Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 2: How to Make and Maintain the Simplest Trap
• Method 2 of 2: How to make a plastic bottle trap
• Tips

Snails and slugs can be problematic. These small slimy creatures reproduce rapidly and feed on the leaves and roots of cultivated plants. Fortunately, you can quickly get rid of garden snails and slugs with beer. Just fill a small container with beer and leave it in the garden for the snails to crawl in and drown.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: How to Make and Maintain the Simplest Trap

1. 1 Find a suitable container for your beer trap. The container must be deep enough so that fallen pests cannot get out. Moreover, the beer will not evaporate too quickly from the deep container. You can use a tin can, a disposable baking dish, or a small bowl. Plastic cups, yogurt cups, and cut-off plastic soda bottles will work as well.
2. 2 Bury the trap container in the garden so that the top rim is about 2 cm above the ground. Placing the container at or below ground level can also kill beetles that feed on slugs.If the container is too high above the ground, it will be difficult for snails and slugs to reach it.
   • Use a small spatula to dig a trap hole in your garden. Place the container firmly in the ground.
   • Cover the area around the container with earth to hold the container in place.
3. 3 Place traps approximately 90 cm apart. Beer traps only attract snails that are close to them. The number of traps will depend on the size of your garden. If your garden is about 3 meters by 3 meters, you will need nine beer traps.
4. 4 Fill the containers halfway with beer. The snails don't care what kind of beer you pour. Any real foamy drink will do!
   • An alternative to beer can be a mixture of 2 teaspoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon beer yeast, one teaspoon sugar, and two glasses of warm water. This mixture can be used in place of beer. Some recipes do not have flour, so you can do without flour if you don't have this ingredient.
5. 5 Add yeast to make the trap even more attractive to pests. Two pinches of baker's yeast can attract even more pests. Just pour yeast into the beer and stir with a spoon.
6. 6 Empty the traps every two to three days. Over time, the beer will lose its properties, so you have to pour out the old beer and pour in a new one every couple of days. If your traps get caught by rainwater, you will need to upgrade them as well.
   • No need to empty traps with dead snails at the bottom. Other snails and slugs will be attracted to the smell of decomposing comrades.
   • Pour beer and dead snails into a compost pit or unused part of the garden.

Method 2 of 2: How to make a plastic bottle trap

1. 1 Cut off the top third of a 2 liter soda bottle. Make three holes in each of the halves. The holes should be approximately 1/4 cm in diameter and should be approximately the same distance from each other. Make these holes 1/2 cm from the edge of the cut.
2. 2 Insert the top cut into the bottom. Unscrew the cap and insert the neck portion into the bottom of the bottle with the neck down. Scroll the neck piece so that the holes you made line up. Tie the two pieces together using a piece of string or fishing line.
3. 3 Bury the bottle in the ground so that the top rim is 2 cm high. Since this beer trap is larger, you will have to dig a hole deeper than for other traps. Use a hand shovel to dig a hole deep enough for the bottle to rise 2 cm above ground level.
   • These traps should be looked after and placed in the same way as regular traps. That is, you need to fill them halfway with beer, stir in some dry yeast to make the mixture even more attractive to pests, renew the beer every 2-3 days, and place the traps 90 cm apart.
   • This trap is more effective than a regular trap, as snails and slugs will not be able to escape when they fall into the beer.
   • Fencing your garden with a small fence will make it harder for pests to reach your vegetables and herbs.

Tips

• These traps do not guarantee that the pests will disappear from your site. Some slugs will just take a sip of beer and crawl out. Do not give up! Try again or find another way to get rid of the pests.