It is getting warmer and the Hostas are growing. It is time for the slugs and snails to come out and do their damage. There is a lot of advice on the net on how to get rid of slugs and snails including; beer traps, diatomaceous earth, egg shells, salt and copper tape. I’ve examined copper tape in How to Get Rid of Slugs with Copper. In this post I will look at killing slugs with beer.
How to get rid of slugs with beer
What is a Slug Beer Trap?
Slugs and snails are apparently attracted to beer. If you take a small container like a tuna tin, fill it with beer, and set it on the ground. The slugs will be attracted to the beer, go for a sip, fall in and drown. Don’t submerge the top of the tin even with the soil level or you might also kill ground beetles which eat slugs. Keep rims at least 1″ above soil level.
Slug beer traps only attract slugs in the surrounding few feet, so you need lots of them to be effective. According to Slugoff, a company that makes a more sophisticated beer trap, you need a trap every meter (3 feet).
Do Beer Slug Traps work?
A video is worth a thousand words:
Source: A Time Lapse of Slugs and Beer
There are several important points to notice. Slugs do seem to be attracted to the beer. You can see several going past the slug trap, and then changing direction toward the trap. Near the beginning of the video you can also see a slug about a foot away from the trap, who turns around and leaves–they need to get close for the trap for it to work well. Most slugs take a drink and leave. They have no trouble climbing up the side of the container. A few do drop in and die, but most don’t.
The slug beer traps do seem to work but there are some limitations:
- they work over a very short distance
- most slugs will just enjoy the beer and leave. Maybe, they will have a hangover the next day and leave your Hostas alone?
Do you Need to Use Beer?
Reference 1 compares the effectiveness of various beers and other fermentation products like yeast solutions to see which works best. Here are some of their conclusions:
- slugs are not attracted to the alcohol, it’s the yeast or yeast by products that attracts them
- different beers do work quite differently
- sugar + baking yeast was as effective as some beers, but not as effective as Budweiser
How to Get Rid Slugs
The slug beer traps are modestly effective. They will kill slugs, but most will get away. I think it is a real shame to waste beer on slug traps. If you feel the need to use them, use sugar + yeast–and drink the beer!
You might also like these posts on other methods for getting rid of slugs:
Getting Rid of Slugs with Coffee Grounds
How to Get Rid of Slugs with Copper
References:
1) Attractiveness of Beer and Fermentation Products to Slugs
2) Photo Source; Tony Cyphert
A proper slug trap has either a greasy top, use any kind of oil and rub it around the top, the slug will slide down into the beer and then the slug can’t out. You can also use a container with a sharp edge that they cannot climb over like a sharp edge of a can. That’s how they don’t get out and then they fall back in and drown. I didn’t read every comment so maybe someone else mentioned this.
Pretty old post, still going strong, I guess slug problems will continue forever?
It’s been the hottest, muggiest, rainiest summer I think I’ve ever seen. This is a very small yard and the darn things are EVERYWHERE at night.
My honey bees have died and they’re now living in the hive too. This feels like a horror movie.
Do people fish with these things? Maybe I’ll put a sign out front advertising “pick your own”. They’re all over my shed, my railings, my trash cans.
I think I’m going to try the beer trap in a pie tin, with a Dollar Tree bug net set in the bottom, and I’ll scoop them out when I see them, then replace the net.
I hope I can sign my way back to this site to update you all. Wish me luck.
I am using beer and the scientific method – observation.
I am also using drainage plates, so they can hang on to the dry sides and drink.
Some were not attracted by my flashlight, and were able to exit. Until I pushed them into the beer pool. Some were able to streeeetch their body’s up and around, keeping their shell on the safe side. So, I need to use different containers.
Yet, the next day, I see good sized garden snails upside down and dead.
How is it that some “drown” and others don’t?
Is it the quantity of alcohol in the beer? The beer I was using was 4.7%. I know it’s the yeast that attracts them, but they have to get drunk enough to “drown”, because they don’t naturally “drown” – I watched them maneuver underwater and get to land.
Higher % of alcohol – I’ll try 5.5% tomorrow eve. Get them drunk faster, like a cheap date! I could also mix a little cheap white wine into the beer. A little shouldn’t hurt the yeast attraction.
Also, the anti-beer ppl who claim that the smell will just attract more snails “from 200 yards”: If that is true, then why do we have to put the traps so close to where we think they are? I had snails on the other side of the yard who didn’t know there was a party going on.
Report finished.
I wonder whether the beer traps with more alcohol in them could be more effective — not because alcohol attracts slugs but, perhaps, because drunken slugs are more likely to drown?
Thank you for this information. When you talk about the yeast-sugar mix, what ratio are you talking about? Also, does it matter if the container is a metal container (people talk about the pie tins) or a plastic yogurt container, or small cat food tin (too small?)?
Thank you!
I have gotten rid of 100s of slugs by putting out in my landscape disposable used plates with food items that attract them (sweet corn cobbs are one of the best, banana peels and veggies past their edible prime also work). After dinner when dark I go out with flash light, used ziplock bag, and disposable glove or bag over the hand that will pick the slugs up and put them in the ziplock (to avoid getting slime on my hand). Occasionally I spot a slug not dining in the plate while walking btw ‘feeding stations’, but it has been amazing how many come to feed, and I benefit from an evening walk! Additionally, this method costs nothing!
FYI, your Ref 1 link now redirects to the Colo State homepage. I’ve found a new link for that ref: https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/10217/39140/tb97-1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Thank you.
I use Diatomaceous Earth – I have a photo of it, you an buy regualr grade or food grade for crops – I get regular grade – it is VERY light like baby powder, and I sue the sprinkle top on the jug – ( have photo but not sure where to attach, I don’t see an option for that here).. it does reduce the amount of slugs in my gardens. I also did put out some beer with a few drops of dish soap, notice one fell in and it seemed to disintegrate the “slime” off its body, as it was trailing a “slimy yellow-green skin” behind it..yuk. But the earth does work – you sprinkle it in the dirt or mulch and rake through lightly – do again after a heavy type rain –
https://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-get-rid-of-slugs-with-diatomaceous-earth/
Has anyone ever tried putting salt IN the beer? Does that help?
I did that this evening.
Technically, I think beer already has salt in it. Clearly not enough.
And I had to keep dumping the salt in, so no.
Salt has nothing to do with this trap. Sugar and yeast work just as well.
Encourage hedgehogs- they eat slugs!
Cut an aluminum beer can in half or so making it about 3 inches deep. Put a few drops af hand dishwashing soap in the bottom . Nearly fill it with beer and put it in the soil deep enough so it’s easy for the slugs. If you have slugs at all you will find many victims of drowning soon enough to convince you that it’s working. They usually pile into it in surprising amounts.The soap makes it difficult for them to climb back out once they have it on them and they just sort of fall in.
How do you know most of them did not come for a drink and leave?
Adding the vaseline is a great idea! Slugs just crawl out of the containers otherwise.
Tuna tins are far too shallow to trap slugs; the slugs need to fall into the beer. Use a liter plastic container with about 250ml of beer in the bottom. Put Vaseline on the inside rim and bury so only about 5cm is above ground level. I did this in the past and, after one day, the trap was half full of slugs.
The day before yesterday I cleared the side of the garage of all plant life and debris. I was armed with garden tools and a variety of landscaping items… ready to prep for next year’s garden to-be.
What I discovered, to my horror, was an infestation of slugs. I harvested all that I saw and they were countless, or maybe I can’t count very high.
The web search began and I readied for battle. That night, I checked the yard & I swear they had multiplied. My hand picking hadn’t even made a dent!
Last night I rigged my first beer trap with a home brew. I checked it around 11pm & discovered 2 slugs in the trap, with a good 2 dozen around it. I left them to find their way and went to sleep. This morning I rushed outside ready to empty the liquid mass grave. 3 slugs, 3… 3!!
To Google I went and here I am. Well, myth busted. I wonder if the neighbors would still complain about chickens if they were getting free eggs?
Bah, I may have lost this battle but the war has just begun.
I have tried all the myths of getting rid of slugs and snails. Nothing worked. My best bet, and it is kind of labor intensive, I go around my garden once or twice a week and turn over the rocks, small pots, and drip pans under my pots. There they hide during the day! Someone asked if I pour salt on them- no, that seems so time consuming! I just nip them in half with my garden scissors or smash them with a rock. Yucky, you say? Yes, at first, but for every slug or snail I get, I am saving part of my plants from being eaten! I have a lot of rocks bordering my garden and discovered that is where they stay the most. At first I was finding 2-3 slugs under each rock (yes, I was shocked!) but now I am finding fewer and fewer. Hoping I am cutting down on the population in my yard. I have lots of little starter plants in pots in areas around my garden too, and they stick to the bottoms of the pots. Am thinking I will just put some dirt in some and put them around the yard here and there as a place for them to go during the day and then flip them over during the day and continue to find them.
I’m going to try filling the base of the container with crushed egg shell and then add the yeast mixture…maybe they will try to crawl over the egg shells ( which will cut them) to get to the yeast mixture?
Egg shells do not cut slugs.
I wonder if there would be any point in dissolving some slug bait pellets in beer or sugar/yeast to attract more slugs and save some money. Slug bait is expensive. I guess I need to find an agricultural supplier.
The problem when you combine chemicals is that your need to know what they do. Will the active ingredient in slug bate still be active for slugs?
Farmers buy it in bulk at a fraction of the price you pay in the big box store. This is true for all ag products, whether it be sulfur or grass seed. My local farmer gave me a lifetime supply of slug bait. To him it was a trivial amount.
I did my own experience as well and found that most of the slugs simply drank the beer and moved on. This raised the question as to whether or not we’re simply compounding the problem.
I wish to get rid of leopard slugs in my worm farm but if I put a yeast bait in it, with it attract the worms as well. I don’t want them to drown in the trap too. Also, I believe that worms aren’t attracted to light, so would it be safe to put a millipede light trap in the worm farm. Again, the worms would drown if they cross the water to the light.
I don’t know much about worm bins.
I’ve used tuna fish cans to bait slugs w/beer. I try to bury them only about half way into the grounds as slugs seem to find a way in. Pillbugs seem to like the beer too. Like many folks I found lots of slugs drinking my bait and leaving. Understanding that the “traps” certainly attracted the beasts, I took to checking the traps and adjacent area. With my flashlight, rubber glove, tongs, and a cottage cheese carton w/half an inch of salt in the bottom, I head out at 11:00 and make my run. I pick the dead ones out of the traps, then the ones sipping at the sides and then the ground adjacent. I’ll consistently harvest 25-30 slugs a night. I also find several slugs “in transit” during my hunt. So for me, the beer bait works although it’s kill to sipping rate may not great. To keep rain from diluting my bait or washing it out completely I improvised a cover by cutting a gallon milk jug roughly in half. Next I cut a low arched opening on each side of the jug to make it welcoming. I had some left over spray paint and camouflaged them w/a spot of brown and tan and green so they wouldn’t stand out in the garden. Saved some beer. Slugs seemed to enjoy climbing up onto the inside of the covers so I always check to see if any are hiding up there. I’ve noticed that the slugs I catch are usually the larger ones. When I check my hostas I often find the damage being done by very small, half an inch or smaller, slugs working on the underside of leaves but never find them in the traps. Or perhaps they disappear into the “brew”. Any thoughts?
Maybe the small ones are under age? No idea why small ones don’t get trapped.
Hi. I just followed the instructions on making a beer slug trap here (https://www.earth-ways.co.uk/resources/slugs/), and can report fantastic results.
I put two of these traps out yesterday evening, after 24 hours they are both full of dead slugs, perhaps 10-15 in each!
There are a couple of important design differences:
– use a juice bottle, with the lid still on, so that rain does not dilute the content
– cut holes in the side, high enough up to deter most non-slug entities from climbing in
– for those non-slugs that do make it in, put a stick in through a hole so that they have an escape route
Greetings from the French Alps.
So, in the end, setting-up beer or yeast traps is just a mean of easily hand-collecting slimies, isn’t it ?
I’ve been using beer traps from time to time, but as I always find some of their predators (beetles) drowned with a few slugs, I tend to give-up : seems counter-productive. Would yeats trap also attract friendly beetles ?
Hand-collecting before night does work provided it’s done night after night (then I walk down the street to the stream and feed the wild trouts). But i’ve been slack, and the beasts have devoured half of my ornementals.
Once, I went out with a torch at midnight, and got scared at the sight ! And last night, two huge leopard slugs were entwined (heart-shaped !) on the wall near the kitchen door. Yuck ! Should have called the morality police.
Thanks for your useful experiments. Who ever finally gets the perfect solution will get rich, the world over !
At best it is a control system. Beer traps will never get rid of them.
Will anything get rid of them?
If you are talking about slugs – beer works a bit. Commercial slug bait works quite well.
I REALLY appreciate the information and video on slugs. I spent several nights setting up beer traps and only to collected a few very small slugs. Tonight I set up my yeast traps and then went out and collected slugs as they were drinking. I now have a bucket of soapy water filled with slugs of all sizes!
It seems to me that the real question regarding the effectiveness of the beer traps in controlling slugs isn’t “do they drink and leave?”. Rather it is “do the traps result in significantly less damage to the plants?” They may drink, leave and then die later – killed by the ingested beer. If they stop eating my hosta I don’t mind if they get away from the trap.
You are quite right. They don’t die from drinking beer, but maybe with a belly full of beer they are too full to eat hostas.
I’m so glad you busted all these myths before I tried some of these purported remedies. Does sprinkling baking soda get rid of them?
We’ve had so much rain here that they’ve hijacked my garden. I’m especially upset that they’re all over my lettuce bin in the cold frame. Do I need to sterilize the soil (I don’t even know how I’d do it) so they won’t return?
Thanks,
I have not looked into baking soda. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate and is slightly alkaline. For this reason it might deter slugs.
But…. sodium is toxic to plants so you don’t really want to add it to the garden. Baking soda also dissolves easily in water so it will leech into the soil if it is wet, or if it rains. It does not seem like a good choice to me.
I have heard Diatomaceous earth is harmful to soft shelled insects such as slugs. Its reputed effectiveness is reduced they say if it gets wet, so i’m not sure it would be worth trying since I live in an area that receives a frequent dose of rain.
Your blog is very interesting!
Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth
DE will not kill slugs – see for yourself: https://www.gardenmyths.com/how-to-get-rid-of-slugs-with-diatomaceous-earth/
I think short of hiring a hungry band of geese or ducks to gobble your slugs there is little in the way of earth friendly solutions.
You wouldn’t want the quackers anyway, they leave profuse amounts of excrement everywhere they go. In places where they tend to congregate year around (like in parks) the droppings can become a real problem.
After two summers of decimated gardens, I tried the beer trick, and it did have some success, but I didn’t know until reading your blog that the slugs can sip and leave, not all of them drown. Today I tried your yeast, flour and sugar trick, went inside to make more, when I returned to the garden I found several fat snails and slugs working their way into the new mix traps! It worked better than the beer! I am wondering if you have ever tested a yeast or beer trap in a “moat” of salt water? Would that deter the slugs from trying to crawl into the beer/yeast trap?
No – but that is a really good idea. I wonder if it works? The slugs may be smart enough not to go into the salt water.
I tried it, left one deep saucer with salt water and a container of yeasted sugared water in the middle, and another one with juice mixed into the salt water. Several days later (and after a rainy day) the plain salt saucer was slug free but the juice saucer had a collection of slugs and a few other critters. It also had a live slug on the edge, couldn’t tell if he had gone for swim yet, but he was a deeper pink than his cousins. I’ll try it again
Interesting. You might try two comparison tubs. One with only yeast sugar water, and one with the orange juice moat around it. That way you can see if one works better than the other.
Just putting in my two cents worth.
This past Sunday at my local nursery here in Locust Grove Georgia purchasing fertilizer I asked the question about purchasing slug bait. A gentleman said I shouldn’t buy a bottle of beer put out some saucers pour the beer in the saucers and place them close to what the slugs were eating. In this case hydrangeas and Cannalilly’s. Genuinely thought he was pulling my leg, but I did it anyway and now for the third night in a row I have dumped and flushed down the toilet approximately 300 slugs. I just went and bought another 40 ounce bottle of Budweiser and have five saucers spaced about 3 feet apart and I relatively small area. At first when the beer is cold they don’t seem to enjoy it too much, but once it warms like climb up in the saucers and drown. I have very few that escape, I just can’t figure out how many there are and how long this is going to go on in such a small area any ideas I would appreciate some help in knowing just how many there could be one by now, I just flushed about 85 more and I’m putting out some more beer again ???
Nobody is going to be able to tell you what you have living on your property.
A number of years ago back in Scotland, I tried the ‘beer drowning’ of slugs. Not only did fairly few slugs frequent my slug pubs, the ones that did … crawled in… under the liquid and … out again later! They seemed to be impervious to drowning !! Perhaps it’s a Scottish thing and they are used to the vast amounts of rain …. lol!!!
…or beer
This is interesting, but it seems you’re doing what I’ve read not to do, that is sinking the top of the container to ground level. Other articles say to leave it above ground level. Also, I can’t tell how big the container is, but it doesn’t look like there’s enough beer to drown them. I haven’t tried any slug trap yet, but am still looking and reading articles.
It is not my experiment. I have never seen any ‘scientifc’ studies looking at the depth of container or the size, but it might have an effect – or not. If you find some properly done comparisons, let me know.
I have 5 beer traps and choose a lovely(not really) German bitter from Aldi. Best investment for £1.25 per bottle. Anyway taken out about two hundreds slugs in the last week after trying coffee. That’s for the ones that escape now to cure their hangovers.
David Woolway, I missed something, did you put out brewed coffee to catch those 200 slugs?
Oh yes. The Alkaline Diet. I had forgotten about that one.
I prefer the acid diet. Fresh Tomato, Pineapple, Mango, Orange, and Lime juice. Always diluted with almost PH neutral Ethyl alcohol. An excellent balance.
Pardon the digression
Nematodes work well but are expensive and do require moist soil continuously otherwise they pop off too.
The slug problem here in my UK location is huge. Living on the edge of forest area combined with English weather makes ideal conditions. Put new bedding in the wormery today which has almost as many slugs as worms.
Will try the ‘todes’ again now the weather is cooler, first lot dried out.
I was going to reply that ‘nematodes don’t kill slugs” but that is not true, except in North America!
The slug nematodes available in Europe are not available in North America since they don’t exist here naturally.
WOW! you have big slugs.
When I used traps I used yeast water and pie tins. They definitely got in but didn’t get out. As you point out, only effective for a small area and you of course have to mess with them often.
For entertainment, a sprayer with weak ammonia solution is fun. It doesn’t harm the plants or soil like salt does. Go hunting after sundown, or you can just spray the hostas and the soil to get ones you can’t see.
My biggest find though, was a local farmer. It turns out that the Slug Bait you buy at the box stores is a total rip-off. In Agricultural quantities, they buy the same stuff you can get at Lowe’s etc. for about $25 to treat an acre. He gave me a lifetime supply of the pellets.
What is weak ammonia solution?? I would not spray it on my plants unless I know for sure the concentration is low enough not to bother them.
You’re right, I should have been more specific. I’ve never given nitrogen burn to plants using about 1 oz in a quart spray bottle. And I haven’t systematically tested it. Slugs aren’t a big issue here , except for the hostas.
I have four of them in My garden ( beer traps). I use a homemade beer or a craft beer. I don’t sink the container. I fill it 1/2 way. I get 10-15 slugs per trap every evening. It’s really the only thing that works!!!
Unless you also know how many slugs got away – you can’t really say how well it works! but I agree it does work to some extent.
Beer works too well – I think Budweiser buses slugs in every night as a marketing strategy. I attach drip edge around the perimeter of my raised beds, They need to maintain surface contact to climb and can’t negotiate the edge and fall back to the ground.
This is interesting. I put a bandaid on my slug problem…….I chase them around with salt. That’s just gross and ineffective in the long term. I will try beer in tins. The slugs love to congregate on my concrete back patio and driveway. I’ve often wondered what they talk about at their meetings. Maybe with a little beer, their conversations will border on hilarious! Thanks!
Salt sprinkled on the slug does kill them, but too much in the garden can be toxic to plants.
We use big plastic pop bottles filled with a strong solution of warm salt water and a very tiny hole drilled in the cap. I’ve been thinking about trying cinnamon sprinkles around plants you don’t want destroyed as it is so caustic it might burn the slugs if they try to crawl over it.
How exactly do you use the salt solution? Do you dribble it on the slugs? Why not just pick them up and put them in a salt bath? seems like a lot less work.
Are you saying the cinnamon sprinkles are caustic? News to me – time for some Googling. It is amazing what one finds on the internet. I could not find the pH of cinnamon. Did you know that there are nuts out there that try to make their bodies more alkaline by eating weird food – one of them is cinnamon. It is listed as an alkaline food – but so is half of the stuff we eat. Being slightly alkaline does not make it caustic – a term usually used for substances with a very high pH.
Have you heard of the cinnamon challenge? Me neither. It is on the net, and people are challenged to eat a tablespoon of cinnamon powder. Not a smart idea. “It coats and dries the mouth and throat, resulting in coughing, gagging, vomiting and inhaling of cinnamon, leading to throat irritation, breathing difficulties, and risk of pneumonia or a collapsed lung”, from http://www.worldofchemicals.com/459/chemistry-articles/the-principle-of-cinnamon-challenge.html?utm_source=Social%20media%2029th%20Sep&utm_medium=Article&utm_content=Chemistry%20of%20Cinnamon&utm_campaign=Article%2029th%20Sep
High pH does not seem to be a problem!
I doubt that cinnamon is caustic, and I doubt it will keep slugs away.
Thanks for all the myth busting! Last year I read that spreading corn meal would kill slugs following ingestion. Tried it, but found no definitive benefit. Have you heard/tested such a hypothesis?
I have heard of it, but have not researched it. I might test it this summer.
I’ve often used old bread yeast and sugar for slug traps; that produces alcohol. I used to go out just before bedtime to check my traps, and I’d usually find a group of slugs carousing. My Swiss Army knife made short work of them, or if they were little slugs, I’d just push them in. Now I dig the trap in enough that I can put a board over it, and I’ll find a good collection of slugs under the board in the morning. Even after the alcohol has evaporated, they like the yeasty sugar water.
I really appreciate your posts. I was just about to take the copper wire out of an old extension cord to use as a slug deterrent when I discovered your report that it doesn’t work!
One of the studies on testing different types of beer shows that alcohol is not the attractant for slugs. It is the yeasty sugar combo.
Have you looked at the Slug-X trap? Claimed to be effective by a reputable news paper catching 147 slugs in one night!
No. Looks like more plastic that people do not need!
“I was just about to take the copper wire out of an old extension cord to use as a slug deterrent when I discovered your report that it doesn’t work!”
It definitely does work if you have two copper wires and a 9v battery. Some species will turn away at the first copper strip (I believe this is more likely to be due to the toxicity of copper rather than any “induced current” nonsense) but the vast majority of those who aren’t bothered by the copper alone will turn back as soon as they get zapped by the electricity. The very few brave souls who repeatedly try to find a way to my plants will usually fall to the ground after three or four electric shocks. Each of my raised beds is protected by two electrified copper strips at the top and needs only one battery per year. In the spring, when changing batteries, I also dose the beds with predatory nematodes to catch any of the little bleeders that made it into the bed when the battery was low in the winter.
I am sure your system works – but it is the electricity, not the copper.
By the way – the slug nematodes are not available in North America, because they are not native here.
I agree, it is the electricity although I have observed a few species turning back at the first strip where the circuit isn’t complete so I’m convinced that some species are deterred by copper alone. “Some species” is not enough to save plants, it needs to deter them all. It’s a pity about the nematodes being unavailable, but certainly understandable considering the potential consequences of introducing new species to the wild. They are very effective, particularly when coupled with a barrier method.
This is amazing! I was disappointed in the lack of slugs caught in my test beer trap, but it never occurred to me that they were drinking and leaving.
the good news is that your slugs may be too drunk to eat your plants!
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