Copper Slug Tape Multibuy 3 x 4m rolls

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If you’re using any of these five home remedies to deter slugs and snails, consider carefully whether they are making enough difference to be worth the investment. As existing lab studies have shown some of the barriers work, and as other experiments by Hayley hinted that copper tape could be effective, she’s not ruling the barriers out completely. She hopes to run the study again ona different slug population and different soil type at RHS Garden, Harlow Carr in 2019. The most humane way to get rid of slugs? Hayley said: “Collect the slugs by hand - the best time to catch them is at night, and either release them at a local wood or pop them in your freezer before binning them Lettuces planted in the ground were found to be more susceptible to slugs, with 5.7% of each eaten on average. This compares to just 0.2% of those in pots, which, despite this advantage, yielded less crop.

According to the RHS, some slug species have clear benefits for gardeners, such as the leopard slug, which eats fungi and rotting material, helping recycle garden nutrients. The RHS also plans to test alternative control methods, such as beer traps, and is currently working with BASF to investigate ways to combine scientifically proven control methods into pest management strategies. Help us do more research You may be correct. As I said I am not a chemist. Although I’m not sure that ‘Conducting current’ is the same as ‘exchanging an electrical charge’. But who really cares. The issue is whether or not it works and if so, under what conditions. I imagine barrier efficacy might depend on the width of the barrier and skinnier tapes might be less effective barriers than 5″ of mesh. I have yet to try using any other type of mesh (steel, aluminum) but if I get bored that might be a fun experiment. I also imagine in addition to whatever theoretical chemical/electrical property copper has that slugs don’t like, there is likely a mechanical component because irregular wire loops might be irritating to ooze across and there may be some variability in effect based on the size/configuration of the wire in the mesh.It’s that time of year when slugs and snails creep out of the woodwork ( quite literally) and look for sources of food after their winter hibernation. My alliums are currently being ravaged and I’m out in the garden with a torch at 10pm on most evenings removing the hungry little beasts. Last year I conducted some tests to disprove the value of egg shells, pistachio nut shells, hair and chilli powder in preventing slugs and snails from eating our plants, all were easily crossed by snails. Young chopped brambles were a surprise snail barrier success though. My criticism of your comments on ‘Electrical current’ as it related to the use of copper is that it represented a deductive approach not an empirical one. Things often fail or succeed for reasons other than we anticipate. There is no substitute for testing. Encourage their natural predators into your garden by creatinga haven for wildlife, such as birds and frogs. Efficacy and environmental fate of copper sulphate applied to Australian rice fields for control of the aquatic snail Isidorella newcombi

As members of the Mollusca group of animals, slugs and snails use Hemocyanin proteins in their blood to transport oxygen around their bodies ( whereas we mammals use iron based Hemoglobin). These Hemocyanin proteins contain two copper atoms. This makes all molluscs very sensitive to the ingestion of additional quantities of copper. Too much copper and it prevents oxygen from moving around their bodies and they eventually die, unless they flee to safety. The green patina developed on copper metal over time is a copper carbonate salt and could be toxic. While this research hasn’t shed any light on what you can do to obstruct slugs and snails, it has at least shown that these barriers can be unreliableand ineffective. I am not a chemist but guess it is due to some kind of ion exchange or electron donation. My guess is that something similar is taking place between the bright copper and the molluscs. Roofing metals are chosen for the job because their oxides adhere to their surface and are chemically inert under normal atmospheric condition. Knowledge of this fact is what lead me to triy the experiment in the first place.I’ve tested solid copper rings which I made from some spare copper roofing strip. Did it work? Yes and No; the difference is oxidation. After tending to the crop for weeks Hayley harvested the lettuces and removed the leaves one by one. She then rated the damage visually and useda leaf area meter for the first time,to record the damage in every square cm of the leaves. Jeff Gillman, one of the Garden Professors, commented “When I’ve tested copper the slugs seemed to have a slight preference for not crossing it, but would if that was what they need to do to get where they were going. I’d call it a mild repellant” . I think this is a good summary. Slugs will not go out of their way to cross copper in tape form, but it is not a fool proof solution. These methods were tested on 108 lettuces sown in pots and raised beds at the RHS field research facility in Wisley. After six weeks, the leaves of each harvested lettuce were examined to calculate damage. My older planters have 6 month old copper mesh barriers and I have yet to notice any obvious decrease in effectiveness with oxidation/dirt, but if there down the road maybe I can mitigate it with a firm wire brush scrub.