When you wake in the morning and walk around your house or garden and see a trail of slime you know you have had a visitor. While slugs are of little harm, in general, they can do serious damage to a garden. Slugs like to feast on all types of vegetation, plants, and leaves. They will ruin the aesthetic of your beautiful flowers and if you are growing any vegetables consider them gone.
To deter slugs from entering your garden you can purchase many sprays in your local garden store. However, if you want to save on cost and avoid spraying chemicals around your lovely vegetable patch then we have a different solution for you. Consider the penny ball.
The penny ball is exactly as it sounds, a ball covered in pennies. The copper that exists in pennies acts as a deterrent to slugs, saving your garden. It has also been shown that some flowers respond really well to the copper, taking on a brighter hue.
To make a penny ball simply get any spherical object that can survive the harsh weather of your garden and cover it in pennies. We have found a bowling ball as particularly resistant to different types of weather but if you can’t find one of them you can probably get a styrofoam sphere at your local art and crafts store. You must find pennies that have a high % of copper in their making. In the US the makeup of pennies was changed in 1983. Any pennies made after that year are too low in copper and too high in zinc to have the desired impact.
Once you find your pennies and your ball just stick the pennies all over the ball until the surface is completely covered. You should use a glue that is waterproof and UV resistant to ensure it stands the test of time. Take care not to drop a bowling bowl on any unsuspecting toes while making it and enjoy your new garden creation.
