How to Kill Garden Slugs With Beer
Garden slugs come in several varieties, but all do damage to plants by chewing on the leaves. If you notice holes in plant foliage and slime trails around your garden, you probably have slugs even if you do not see them. While large plants may survive slug attacks, smaller plants with little foliage can be eventually decimated. You can find slug bait traps at garden centers, but you can also make your own with simple supplies and cheap beer. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Gather cups, cans or trays together. Paper cups, plastic cups, old soup cans, tuna cans and cake pans or trays all work for this purpose. You will need one trap for every 4 square feet of garden space for this to be most effective.
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Cut off the top of paper cups, if you are using these, leaving 3 inches. If you are using empty soup cans, dig a hole with a spade for each can and bury them enough to leave only 3 inches sticking up. Shallower cans, such as tuna cans, do not need to be stuck in a hole.
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Pour beer into the container, leaving 1/2 inch space at the top. Slugs will climb into the container to drink the beer and will, in most cases, drown.
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Check the beer traps each morning. When the traps become full of slugs, empty the container. If you used paper cups, just throw the whole thing into your garbage. If using re-usable containers, empty them and refill with beer.
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Tips & Warnings
If you find slime trails near the container but aren't capturing any slugs, it could be that either the container is too shallow and the slugs are able to escape or the sides of the container are too slick for the slug to navigate. Experiment with different sizes of containers until you capture slugs.
Empty margarine or cottage cheese containers will also work. Cut them down to 3 inches tall or partially bury them in the soil, so that the slugs can easily get to the beer. Alternatively, cut an entrance hole, at least the size of a quarter, in the side of the container so the slugs can get inside.
