Re: Copper strips and eatin' snails

Trevor - thank you very much for the recipe and directions. Honestly, I
couldn't help thinking how really delicious it would be with...shrimp. ;-)
But I will post it for those who wanted to know and if any are so daring and
report back to me, I will let you know. (Or maybe crab. I bet crab would
work well, too.)

Carol - re: choosy snails. I have observed this too - that snails are very
picky about what plants they choose to munch. I would say from observation
it is the sturdier plants that make it and it would make sense that
seedlings suffering from transplant shock would be weaker than those sown in
place. I've always wondered how they know, though. Chemically has been my
only vague guess but I'd be interested if there was a real answer.

Curious,
Cyndi K

(I can also back you up on the fact copper works but golly, it's expensive!)



>I'm a believer in copper strips to foil snails and slugs.  I don't know
>about zinc-copper, but I used copper strips for years.  However, there are
>a few caveats.
>
>1.  The strip has to encircle the area you want to protect completely.  I
>had a raised bed vegetable garden, about 4'x20' that I tacked the copper
>onto.  If there was a break in the copper, even 1/2" wide, the slugs/snails
>would find it and crawl right into the bed.
>
>2.  Similarly, if you have a plant that overhangs the strip, the critters
>will find it and crawl into your bed that way.
>
>3.  Don't buy the cheaper brand that doesn't have a "perforated" edge.
>It's purpose is so that you can bend back the edge, creating a lip.  What
>happens is, the snail crawls up the side of the raised bed, encounters the
>copper, decides it can cope, and keeps on crawling up.  However, it really
>hates the sensation, so it pulls its body away from the copper, having as
>little contact as possible--but still greedy for your plants, it keeps on
>working its way up the copper strip.  When it encounters this folded back
>edge, however, it has no choice but to crawl upside down (are you
>visualizing this?) and it falls off onto the ground because it's barely
>holding on anyway.
>
>4.  The copper loses it's effectiveness, they say, as it gets dirty.  When
>I moved from my community garden plot, described above, to my house with a
>"real" garden--I cut up my copper into small pieces and made rings with it
>(stapling it together) to put around individual plants.  It has been a less
>than successful technique, and probably due in part to the dirt the copper
>has accumulated these last several years.  Also due to overhanging leaves.
>
>I spent a very long afternoon once with a collection of remedies in one
>hand and a collection of snails in the other (figuratively speaking).  I
>tried sawdust, ashes, beer, and the copper.  And I sat and watched what the
>snails  did.  Only the copper was effective, and only as I've described it
>above.
>
>The copper stripping was 100% effective in my community garden plot.  My
>other remedy, used in my current garden, when I can remember where I put
>it, is a spray bottle with diluted ammonia (50-50, but it could be weaker).
> Whenever I see a slug or snail I just zap it and that's the end of it.  It
>dissolves on the spot, just like when you put salt on them (which you don't
>want to do as a regular practice in your garden).  Nice for reaching into
>areas that are hard to reach, too.
>
>Mostly now I just use Deadline. I use pellets too, sometimes, and my cats
>have never touched them.  But cats are finicky, where dogs aren't.
>
>I've asked this before and never had an answer.  I've noticed that when I
>put seedlings out, the snails head straight for them.  However, if the
>plant grows and ultimately reseeds itself, the snails never eat those
>seedlings.  Any ideas why?
>
>Carol
>Oakland
>
>
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