I am fond of beer—I even named one of my dogs Samuel Adams, after the Patriot and my favorite beer. But, recently, I have become fond of it for another reason: organic gardening! I don’t really have a green thumb, but I do like to have flowers in my garden.
After all the rain we have had here in Dallas, I have noticed a proliferation of snails and slugs! These little buggers eat leaves off my plants and petals off my flowers, so now I have strange little stem stumps throughout my flower beds. I was looking for an easy, organic way to get rid of snails when I discovered a hidden facet of beer. I learned that if you put a shallow dish of beer in the garden (in a pie pan, for example), the snails and slugs will be drawn to it. It seems that the slugs are attracted by the yeast smell and fall into the beer, where they are anesthetized by the alcohol and drown. This is a great way to use the half-empties that may be left after a get-together. If you recycle those bottles and cans, you are doing even more to be Green.
DING! You are now free to be Green. Let us know how you live and work Green by posting your comments below.
Comments
They're eating our strawberries and like to crawl inside our sprinkler heads. This is a great use for some old bottles of beer I found in the back of the pantry!
here in the northwest, we are always battling slugs, your idea is a good re-use for flat beer. I recycle all our food waste into either the yard waste or the compost bin. I'm very happy that we can now recycle greasy fast food cardboard into the yard waste container as well. this really cuts down on garbage going to the landfill.
This is good to know. We live in Oregon and have many banana slugs up here. However, it is rare that we have any half-empties. That's probably because we have really good beer up here in the Northwest.
I wish this worked for rabbits and squirrels too!
What a pathetic attempt to pump a blog.
I use salt... around the edge of the plants... Salt will desolve a snail or slug... they won't cross it. Me I would rather have my beer in biscuit batter or use it for a hair rinse or drink it... Salt is cheaper and really doesn't hurt the plants. Ants won't cross it either.
It works...and....if you think its a waste of good beer, snails aren't picky...just go buy bad beer...and you know its out there. I can think of 5 at the moment/.
This works...use left over...or buy the cheap stuff on sail. The snails are not picky.
Lol @ the 1st poster's comment xD But if you do as the writer suggested and use the leftover bits it isn't a waste! I'm so using this suggestion.
I am redoing the landscaping around my house but I am re-using the materials (rocks, pavers, brick) that were there before in new ways. I have installed a pond and the water feature in the middle of it is a bowling, bought at Goodwill, with a hole drilled through it.I found that idea online. Dirt and sand was taken from construction sites that were no longer using it. The outdoor furniture is re-purposed indoor furniture that was headed to the dump. The mulch is advertised as being "green" although I'm not sure how. A hammock will be hung between a tree and a fallen log that we are putting in the ground.
I'm still thinking up new ways to make my new landscaping green and it is rather fun!
If you have mice around or in your house, and small children or pets.
Put out tiny saucers of regular coca cola {coke}. Especially at night. The mice are drawn to the sweet smell and love the taste, as we all do. However, the mice cannot burp. And eventully, you get the idea. Now what to do about aunts and roaches that like sweet and sticky things.