How to Make a Beer Trap for Snails
There is nothing more disappointing--and aggravating--in gardening than seeing a row of your baby lettuce plants mowed down overnight by snails or slugs. Slugs and snails are slimy crawlers with no legs. Snails have a crunchy shell on their backs, while slugs do not. Depending on the species, slugs and snails can range from 1/4 inch in length to over 6 inches. Snails and slugs both live in cool, moist places, such as under rocks or pieces of wood. They come out mainly at night and on cool, misty days, when they feast on tender foliage and decaying plant material on the ground. Before you apply any type of poison, you might consider setting up some beer traps for these slimy mollusks. They are attracted to the sweet liquid, and when they fall into the trap, they drown. What a way to go! Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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How to trap snails and slugs
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Determine which plants are favored by the snails and slugs in your garden by exploring your garden at night with a flashlight. While you're hunting, you can hand pick and destroy any creatures that you find.
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Plan on using about four traps for a six-foot row in your garden. Locate one trap at either end of the row and two in the middle, on opposite sides of the row.
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3
Dig a small hole in the soil around your prized plants with your trowel. Make it just big enough for a jar that will contain the beer to fit snugly, at an angle, so the lip of the jar is level with the ground. Dig one hole for each jar you want to serve as a beer trap.
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Fill the jar(s) about half full with inexpensive beer.
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Check in the mornings to see how many snails and slugs have fallen victim to your beer traps, and then empty them out and add fresh beer.
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Tips & Warnings
For heavy infestations, use more traps, placed more closely together.
If you have a party and find leftover beer afterward, using it in beer traps is a good method for "recycling" it.
The beer in your traps will become diluted and ineffective when it rains, so be sure to replace the liquid with fresh beer after a rainstorm or after you water the area.
Never eat slugs or snails you find in your garden as some species can carry diseases.
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Comments
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that's a good idea actually, though the DE used isn't the swimming pool stuff, which is too fine. But the "regular" DE would work great. I'm told you also spray it (er, dust it) on plants that have caterpiller infestations, because the caterpillars ingest it, and the sharp bits of DE shred their insides.
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How about laying newspapers down and putting diatomaceous earth (used in swimming pool filters) to act as a barrier. They slither across it, it removes their protective slime, and they dry out.
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This is exactly what I need. The slugs and snails have already mowed down my baby lettuces in the garden box.
