Recycled Water Bottle Slug Trap.

Intro: Recycled Water Bottle Slug Trap.

This Instructable tells you how to make a beer-baited slug trap from two empty drinking water bottles.  It introduces no harmful chemicals into the garden and does not harm the local wildlife (apart from the slugs). It also re-purposes items which would normally have been thrown away.  Using green bottles makes it merge well into the foliage. Altogether, a green idea.

The first one was made in the space of 5 minutes.  I have had slugs eating my plants and a work colleague mentioned the same thing just as I was pouring fizzy water from a bottle.  It was one of those 'eureka' moments.  I had several of the bottles in my cupboard which would 'come in handy one day' and that was the day!  5 minutes later using only office equipment I had the first slug trap built.

The photos show the sequence of making the slug trap, and at the end are some pictures of the garden looking its best.

Comments

[BenzoniramaB]

I'm dissapointed, I wanted to see some snail/slug carnage.

[smileydude3]

could you add more text i dont get it?

[AndyGadget]

Have a look at the wordy version HERE.

[chuckr44]

Interesting design. I might use this to design a candle holder out of metal cans. My candle holder needs a top to reduce soot emissions into the room. (I'm designing my own long-burning wax recipes.)

[sunshiine]

I love the slug picture. Nice ible.

[AndyGadget]

It's actually a snail.
(The slugs wouldn't pose for me #;¬)

[sunshiine]

Yeah I guess I was remembering the text about slugs. Anyway cute snail. My sister has the catch and release system BUT I say Kill it! I have no mercy on slugs, golphers, and any other thing that will destroy my plants and hard work.

[Creativeman]

How do you combat gophers? Couldn't find any information for that on this site.

[Senior Waffleman]

My friend ran over one with a side shoot lawn mower and shot its head flying XD

[thomasthetankengine]

eeewww but still hilarious at the same time ;) sorry gopher ,but you made my day.

[bruc33ef]

Eat them.

[bruc33ef]

Good slug trap using recyclable materials. Here's an alternative way to look at it, though:

As someone once said, you don't have a slug excess, you have a duck deficiency. A few ducks will eat your slugs; supply feathers for your pillows and comforters; give you 200 eggs a year from each female; fertilize your soil with nitrogen-rich droppings; quack when there's someone at the door that you can't hear; and supply meat if you want to go that route... and you feed them your slugs, mosquitoes and other bugs; and very little else. They're beautiful and playful, too, and they'll multiply on their own. Channel them in once your plants get established and they won't eat the plants. Hell of a lot better deal than bottles and beer.

[AndyGadget]

We have frogs, toads and hedgehogs helping with the pest control and we occasionally get wild ducks passing through (via the stream at the bottom of the garden), but we're much more likely to be getting chickens who do a similar job (with a much more detrimental effect on any small seedlings if not protected).  Ducks is a thought, though.

[MacDream]

I wish I could have ducks or chickens at home free ranging around the house, but we have a ten of semi-stray* cats surrounding the neighborhood poohing all around, and hunting and killing the beautiful wild birds :(
I'm afraid that they will end in those cat claws.
So far the beer trap is my best option.

*(they are pet for 15 min by some neighbors and then let them go for the rest of the day)

[poofrabbit]

Fantastic! We used to get slugs in our basement when I was a kid. We put pie pans of beer down to get rid of them. I always figured at least they die happy that way vs painfully with salt.