Pennies in the garden

9 years ago

I read today that if one buries pennies in the dirt around your favorite plants/flowers, slugs will not bother the plants. Seems the copper in the penny and the slug's secretions create a chemical reaction similar to static electricity - which the slugs hate of course. How about that?

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deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b

9 years ago

Yes, pennies have little copper in them. Copper is very expensive now and even with the cheaper metals each penny costs 3 cents to make...because our government is just that good of a financial planner.

As for beer, my slugs are dying of alcoholism. I can put out a shallow container of beer and within one or two hours see several slugs making for the bar from all directions. In one night I've caught so many slugs that the container is completely filled. Beer may be expensive, but considering the pure joy in my heart watching those slugs head for happy hour makes it worth every penny (even a non-copper penny). They are not connoisseurs, so buy the cheap PBR and watch the Spring Break revelry begin.

I put my containers right at the base of the plants they are consuming (translation: hostas). If they fill the container that night I'll put another one out the next night in the same position. When the numbers get scarce I'll move the container.

Maybe I should just buy a keg this summer.

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Comments (9)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
9 years ago
You'd be better off with Sluggo or something similar. Not much copper in pennies anymore and if you bury them, the slugs would go right over them.

tj
schoolhouse_gw
Original Author
9 years ago
Ha, that's true!
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Lilyfinch z9a Murrieta Ca
9 years ago
Sounds like a lovely old wives tale! My mom used to set out little cups of beer .. Ew ew ew. Guess it attacts them and kills them. Very grateful to not have slugs!

Speakibg of pennies .. Here in the south ziplock bags with a few pennies in water are hung to keep away flies in the summer! Looks ridiculous but it's very common. I don't know the science behind it though!
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
9 years ago
Schoolhouse, sorry to say that just isn't going to work. Better to save the pennies and buy the slug bait.
gardenweed_z6a
9 years ago
I solved my slug problem years ago by sprinkling crushed eggshells around all 40+ of my hostas as soon as they emerged a few springs in a row and haven't seen a slug in years. Either they all died from being cut to ribbons or they just decided to seek out a happier hunting ground.
User
9 years ago
I was fairly astonished to find that this method...of using a penny mulch, did work rather well...in pots. Worked less well in the open ground since I could not manage to keep the pennies in a nice even layer (they slipped off each other and spread about on the soil surface, In a pot, with retaining edges, with pennies completely covering all the soil area, I found that for the first time in my entire gardening life, I have a (pristine) hosta...in a pot...which has escaped the lace-making efforts of slugs. I wrote about this last year - I think Ken, on the hosta forum was equally incredulous - but nevertheless, it was a revolutionary method for me...and looked surprisingly stylish, using bright coppery 2p coins in terracotta pots.

Until that point, I had used every method known to humanity, including elaborate moat systems (the swine approached from above, dropping off the pergola).

Whilst this did work against snails and slugs, deer simply laughed.

My new pesty prevention brainwave is...cherry sleeves. Sewing long tubes out of horticultural fleece in a desperate attempt to keep marauding pigeons and thieving blackbirds off my cherries. Pics to follow.
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
9 years ago
gardenweed, how fine do you crush your egg shells? I saved many this past winter and ground them in a spice grinder, which resulted in basically a powder. I did put some around plants and they seem to have helped, but it turns out (based on my beer calculations described above done simultaneously) that it wasn't terribly overpopulated with slugs to begin with. I've wondered how finely the egg shells should be crushed. They have to be course enough to cut the slugs, but find enough that they are an obstacle and not something they can just crawl around. It's possible my power is still very sharp to them.
deanna in ME Barely zone 6a, more like 5b
9 years ago
And...here's a picture of the lovelies hitting the booze. I had set this shallow dish out less than an hour before this picture in a new spot in the garden. Notice there is already one cadaver in the dish along with the other three meandering towards the party. I LOVE IT!!