According to research published by the Royal Horticultural Society, gardeners who use eggshells or copper tape to discourage slugs and snails from consuming their veggies are wasting their time. Gastropods performed the same harm to lettuces that were protected using five natural techniques – eggshells, copper tape, horticultural grit, pine bark mulch, and wood pellets – as they did to lettuces that were not protected. 

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At the RHS field research center in Wisley, these approaches were tested on 108 lettuces sown in pots and raised beds. The leaves of each harvested lettuce were inspected after six weeks to determine damage. Slugs were shown to be more sensitive to lettuce grown in the ground, with 5.7 percent of each lettuce consumed on average. In comparison, only 0.2 percent of plants in pots produced a harvest, despite the benefit.

For years, I’ve wanted to use copper tape as a way to halt or at least prevent slugs and snails from harming my plants. Copper is supposed to resist these slimy destroyers by delivering them a tiny static charge when they travel through it. So, this year, I’ve resolved to give it a go. Continue reading to learn about my results. Gardeners must have had the worst year ever last year. Slug and snail populations exploded throughout the rainy summer and autumn. 

During harvest, my allotment plot was completely depleted, and I brought in nothing. I was first turned off by the price – around $5 for roughly 4 meters of copper tape on a 4-centimeter roll from various garden stores. However, I discovered a couple of vendors providing identical goods at a fraction of the price on the internet. 

For 16 meters, I spent about $8. It’s always a smart option to search around there for copper tape. I began wrapping copper tape around the base of my greenhouse staging in March. I had around 20 seedling trays to safeguard. Later, I wrapped the same tape over flower pots and troughs, which I used to put flowers and vegetables that I knew slugs and snails would love to eat.

I needed to make sure anything I used to stick the copper on was clean and dry. It has an adhesive quality that is quite comparable to duct tape. Self-adhesive copper tape, on the other hand, is incredibly durable. It resembles thick, high-quality oven foil in appearance. I could glue it on if you need it to be more adherent. It appears to stay in place, though. Now that it’s the end of July, I’m pleased to announce that the copper tape has a very high success rate! Hostas, pak choi, French marigolds, and larkspur are among the plants I’m cultivating this year. 

Slugs have always been attracted to these plants in my garden in the past. They all appear to be in good health thus far, with no symptoms of harm. A single lonely snail was found in one of my pots, but no harm was done. Copper tape is highly good at establishing a barrier between your valuable plants and slugs and snails, based on my experiences this year. For the majority of hungry Snails, the static charge they get is sufficient. I’ve read opposing points of view on the internet, but I can only work with what I’ve seen with my own eyes.