[shaun]

take it the scrap yard and weigh it in  

[DD.]

Dont do it in bare feet Dave ,Probably wired up to house mains :!:
   Bob

No I trust him, seeing as he's a retired Methodist Minister!

I've never tried this method myself, so I can't speak from experience, but I've lifted this from the BBC's website:

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Copper

When slugs make contact with copper, a toxic reaction occurs between the copper and the slime creating an electric current, and they get an electric shock which repels them. The benefits are that it works wet or dry, is very effective, and doesn't kill the slug. The copper must be at least 2" thick, preferably 3" to be a real deterrent. It can be bought as adhesive tape, or strips. Bury it in the ground a couple of inches to prevent them crawling under it, and bend the strips so the edge sticks out at an angle. This will help to put off the more determined slugs who are willing to put up with the discomfort. Copper can lose strength over time, so go over it with sandpaper from time to time.

The drawbacks are that it can be expensive, so use it sparingly, perhaps on containers, rather than the borders. The edges can be sharp, so keep away from where children play. If the plants overhang the copper strips, and touch other plants or the ground, this will act as a bridge, and slugs will climb straight over. Make sure that there are no slugs inside the area you are protecting, otherwise you are trapping them in with your plants.

Gardening tools are also available in copper. These have been said to have a beneficial effect on keeping slugs away from plants.

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(I think when they say 2" or 3" thick - they mean wide, especially when they go on to talk about it in terms of tape!)

[frazzy]

this site is so cool electrocuted slugs and xploding rats who said being green isnt fun.

[Annie]

We use copper pipe bent into hoops to support vironmesh,it probably keeps more pests out used this way than it would deter slugs.

[Mercuria]

we tried that copper slug stopper tape last year on our pots of marigolds. USELESS!!  I reckon that their suggestion to cut it into spikes is what may keep the slugs at bay rather than the copper!

Anyway, surely it gives them a bit of a thril rather than an electric shock??!??

Nichy

[LILACSPLASH]

I did my dissatation on organic slug control and included copper. the other methods were textures, egg shells ect and substances eg caffine. The results concluded that copper was the most effective option provided that a good contact with the sustrate could be maintained and also none of the vegatation was allowed to form a bridge over the barrier. By the way I used stripped house wiring for the experiments.

[Annie]

Did you try bran?My understanding is that they love the taste and then we have another version of the exploding seagull/mouse/rat thing..

[LILACSPLASH]

bran is supposed to dry their slime, not good if it rains as it's just food and not a barrier. If they eat dry bran it don't do anything :x waited to see some yukky results, not one, just lots of fat slugs rubbing their tumms and licking their lips :roll:

[pookey]

Just thought id mention that my local Lidl have a snail repelant set - you get 18 metres of copper wire/ribbon + 10 ground pegs, apparently snails have an allergic reaction to copper.  It's £8.99

[Annie]

Very disappointed about the bran thing,I felt very vengeful last year so am sad they did not suffer more!

[LILACSPLASH]

If you want vengeful...try a miners spotlight and a skewer, slug/ snail kabab

[Annie]

Did headlight,scissors and wellies,used`friendly`slug pellets but found the lack of corpses in the morning disappointing.

[LILACSPLASH]

I find "growing sucess'" ferric phoshate pellets good and they are definatly kiddie friendly, little one had ate a few before I had realised and she's fine.
A freind of mine nearly died age 5 in wellies and pink tutu from eating the same amount of met. pellets, the only thing that saved her and gave them the time to go to the hospital was her lunch of beans on toast!
Nasty things those pellets, 10% posion 90% food esp. after rain!

[Heifer73]

Hi

We feed our slugs porridge, it is suppose to fill them up and then they die.  It worked much better than the slug pellets.

But I like to stamp on slugs.

[GrannieAnnie]

this site is so cool electrocuted slugs and xploding rats who said being green isnt fun.

Don't forget to mention blowing up your moles!!!!!