[TheSpartacat]

Someone sent me this video about how to keep slugs off your raised bed...
Made me laugh hard, but apparently it WORKS!!

Has anyone tried this before??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ8RFlR0mD4
 

[NASH]

That was amusing I wish you could just 9 volt the soil in general.

[8doubles]

It was a bit wrong to zap the leopard slug he/she eats other slugs at least some of the time.

[TheSpartacat]

It was a bit wrong to zap the leopard slug he/she eats other slugs at least some of the time.

Ah but no slugs were permanently harmed in the experiment. "Toasty" the Leopard slug was released back into the wild after filming! (The first ever stunt slug)
I guess the alternatives like beer traps and pellets would take out all of them, whereas the 9 volt option would only take out the really persistent/stoopid ones!?  

[arugula]

Amusing idea, but you'd get a big voltage drop trying to run a wire of any great length.

[Christo]

Amusing idea, but you'd get a big voltage drop trying to run a wire of any great length.

Very practical appraisal there Argyllie. Very impressed. Middle name Faraday by any chance?

[arugula]

No, Christo it isn't.

[mumofstig]

but if copper holds enough charge, without a battery, to act as a deterrant then you really wouldn't need much charge at all for it to work...would you 

[arugula]

That wasn't copper wire in the demo. I only meant a smoke alarm type 9V battery couldn't cope with much length of wire, you get 9V electric fence batteries with lots of amp hours though....

[shokkyy]

but if copper holds enough charge, without a battery, to act as a deterrant then you really wouldn't need much charge at all for it to work...would you 

So if copper works, why bother with a battery at all? Just stick copper tape all round the raised bed, same as you do for pots.

[Ice]

As Argyllie said, Volts = Amps x Resistance and the wire was not copper.  The set up worked well on the tiny post but isn' a good, long term option for a large raised bed.  Besides, most of my slugs live in the soil already in my beds.

[Goldfinger]

Could you use one of those battery charger solar panel things you can get from camping shops (that's where I've only seen them), to keep the charge up in whatever battery you use??

[radiohead]

Video good for a chuckle!!......would be ok as long as the wood was dry,but once it got wet a current could flow between the wires and the battery would quickly discharge.