Beer traps
I’ve had good luck catching slugs with beer traps. I know this might sound a bit crazy, but it really works. Here’s how to set one up.
This involves taking an empty tuna or cat food can and pushing it into the soil. The lip of the can needs to be even with the surface of the soil.
Then you pour cheap beer to about the halfway point on the can. Let’s not treat them to a nice microbrew, folks! Slugs are attracted to the smell of the yeast in the beer. They slither over to the can to get some, then fall in and drown.
I once heard something funny about how to set up these beer traps. They advised that you shouldn’t fill the can to the rim with beer. Otherwise you will have created a “slug pub!”
What they meant was the slugs can come for a drink and easily reach the beer without falling in!
I have also caught pillbugs and earwigs in the beer traps. That was unintentional on my part. But if they’re causing a problem with the same crop in that bed, it’s a bit of a bonus.