penny's worth of copper to fight diseases?

[JRinPA]

Searching for info about corn tillers/side shoots, the wonderful search engines of 2020 derailed me to some picture of a copper penny laid into a cut tomato leaf stem. The theory is that the copper in the penny (US penny '82 or older, 95% copper) will help the plant fight just like the copper sprays but at a tiny fraction of the cost and no lingering toxicity to the soil/environment.

I did a search here on tville and see nothing mentioned. The fact that no one is profiting from this idea lends it some credence, at least to me. Anyone ever try it? Results?

[nathan125]

Seems interesting but I remain optimistically skeptical

[Whwoz]

Interesting, the sap of the plant would certainly dissolve some of the copper, should help with systemic diseases that are otherwise hard to treat.

[mcsee]

Copper will kill a tomato plant, let me explain.



A copper nail into the base of a small tree will kill the tree. My neighbour had a Eucalypt (Gum Tree) growing near his driveway, but not on his property, so he drilled a 1/2"hole in the base and hammered in a piece of Copper Pipe. The tree eventually died - so I can't see placing copper near a cut tomato stem would reject the effects of the copper.

[slugworth]

copper doesn't kill tomato plants
I tried the variation of copper wire jammed into the stem.
The plant heals around the wound and no longer makes good contact.
Any benefit would be short lived.
If you really love to experiment,jam a galvanized nail in also,you can make a 1 cell battery
out of your plant.String plants together and you can have a garden powered led nightlight.
the copper/zinc combo makes a battery.copper positive zinc negative.

[slugworth]

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ht=copper+wire

[DonDuck]

Isn't most copper wire and copper nails and decorative copper coated with some material like an epoxy to prevent the green corrosion from appearing? Wouldn't the coating prevent the copper ions from traveling to the plant?

[slugworth]

BB copper is bare,like stripping stiff insulated wire.
Any wound from the sides of the plant heals around the wound.
Maybe if you stick it where the sun don't shine,like from the bottom
of the plant to give it a backbone of wire.
It may have a better effect with green oxidized wire.

[JRinPA]

BB copper, like copper washed steel BBs for a red ryder?


Anyway, seems like it is a known topic. If I read about it before, I had forgotten about it. I don't think I'll go searching for old pennies.

[slugworth]

Bare Bright Copper

Bare bright copper is by far the first among the types a scrap dealer would like to find. Also referred to as “bright & shiny copper,” it is the most valuable and high-paying grade around. It refers exclusively to bare, uncoated and unalloyed wire or cable – no thinner than 16 gauge in thickness – which is of #1 copper quality. Copper piping is not included within the classification.
As its name implies, samples must be stripped of insulation and other materials. Furthermore the metal must be free from any paint, impurities or signs of tarnishing. This includes any visible oxidation, and very negligible amounts of patina on the copper are allowable.

[slugworth]

Or shoot it with a red ryder to put the plant out of it's misery, so to speak.

[RayR]

Don't these old myths ever die! They're like a bad penny

[slugworth]

Or cement in the hole to fight BER

[taboule]

Originally Posted by slugworth

Or cement in the hole to fight BER

Epoxy works better, and you can tint it to match the color of the tomato.

[slugworth]

actually,the plants in my cement blocks never get BER from what they can leach out of the blocks.