A Beer Party for Slugs

~ melaniereynolds
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

While on a video call with our resident Nature-led Poetress Patricia Lezama she asked me what to do about slugs eating her plants. Not thinking anything of it I started to describe getting a shallow bowl, setting it flush with the ground, and pouring cheap beer in it. Wait for nightfall and by the next morning you’ll have a bowl full of dead drunk slugs. The look on her face was priceless! Her eyes got big and her mouth fell open in a mix of both horror and bemused interest, “Whaaaat?!?!“

It was at that precise moment that I realized, “Yeah, helping slugs drink themselves to death is a bit odd.” I can’t even tell you when I first learned of it. Someone in my family or a family friend must have shown me this trick when I was a kid. I only do it once or twice in the spring when the slugs are at their worst.

We rarely buy beer in this house so imagine my surprise when I come around the corner and find my spouse drinking one only to ask, “Why’d you buy such cheap beer?”

“Because it’s for the slugs!” I said. “If you want beer, put it on the grocery list.” This precise exchange has happened at least five times almost every spring. Last year was the first year I think I finally remembered to put a sticky note on the beers. It read: Slug Beer!

As I told Patricia, I like to think of the slugs having discovered a wonderful beer party where they all drink themselves into a wet coma and die. Happy and none the wiser to their demise.

I don’t like killing things. (I’m a vegetarian for crying out loud!) Sometimes though population need to be crashed to maintain a balanced ecosystem. The slugs are attracted to the sweet smell of the yeast in the beer and I only do it when I can visibly see I’ve got a massive slug year on my hands This year there weren’t enough slugs to bother with a beer trap. I’m not a robot AI bent on the complete annihilation of a species!

I’ve never had an issue with unintentional victims, not so much as a drunken squirrel! According to multiple online sources there are natural predators to slugs including ground beetles, some birds, frogs, toads, snakes and apparently hedgehogs!?!? Well, now I’ve learned something new!

I probably don’t want to know about the first time someone figured out that leaving beer unattended overnight attracted slugs. The novelty of it though makes me think of carnivorous plants, specifically Pitcher Plants, using the sweet smell of nectar to lure unsuspecting insects down their throats where escape in unlikely.

So now I’m curious, do you have any gardening tricks that might seem weird to others?

My mini forest of pitcher plants with a tiny Venus fly trap in the front left foreground. By Melanie Reynolds

23 thoughts on “A Beer Party for Slugs”

  2. I can’t say I have any odd gardening tricks, but your story and tip gave me one good laugh this morning!!!!!! The poor slugs going to get a quick nip and then the unsuspecting horror awaits. It ‘s like a frat party gone very badly deadly. I don’t think we get many, if any slugs, but I’m sure dear Jon will love to know this trick. The last few years I can honestly say we have not had any evasive bugs in the garden. Perhaps many of our birds here help with that.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. I really enjoyed reading about the beer fest for slugs. I don’t have similar tricks, but I do use a squirt gun filled with ammonia to knock out buffo toads, which are a danger to domestic animals because of their deadly toxins.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed this, Lisa. Those bullfrogs are a nasty business! I know them by the name ‘Cane Toad’. Do you freeze them after knocking them out with ammonia then? I watched the UF video on humane ways to euthanize them. I didn’t realize store bought lidocaine (like orajel) or Betacaine was enough to knock them out, but amphibians are pretty sensitive to their environment.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I’m not sure, but the ammonia appears to kill them. I don’t freeze them, just bury them. Hopefully they really ARE dead when I do that! I generally don’t stick around to see if they resurface.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. I think the beer method is kinder than the salt method – which seems to simply dissolve the slug. Getting them drunk before they perish at least gives them a party vibe for when they meet their maker.
    Sx

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Oh yes, I’ve never used salt but my Uncle had and watching the way they writher makes me think it is a painful death like a full body chemical burn. We have the capacity to do better, even if that means killing something humanely.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  8. Oh, I use the “beer party” method for slugs too! Well, I did until this year, as now there’s a small dog running around everywhere and I don’t particularly want to nurse him through a hangover 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to Scarlet Cancel reply