to recall you needed two dissimilar metals and an electrolyte to form a battery so I'm not sure how copper on its own will work. It may be a totally different mechanism that works but I don't know - to be honest I was more interested in rapid oxidisation and exothermic reactions - which, whilst I'm sure you could blow up a slug, would leave your cabbages in tatters.

[starloc]

I have used copper and it works, stick on copper strips, doesnt stop all slugs and snails but cuts numbers down , i wrap it around the trunks of plants and on the edge of the pot , so now so they some times get past one strip but don`t go on the second
I make copper filled epoxy and it doesn`t work for this as the resin is coating the copper, you need to sand it rough after it sets and then its still far lower copper exposed than strip copper

you need to clean the copper often with sand paper to keep oxide off or the snails will climb over it, so I dont use it anymore

I stamp on snails , the neighbours eat them as they find them....

[Jungle Jane]

the neighbours eat them as they find them....

My stomachs turning as I keep thinking back to this quote,please what does this mean? I hope your neighbours are birds & hedgehogs? I've got pictures of humans & raw slug in my head at the moment.....

[PyreneesPlot]

I use rings cut from old copper pipe for things like aubergines, chillies, peppers, brassicas when they are first planted out. The slugs seem to favour the unprotected plants but if everything has a ring then there is not effect. Bit like being the only house in the street with a burglar alarm
Mulching with grass has helped hugely but night patrols have had the biggest impact for me.

[Jay-ell]

My stomachs turning as I keep thinking back to this quote,please what does this mean? I hope your neighbours are birds & hedgehogs? I've got pictures of humans & raw slug in my head at the moment.....

Escargots in Garlic and Parsley Butter : Recipes : Cooking Channel

[Valleyman]

If anyone needs some more slugs to snack on I make a nice slug kebab with a sharpened stick at least a couple of times a week.

Regarding copper tho. I've never been convinced. It maybe works in isolation if they have lots of other things to eat. Maybe. But try and protect everything and they seem to overcome their fears pretty quickly.

[Jungle Jane]

Escargots in Garlic and Parsley Butter : Recipes : Cooking Channel

Yes cooked but it sounds like they eat them as they go round the garden,they're eaten as found? I hope they do cook them.

[starloc]

My stomachs turning as I keep thinking back to this quote,please what does this mean? I hope your neighbours are birds & hedgehogs? I've got pictures of humans & raw slug in my head at the moment.....

No.....not a hedgehog...or bird.....

Honestly....

Oooooh its a snail.....bang on your scythe....off comes the shell and into the mouth it goes.........

with a slurp.....

slugs seem to be collected with more snails to be cooked , but in the garden its raw......

I dont eat much from the garden....not much at all in fact! , maybe I should....but that snails or slugs is just going toooooooo far!

I moved to Bulgaria to eat food from the garden so I may start eating veg or food of some type......not snails though..... no chance I would eat them anywhere..... cooked, raw, wriggling or still.....

its disgusting!

[starloc]

The best copper I have found for slugs and snails is swarf off a lathe, when I am running a bar of copper in the lathe I collect all the curly sharp swarf , the combination of sharp bits and copper makes nothing cross a mulch of bark containing copper sharp bits of swarf, and it looks ok as well

[Jungle Jane]

Oooooh its a snail.....bang on your scythe....off comes the shell and into the mouth it goes.........

I can imagine it! That's amazing & disgusting at the same time! Interesting what some people do though.

I use copper tape,I think it helps,but I have needed to re-apply it,last years tape doesn't look good enough & there's blue paint on it,I haven't painted anything blue.

[Penellype]

I can imagine it! That's amazing & disgusting at the same time! Interesting what some people do though.

I use copper tape,I think it helps,but I have needed to re-apply it,last years tape doesn't look good enough & there's blue paint on it,I haven't painted anything blue.

Copper is quite a reactive metal and will oxidize in air, especially if wet. The copper oxide is greeny blue and is called verdigris Verdigris - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You may be able to clean the oxide off if you rub the tape gently with a cloth, depends a bit on how brittle the tape has become.

Hmm, Wikipedia says its copper carbonate. Always thought it was oxide - you live and learn!