If you are any kind of gardener you will agree with me that slugs and snails are a pest. They ravage your garden and eat your plants and they get everywhere. We think we have worked out a way to deal with them. This blog post does contain an affilaite link that will earn me a small amount of revenue if you click on the link marked AF and make a purchase. All such links are marked as AF.
Oddly, we love snails, when they are not attacking our sunflowers, or chewing their way through my lettuce seedlings. We currently own two giant African land snails which are amazing pets, but the snails that populate my garden are annoying and it’s frustrating when you plant things for them to be decimated by snails and slugs.
I don’t want to use harmful to the environment or to other animals and insects chemical treatments. We have cats and our neighbours have ducks and chickens, and we also have local wildlife we want to protect and I don’t want to use toxic slug pellets or sprays that might harm other things in the garden. If you do need to use them, they must be used carefully and with caution as sometimes they can make things worse or cause other problems and they are not always good for the environment.
So what can you do?
Some people suggest using salt to get rid of snails and slugs. We all know what happens to them when you do that, it basically burns their skin and kills them, it’s rather gruesome to watch. It’s also not practical.
I also tried using copper wire or aluminum foil around my seedlings and plants. Neither of these worked well, and didn’t seem to deter our slimy freinds at all.
So when someone suggested beer traps, I was highly skeptical.
They are supposed to work by attracting slugs and snails who fall into the container of beer, and can’t get out. They are so busy trying to get to the beer they leave your plants alone.
I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.
So armed with cheap beer and a set of traps, we tried. We purchased some (AF) and had low hopes but figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.
And so far, it works.
It’s a little gruesome because the beer does the trick, and the slugs and snails do literally “fall for it” and fill the traps which you have to empty but it works. I find far less slugs and snails in my precious plants and they seem to be easing off on their veggie munching, as they head to the fatal slug and snail pub we have set up for them.
It’s the least harmful way I can think to deal with them, obviously it harms the snails and the slugs but frankly, it’s something I am ok with, as it’s not hurting other garden creatures and there are always more slugs and snails arriving.
So who knew? Beer saves the day. Slugs and snails are a pest but I am hoping we have finally found a way to deal with them.
Have you tried this or other methods that work that we don’t know about?