SLUGS -- COPPER 1: 17 March 2003
RW (who gardens on two allotments with a total area of about 570 square metres, and operates a three-year crop-rotation plan) refers to the anti-slug/snail use of copper wire/tubing that is mentioned in 'R J Harris's Moon Gardening' (see link at the foot of the page). In his e-mail he asks: "Do you know why copper wire or tubing works as a deterrent against slugs and snails?" on
R J Harris replies: "Unalloyed copper is a natural element; it comes out of the soil. Its magnetic force is undetectable to us, but not to the snails and the slugs -- which are made uncomfortable by it and, for that reason, back off when they come within its range. This is especially so when the copper is on a damp surface. The dampness acts as a conductor and disseminates the force as a current. Bear in mind, the surface of the ground is more often damp than not. Bear in mind, too, that, to be a deterrent, the copper wire or tubing must touch the ground for the whole of its length, and must not be bridged by anything.
"If you have a raised bed," says the head gardener, "you can keep the slugs and snails out of it by fastening copper strip all around it on top of the wall. This is most easily done when the box containing the bed is made of old railway sleepers. You nail the strip onto the topmost sleeper."
Mr Harris adds: "The force that copper generates is of benefit to mankind, because copper in the form of wire or tubing can be used as a tracking device to locate water sources that are as much as 80 to 100 metres below ground level.
"It was only today that I found water 40 metres down for a neighbour, using an old piece of half-inch copper tubing I rescued from a builder's skip. When they put the bore hole down they found that I was only six-to-eight inches off target. Of course, I am able to do it. Not every one is. In fact, most people can't do it -- they haven't got the gift.
"The best time for divining is when the water table is rising, when the moon is approaching full moon. It is also easiest when the underground source runs from east to west, because then its response to the moon's gravitation pull can be more easily detected by the tracking device.
"Also," the head gardener notes, "since copper turns green when exposed to the atmosphere, its presence in the garden need not constitute an eyesore."
p BBC2, one of the UK's public-service television channels, highlighted the destructive potential of copper's natural electrical force in a programme about an investigation into the causes of a mysterious 1800s shipwreck. A large cargo vessel, which had been in service for only a short time, sank with remarkable speed in safe waters just off the English coast. Hundreds of lives and a considerable amount of cargo were lost. Divers employed by the television programme established what was not previously known -- that the ship's builders had sought to cut costs by using copper rivets to hold the vessel's iron framework together and to attach the timber hull to the framework. Copper and iron placed together in salt water generate an aggressive electrical current. The current induces corrosion of the iron. This caused the holes in the iron framework through which the copper rivets had been driven to enlarge. The beating of heavy seas upon the ship's sides shook loose the copper rivets, causing the 1800s cargo vessel to separate at the seams. It did so within minutes, taking in vast quantities of water instantly. It dropped like a stone to the sea bed, plummeting beneath its weight of excessive cargo and full crew complement.
Use the computer's back button to return to this page from the following link
rjh
