Original Message From: Thomas Schley Wired! Insect deterrents
> Hi Folks, > An acquaintance told me she's heard of people using very thin copper > or silver wire to ward off insects and maybe other critters. The > wire is strung a few inches above the ground and runs up and down the > garden rows. Anyone heard of this? What is the principle behind it? > I assume it concentrates energy somehow that insects don't like. > Since it doesn't seem to be very common it must have some drawbacks? > Or is it just one of those magnificent ideas from the 1960s like > smoking banana peels? > -Tom > HiTom A friend told me this would keep termites out of a building we were having trouble with. The copper wire needs to be strung a few inches above ground, on insulators, kept tight, and butt joined (end on joint) so that it will hum / resonate (like the old time aerial phone wires used to.) Sounds good and I believe it would work but boy does it take some doing. The wire is almost impossible to keep tensioned, between the dog laying up against it, and the constant expansion - contraction in a long length of copper wire - I gave up. We have got a trial going on at the moment with a white ant pepper made from a tincture and also spraying the active sites with a potentised arsenicum album (from a Malcolm Rae Card) this looks very promising. Have had some real good results around the house and yard with simple D8 pest insect peppers prepared with a small potentiser (this is not that difficult to hand prepare either) and applied with a watering can. Definitely NOT rocket science but easy and cheap and totally harmless. Cheers Lloyd Charles
