***Giveaway below! Comment to win one of SIX sets of slug shields!*** EDIT: Winners have been chosen and contacted. Thanks everyone for entering!
I’ve written before about how nasty the usual snail and slug baits are. In fact, here in California, metaldehyde snail bait is the #1 poisoning agent of dogs. Hmmm…. Fido or slug-free plants? Not a hard choice. Luckily, there are a lot of excellent organic options available, and the Slug Shield is one of them.
You’ve probably heard that copper repels snails and slugs, and you’ve probably also read that snails and slugs don’t like to glide across scratchy surfaces. The Slug Shield works by combining both of those actions into one control.
It’s basically a scratchy, tangled mass of copper that you wrap around the stems of plants to prevent snails and slugs from crawling up. It works on anything where you can totally encircle the base of the plant with it, and on plants where you can keep the plant’s foliage from hitting the ground.
It’s even purported to work on lettuces and cabbages, which is awesome, because I just dug up a delicious lettuce the other day only to find the center of it overrun with slugs. Um, yeah – the chickens got to eat my lovely buttercrunch lettuce after that. You just wrap the slug shield around the bottom of the head, touching the soil, and as long as no leaves flop to the ground and form a leafy bridge for the snails and slugs to travel safely onto the plant, you’re good! No bait needed, even the organic kind.
Now, obviously this doesn’t work on every type of plant. My artichokes, for example, seem like a good candidate but have a terrible habit of flopping onto the ground every time a breeze ruffles them. But I think dahlias, citrus, lettuce, peas, chard, cabbage – even hostas would be good bets to try it on.
(Despite Mackerel’s obvious enjoyment of his Slug Shield, I’m not sure they should be used as kitty toys!)
If you have a thicker-stemmed plant, you can tie multiple slug shields together to make a longer wrap. They do expand with plant growth, so they won’t hurt your plants as they grow. You can even put a slug shield around the bases of freestanding trellises, for vines or climbing veggies that are disturbed by snails and slugs.
20 responses to “The Slug Shield Copper Snail and Slug Repellent”
I’ve tried 1.25″ copper strips, and they don’t work. How much do these copper tangles cost?
They’ve been destroying by cucumbers. They do this every year and I fight them at night with my flashlight and a toothpick. I’d love a less intensive way to control them.
-Sarah
I would like to try these on my hostas, slugs love them way too much.
Living in the shade of these oak trees, I fight them all the time. Willng to try anything!!!!!
We are having a record cold and wet spring here in Portland…which means the slugs are having a hay-day. I swear they are everywhere. I would love to win these!
Oh, funny–I just posted to say that the damage here (St. Johns) hasn’t been too bad! But maybe I just haven’t seen the gnawed holes yet? My hostas are just starting to poke up through the ground.
Knock on wood, the slug damage here in Portland hasn’t been too bad yet. I’m sort of amazed, since we’ve had a grey & rainy spring, and there’s a lot more lined up to come. Maybe the slugs are as depressed as everyone else, and staying in bed.
Or maybe I’ll go out there this weekend and find the pea sprouts stripped to nothing…
Thanks for the chance to win some slug deterrent!
i have yet to try the copper around my plants but i have longed to do so – especially here in the pacific NW were it is a slug party!
i just use the beer traps that gets them every time!
That sounds like an awesome idea.
The slug wraps would be great. This year’s sweet bell peppers are growing so well (in a self watering pot) this year. I’d love to finally taste one.
Slugs love the hot humid summers of Virginia. What a pleasure it would be to have holeless hasta leaves alll summer.
Banned the possums from under our deck, now we have snails & slugs! Would love to win these.
Thanks!
Was doing some research on Slug Shield and found your site. Lots of great information.
Thank you.
I was just looking at some slug/snail damage in my garden. Ugh! These look promising!
I’d love to give these a try. I actually contacted the company about a local outlet when you posted your initial comment about them. I use copper tape on many of my pots but some things don’t go in pots so I’m intrigued with this concept.
would love to try these on my lettuce and chard!
The slugs enjoy my hostas as much as I do. The ground is covered with crushed egg shells, but that doesn’t deter them. I would love to have these Slug Shield Copper Snail and Slug Repellent rings to totally mess with their little heads.
Would love to try this!
Oh how I would love to try these for our brussel sprouts. We lost every single plant to slugs last year:(
Thank you so much. I really appreciate this site! My cats’ outdoor food bowl has become the home of dusins of slugs..