I'm curious, what is the copper tape around the barrel for?

Greg
Southern Nevada

Narrow enough to create a barrier.

Dan

Copper repels slugs and snails. Both are a challenge here, which is why I started the strawberry barrels. There is nothing worse than seeing beautiful berries only to find out something got to them before you did!

Jeanne

If it were me, I would try one inch copper tape, & if I couldn't find that, I would try solid copper wire, maybe 1/10 inch diameter. Slugs can't jump, they have to crawl along the surface.

4 inches wide. They can loop over anything more narrow.

I used copper paper clips on some pots in CA, no slug problems. Expensive tho, but tougher than tape. If you can get old electrical wire and have the time to strip, that's an alternative.

Dan

Hola Jeanne,

The snail/slug barrier that is sold in this area is three inches wide and has slits on one edge that form 1/2" tabs that can be bent up as an additional obstacle.

I have the barrier at the top of raised concrete block beds, but without the tabs deployed. I've seen big snails "race" across to get to the veggies.

Terran

Thanks, everyone. I will definitely use something wider than I first thought. I like the idea of bending the tape edge up a bit.

The snails here aren't terribly large, but we get some whopper slugs.

Jeanne