Beer Trap

Hic ... what a way to go ! : o ) )

What do you do with them now?

I'm not sure.......I wonder if the birds would like them?!

Ugh ! It certainly works, but you've put me off beer for life ... lol ! :-)

hmmm.... if you see any birds with the staggers...you'll know what they've been into!
if you can find some sheet copper you can make collars for planters and borders for beds from it...the snails won't cross it! If you like half grapefruit for brekkie...place the rind in the garden upside down...check in early morn and you'll find the snails/slugs are holed up ...just pop them into a pail of hot soapy water or flush 'em! But my very fav control is finding or making a toad house!! Don't think the toads care for beer so no danger they'll get drunk and forget to eat!

I never heard of beer traps - very interesting - it seems a fair tactic ! Give them a final treat they would never have known...
Lori, your tips are likewise very interesting !

I often thought of putting in a beer trap but think Chloe might drink it! Lori, I've just bought sticky copper tape to put round my pots, easier to handle than sheet copper - just hope it works as well :)

Never bothered with copper collars - far too many pots and tubs to bother with. Instead, I encourage frogs, hedgehogs and thrushes and I've never had a bad problem with slugs and snails (dispite appearances in the photo!!) Got a lovely lot of Hostas that never get touched.

Gee - is Chloe is cat or dog...or a child?! This beer trap is only a yogurt pot with an inch of beer in the bottom, so fairly harmless whoever/whatever Chloe is lol Far safer than slugs pellets in any case.

What a waste of beer Sid - you could have given it to me and I would have come up and thrown your slugs over next door's fence ....lol :-)

Chloe is an elderly dog, Sid, with a liking for alcohol! Unfortunately no thrushes seen for over a year, no frogs or toads either in spite of the pond just over the fence, and no hedgehogs can enter as my garden is secure to prevent the tortoises straying! Unfortunately they don't eat slugs either!! So copper tape it is going to be but I think I might try putting a beer trap out late at night and retrieving it first thing in the morning :)

Richard - if you like I can pass the beer through a sieve and I bet it will be as good as new - maybe better - and you can come and enjoy it in my summerhouse before going out and chucking the remaining slugs next door ;-)

Gee - Oh I see LOL Maybe a little alcohol would be good for Chloe - help her feel younger?! I didn't know that tortoises didn't eat slugs - that's a pity! Maybe they're just not quite quick enough to catch them lol I was just looking in a garden gagets catalogue and there was a plastic thingy that you but beer into to catch slugs - when I saw it I thought to myself it was a daft thing to go and buy when a yogurt pot works fine - but in your case, maybe it would be useful?

The little blighters Sid they like to chew my plants. I don't really throw them over next door's fence ...lol :-) I catch them in a similar thing to you - a pot sunk in the ground with some beer dregs in it collected from a few empty cans. I put a cover over mine though which is stood up on 'legs' to stop the rain diluting the beer as they seem to like to come out when it is raining - I am the opposite to them as I stay in then :-)

That's a really good idea to keep the rain out.....think I'll try that - maybe with an old plastic meat tray? Thanks for the idea! Can't go diluting beer....that's a hangable offence in some towns!!

Probably easy enough to put a cover over a yoghurt pot, just a plastic plant saucer balanced on several small stones/rocks. I am certainly going to give it a try as well as the copper tape, a proper 'belts and braces' job :)

I use anything like that Sid and Gee whatever is laying around usually plastic meat containers I haveplentyof those washed out. I also use flora containers and lids to store seeds, plant labels and ties. :)Thanks for your comments

The deep ones makes decent seed trays and propagator lids too ;-)

Funny should say that Sid I planted up two large flora containers with chilli seeds this morning as the ones I planted about a month ago seem very slow to germinate so I though I'd try again with some more just in case. :-)

Good to know it's not just me recycling everything in sight lol

I sowed sweet peppers a few weeks ago and nothing appeared yet....think I might do the same and re-sow...

I had to resow mine Sid as I used seeds from a plant I had last year and nothing came up. Someone told me to either soak the sweet peas before planting or else 'chit' them - it was a bit too late then as I had already planted them !

Well good luck with the new batch then. With the sweet peas, I don't think it's really necessary to soak them, but it would no doubt speed them up a bit. I have found in teh past that the darker coloured flowered sweet peas have harder seed coats and therefore take longer to germinate than the lighter flowered ones.

That's interesting to know Sid about the colour of the seeds. I have been tidying up my shed today I can use my bench now. I found 6 packets of unopened seeds from 2004, sweet peas, allysum , and lobelia of different types. I filled up six empty Flora containers with compost and planted them all in there to see if they will grow. :-)

The sweet pea seeds should still be viable as I believe they are long-lasting....not sure about the others tho. I grew trailing lobelia for my tubs last year - seemed to take an age to get going. Didn't get around to it this year, but I intended to put some in my heated propagator to see if that would speed things along. Good luck with them anyway - no harm in trying is there!

No Sid worth a try. I have been tidying up the garden this morning as it is a lovely day here. Will go out later after I had my haircut. A friend comes around every five weeks or so (saves bothering to go to the barbers! - or should I call it the hairdressers these days...lol) :-)

Ooo - now there's Posh! 'aving your hair done at home! lol
I would have liked to have spent the day in the garden in the lovely sunshine......pesky work :-(

Hi Sid not really posh she charges me £6 I think it would cost more at the barbers ...lol :-) I am not working now I took early retirement :-) I have been planting some more runner bean seeds that I saved from last year. You might like to see this link Sid that I was sent about keeping seeds:-)
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf42961012.tip.html

Thanks for that = that's really interesting....and does explain a few things, like why I got really low germination rates on my spring onions and parsnips last year!!! I'm surprised cucs last for 10 years...

Yes Sid it is surprising. I will start to save my seeds now where I can from the flowers that bloom this year. It is interesting to read the differences in the seeds for different flowers. I didn't do well with my spring onions last year and I used new seed. I am trying again this year, hope I get better luck!