Slug and Snail deterrent paving

Overview

Detail

Time/cost to develop

A manmade paving slab impregnated with a compound highly antagonistic to slugs and snails, and yet harmless to other flora and fauna. Can be laid either as a protective perimeter, or directly around plants or as an entire paved area.

Other options for this composition could be:

The manufacture of flower pots/containers incorporating the compound, or;

Developing a compound and applicator capable of allowing the spraying of the compound on to existing patios/paved/ areas

The trick is to identify an impregnating compound that is:

  1. almost insoluble to water, or (preferably) only reactive to slug/snail slime
  2. Only effective against slugs and snails, yet harmless to other creatures
  3. cheap enough for volume production
  4. stable enough not to be affected by the paving slab manufacturing process.

The manufacturing process itself will be developed to avoid wasting the active material – that is, only using the compound in the top 5mm or so of the slab, where it’s required. Other manufacturing problems have also been identified and (I hope) have solutions, at least on paper.

I believe I’ve identified such a compound; the next step is to obtain sufficient quantities for testing and development, and to create and test some samples to check for:

Durability, cost of manufacture, effectiveness against slugs and snails, and harmlessness to other life

For slabs: Three months/£20,000

Similar time for flower pots

For a post-install spray and applicator: 4-6 months/£30,000 - £60,000

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