Why You Should Start Burying Pennies In Your Yard Or Garden

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Not all gardeners know that copper is an essential nutrient in soil for many plants. Copper also can help battle fungus and repel slugs, which may damage plants, especially young sprouts. Many gardeners swear they can improve soil and repel slugs by burying old pennies in the yard. But does this work? The answer is: It depends on the penny!  

First, let's talk about the benefits of copper. This mineral can be used in all kinds of ways. It has antibacterial and antifungal properties, which is one reason why copper long has been used for water pipes. Copper may even keep pools algae-free. In the garden, copper is an essential element. Plants need at least some copper to help them grow seeds. It can also help fight blight. Slugs don't like copper, either. When slugs touch something coppery, they feel a kind of electric shock, so they avoid it at all costs. 

While copper can be helpful, not all pennies contain much of it. Before 1982, copper made up 95% of the material in pennies. Over the years, the price of copper has increased quite a lot, and newer U.S. pennies are mostly made of zinc. Now, they're 97% zinc with 2.5% of a thin copper coating on the outside. So, if you have some older pennies lying around, they may help repel slugs and enrich the soil — but newer ones might not have much of an effect.

Pennies can be beneficial for the plants in your garden as long as they were printed in the U.S. before 1982 or in Canada before 1996 and actually have substantial copper content. These high-copper pennies might also help boost soil nutrients in potted plants. You can bury the pennies in the ground around the perimeter of your plants to perhaps build a barrier for slugs.

For a fun craft project, try making a penny ball by gluing older pennies on to a Styrofoam ball. Tuck the ball between plants as a decorative addition to your flower beds that might also repel slugs. If you don't have older pennies lying around, you can also opt for copper tape or use copper wire or sheeting around the base of plants. There are other natural strategies, too. Sprinkle a little cinnamon in the soil around your plants, and garden slugs could be a thing of the past.

Pennies aren't just good for deterring slugs. They can also help you prevent and fight the effects of blight. Just cut off affected leaves of the plant, and then make a notch in the stem. Put a penny from 1982 or older in the notch, and the copper might help treat the fungal infection. That's because the mineral can work as an antifungal for plants, which is why it's an active ingredient in organic gardening products like Bonide Captain Jack's copper fungicide.