. This was rather suspenseful...ha. Thanks so much for the tip. Previously I was only able to save a few stems by wrapping foil around them, this could be used in more places.
This did not work for me. I put 4 pieces of tape on a plate and to make a square making the snail have to cross the tape. Well, the snail made it to the foil tape and turned and went straight down the length of one side. I couldnt believe it ... Everyones talking about this working, didnt anyone test it ? I noticed in this video there was a lot of water on this. Mine was mildly wet. So I tried this again and the snail just was not phased. At this point and reading the below I dont know what to think. But I wouldnt trust my plants to this!
Do a time lapse video as they are billions of videos to watch on RU-vid to watch, a video like this can convey info in 2 minutes,.... Will not be effective after copper tarnishes! Best to energize it with a 9 volt battery.
I tried this with two strips and it didnt work on one snail at all. It seemed to stop a snail from going past it, but thats not good enough. I bought my one from Robert Dyas and the cashier said customers keep coming back to buy it. I may use slug pellets.
I ended up cutting my hand when I used this. Please everyone, wear gloves, even if its just dishwashing gloves. Copper tape is sharp. I also recommend to find a straight edge to work with on a pot to keep it straight.
Don't know how you managed to turn the slug away. The CAMasterGardener channel (from the University of California) has a video of a test they did of the effectiveness of copper strips on slugs and snails. The slugs were not repelled but the snails were. Take a look sometime.
Easy to check it out. Just visit CAMasterGardener and see for yourself. Since they are UC affiliated, the information presented on the channel is all science-based. Some good stuff there for gardeners.
two strips are far more effective than one strip- two strips create a differential in static voltage so when the snail sits on the first one and then contacts the second circuit it feels the zap and is repelled.
@マックスシュッツェ I'm an electrical engineer and I can honestly say, without any doubt, that is absolute, unadulterated nonsense. NO, it doesn't create a "differential in static voltage", whatever the hell that is. --- DISSIMILAR --- METALS (i.e. one copper and one zinc strip) would create a voltage potential between them, if you had them electrically connected, but copper, alone, won't do shit. If you did zinc and copper tape, then the slug would definitely feel a zap every time it was touching both metals at the same time.
A bit late but since nobody has responded, I figured I would. I did a couple searches and I work in metals sales so I have some professional background as well. So some pennies minted in '82 are ~95% zinc, so they wouldn't work. There are some pennies from before '82 that are questionable. But every other penny is 95% copper in composition. Copper is a softer metal, so it's alloyed with tin and zinc for strength and improved corrosion resistance. This copper tape that the OP used is (I'm assuming) 110 grade (99% copper) as it is very commonly sold in very thin strips (.02"+). That considered, I highly doubt the 5% variance in alloy would bother slugs less. All things considered, pennies would work just fine. Good idea to any artists and a fitting question considering your profile name. Cheers.
No, it did not work so now I just use the slug killer but only spinkle a little. Try not to let it get wet though bec then it will mold and get in your garden which is not a good thing.
Just what is the point in spending money on tape, just for the slug to go away and eat something else in your garden? A 12 bore shotgun is best, it buries them at the same time lol.
You know what ACTUALLY works? Salt. The reason sometimes copper foil works is due to salt forming on the surface, when acidic muddy water overflows the pots and forms salts on the foil.
Salt goes away with rain as you can see it’s very wet in the video. This is clearly preventing the slug from crossing, and if it is salt on tapei doubt it because again, very wet. Great video great test. I’ll buy some copper tape here pretty soon.
...but I've seen them walk over a bunch of copper coins then straight over a thin copper wire so now I'm confused. Hmmm... maybe you just got lucky or maybe snails don't like shiny objects.
Well, if by "Copper Coins," you mean Pennies, those things only have a thin copper shell (because copper is more valuable than the penny itself nowadays). So maybe it's thick bands of 100% copper that steer them away?
You're probably right but I'm still not sure pure copper does much anyway as I recently bought 3 inch tall pieces and the snails still nibbled plant leaves when I checked in the morning (they are nighttime ninjas). I wish I had a camera setup that could record 12-14 hours overnight so I could see how they're doing it (maybe they dig under the copper barrier like moles?).
I dig the disco-funk music, really cool. You should put the slugs out of their misery and sprinkle some salt on them and watch them groove to the beat.
so this is what people meant when they said "copper makes snails fly away when they touch it". I thought they spring away and fly like 5 feet into the air.... I feel so lied to
it works by the copper reacting with the traces of metal ions in slug slime to produce a small electric charge conducted by the slug's body. The slug probably feels it as an unpleasant static tingling / stinging.
