While you could choose to grow a range of slug-proof plants, like rodgersia and brunnera, slugs may also be repelled from your container-grown plants if you fix copper tape to your pots.

I also imagine in addition to whatever theoretical chemical/electrical property copper has that slugs don’t like, there is likely a mechanical component because irregular wire loops might be irritating to ooze across and there may be some variability in effect based on the size/configuration of the wire in the mesh. If I had to guess I would say I get about 1/20th -1/200th the slug prevalence I used to previously high slug traffic areas I have since “protected”. May I suggest that the natural iron in the soil would provide the anode for the production of a small electric current to occur. And it also makes sense, sort of, why someone thought copper tape would work and also why in reality why it wouldn’t. Perhaps I’m waiting to see how long my current 24 rings last given the need for repeated soaks in citric acid.Slugs and snails hate copper because of a reaction between their mucus and the copper, so use self-adhesive Copper Tapes to protect pots and containers from slugs and snails. Gastropods inflicted the same damage to lettuces protected with five natural methods – eggshells, copper tape, horticultural grit, pine bark mulch and wool pellets – as they did to lettuces left untreated.

I propose that the snail slime itself (with its acids) on contact with copper tape reacts with the copper alloy (IF… and that’s a big IF… it’s thick and contains enough copper alloy) to create a foul taste or suffocating effect similar to that of copper sulphate, hence the slug or snail gets a bad taste and then turns back to get a breather.This year I’ve heard a lot about copper slug and snail barriers, copper alloy has some unique properties, it is naturally anti-microbial – it kills bacteria and viruses, from E. It makes complete sense that when the molasses was all consumed that there would be a starvation problem.