Copper tape certainly helps, but you can't guarantee the slimy 'orrible slugs and snails won't cross it at all. I've got copper circles round my bean poles, and I'm growing lettuce and other salad crops in troughs, with copper tape round the outside. Having said that, I'm now trying nematodes, and suddenly all the slugs appear to have disappeared! Not the snails though, as they don't live in the soil like slugs, they don't seem to be affected by the nematodes.
Hi i've a problem with wasps - have just found quite a few wasps entering an old tree stump that is underground next to the raised veg patch. HELP! Do we panic and try to get rid of it or will they die off in the winter?
Hi I've recently taken over a new bit of abandoned garden & have made two raised veg beds using old tyres (two tyres high). As yet no slugs or snails have climbed them. Maybe an idea for others? the local garage is ony too pleased to let me take the tyres!
Hi Adam Copper tape does seem to work around raised beds, for a cheaper alternative I tried stripping lengths of electric wire and stapling the bare copper wire around the the edges,this also seemed to work.Another solution I discovered was course sandpaper cut into 2 inch strips and stick those around the walls of the bed.
Hi slug battlers I have found that my most precious hostas, which I grow in pots, are protected by placing the pots on coppers coated feet. So far so good as long as there are no overhanging leafs from other plants. I also use copper rings, but they can work out expensive, and copper tape. A friend tells me she religiously puts crushed egg shells around her plants, it is cheaper as long as you don't mind eating all those eggs for breakfast etc
I used to use Fishmeal fertiliser put in a ring around plants for keeping slugs off. However, I went to NZ and when I returned (23 years later!) I found that this was no longer available - only in combination with blood and bone. I presume the salt content was what stopped the slugs. The Fishmeal plus B&B does not seem to work. I don't know if the Fishmeal not being available is another interference by the EU but it wouldn't surprise me!
Having recently moved to Normandie in France, I was concerned that my overcrowded pot of hostas would fall victim to the many slugs which reside in my garden. In the UK I was always successful with copper tape around the pot (I have used copper tape for about five years) but now had come the time to divide said hostas into four larger pots. I brought with me some rolls of tape (have been unable to find tape here)Each pot now has copper tape around it and stands on slate chippings on the drive to the house. So far so good no slugs or snails. A combination of slate chippings and copper tape seem to be working well and the hostas are flowering and thriving.
I've put copper tape around my pots of sweet peppers. Seemed to work, until I found the other day, the Indiana Jones of the slug world munching on my first ever pepper. A one off I thought but found another yesterday [not the same one...don't ask] Anyone else found daredevil slugs?
Be careful with copper as it is known to kill plants and trees if it comes in contact with the plant or root. Trees can be killed with a copper nail inserted.I once nearly lost a lovely fushia plant as work men had pushed a bit of unwanted copper pipe into the pot it was in.I couldn't hink why it was dying until I discovered it and removed it.
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I've recently taken over a new bit of abandoned garden & have made two raised veg beds using old tyres (two tyres high). As yet no slugs or snails have climbed them. Maybe an idea for others? the local garage is ony too pleased to let me take the tyres!
Copper tape does seem to work around raised beds, for a cheaper alternative I tried stripping lengths of electric wire and stapling the bare copper wire around the the edges,this also seemed to work.Another solution I discovered was course sandpaper cut into 2 inch strips and stick those around the walls of the bed.
I have found that my most precious hostas, which I grow in pots, are protected by placing the pots on coppers coated feet. So far so good as long as there are no overhanging leafs from other plants. I also use copper rings, but they can work out expensive, and copper tape. A friend tells me she religiously puts crushed egg shells around her plants, it is cheaper as long as you don't mind eating all those eggs for breakfast etc
In the UK I was always successful with copper tape around the pot (I have used copper tape for about five years) but now had come the time to divide said hostas into four larger pots. I brought with me some rolls of tape (have been unable to find tape here)Each pot now has copper tape around it and stands on slate chippings on the drive to the house. So far so good no slugs or snails. A combination of slate chippings and copper tape seem to be working well and the hostas are flowering and thriving.
Anyone else found daredevil slugs?