Fighting snails: Can a copper band really keep the voracious animals away?
Created: 06/21/2022, 12:20 p.m
By: Andrea Stettner
Copper tape is considered a simple household remedy against voracious snails in the garden.
But is it really effective or just a common myth?
When it comes to fighting snails, many hobby gardeners shy away from using chemical products in their own garden and prefer to use natural home remedies.
Aphids can also be easily banished from the kitchen with simple tools.
And that's a good thing, after all, one or the other pesticide can end up on your own plate at some point if it's spread around salad & co.
To one of these popular means
copper counts against snails.
As
snail wire, fencing
or as a
copper band around flowerpots
, the metal is supposed to scare off the voracious animals.
But does it really help?
A copper band around the flower pot is said to work wonders to combat snails.
© Cavan Images/Imago
Copper tape against snails: This is how the metal affects snails
The fact is:
copper ions are highly toxic to mollusks such as snails
(and also to worms and fish, by the way, if applied near water).
However, only if the copper ions are also released from the copper.
Whether and how many copper ions are released from a copper strip depends on various factors such as the temperature and pH of the soil.
Only when an
acidic environment encounters heat does
it increase
number of
Copper ions and the snails die, reports
focus.de
.
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Copper tape against snails - is it really effective?
In fact,
unfortunately, a copper tape or wire is hardly effective against the pesky critters
.
And for one simple reason: the slime of the snails is often not acidic enough and so the copper ions, which are dangerous for snails, are hardly dissolved.
The copper band should therefore keep very few snails away.
As the portal
My Beautiful Garden
writes, however, the width of the copper band should also be decisive.
If you choose a copper band with a
width of at least 5 cm
as a border for your planters or raised bed, you could be successful with it, as more copper ions are dissolved, according to the experts.
Many garden owners swear by beer traps to keep slugs and snails away from the delicious lettuce and delicate flowers.
Unfortunately, this idea has the opposite effect.
It is better to sprinkle dry sawdust or lime in the affected corners of the garden to attract the natural enemies of snails such as hedgehogs.
(as)