Talkback: Controlling slugs and snails with copper - Talkback

06/07/2009 at 10:57

Hi we have a house Olive Grove Farm in Italy with 3 walnut trees. Although they start out ok towards the end of the summer (if they are still on the trees, the nusts are all black. Someone told me I can spray with Copper Sulphate solution is this correcct or can you suggest something better.

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06/07/2009 at 12:15

Hi Adam - I use copper tape around the top of my raised beds and it seems to work - I also use a beer trap as a back up just in case - inevitably the grass grows up the side of the beds or a stem overhangs and the odd slug or two gets in - or perhaps they have other ways of breaching the defence ! but touch would the veg hasn't been devaststed by slugs in the past two years. The tape needs renewing - must get round to that.

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06/07/2009 at 21:23

COULD ANYONE TELL ME,WHERE COULD I GET A PRE MADE PLASTIC ROUND POND WIDTH ONLY 20IN,DEPTH 20IN.I HAVE LOOKED ON THE NET..I CAN FIND A POND BUT BIGGER THAN 20IN..WHICH I DONT WANT[SPACE IS A PROBLEM],I WISH TO PUT ANOTHER SMALL POND IN MY GARDEN.....

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06/07/2009 at 22:28

Hi I need advice on a raised bed im makein.I want to grow some climbers onto my garage wall, the raised bed will sit on conceret i'm wondering will this work for me at all or will it become waterlogged. please advise. KK.

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07/07/2009 at 09:28

keelykins - it should work as i did just that many years ago and now have a grape-vine, honeysuckle and an understory of campanulas in my raised bed on concrete. The edging is limestone rock and the soil is over a foot deep. I think the vine, which gives me loads of luscious sweet grapes each year, has probably broken up the concrete now.

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07/07/2009 at 11:18

Hi Adam Well the jury is still out on copper rings and tape (since when it gets tarnished it is no longer viable, and it's expensive). However ... do you have WD40 in your shed? I did a trial this year on 6 pots of hostas and only one got attacked by the wealth of snails that live here. You have to spray once a month but it has proved to be far more successful than that 'garlic liquid' potion I tried as well - all plants well eaten so clearly my snails like a bit of garlic! The makers of WD40 also mention its slug deterrent odour.

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08/07/2009 at 01:42

I have problems with snails, but have found the perfect answer they go on an away day into a nearby field via my catapult. dont know what effect it has on them but they are getting fewer and fewer.

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08/07/2009 at 07:38

Hello Sarahs Pond Life, I think the cheapest and probably best solution to your pond requirement is either a plastic storage crate , available in DIY stores for c. £5, or a heavy duty crate used by house movers, usually blue and much stronger than the storage crate, cost about £10. It is in the ground so cannot be seen, is not expensive, and will tide you over for two or three years. Best

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08/07/2009 at 13:41

o thank-you,but where do i get that crate,i dont know anyone who is moving....

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09/07/2009 at 15:57

SLUGS & SNAILS are a big problem to us gardeners, there are lots of ways to kill them,or at least minimize them, Try sawdust or wet vermiculite around the base of your plants and petroleum jelly round the base and top of your containers...its stick or slip for mr slug.

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09/07/2009 at 16:41

I surround all the plants I can with copper tape and if I run out of tape I use cut up beer cans. The copper tape acts as a deterrent but they can cross it it they really want to - sharp edges and all. I've caught them crawling over fresh sharp tape to get to tulips, and they will gladly find leaf bridges to cross the copper. That said - it does help as they usually are lazy and will go for an unprotected plant instead. I've started using cut up 1L clear plastic bottles as cloches which keeps the slugs off.

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09/07/2009 at 16:46

I have tubs with hostas and this year I have put drip trays under them and I keep them full of water and I have perfect hostas with no damage

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09/07/2009 at 17:28

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.

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09/07/2009 at 18:58

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?

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09/07/2009 at 19:36

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!

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09/07/2009 at 20:23

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.

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09/07/2009 at 21:35

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

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09/07/2009 at 23:52

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!

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10/07/2009 at 06:15

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.

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10/07/2009 at 07:14

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?