The Simple Water Bottle Trick That'll Help Keep Slugs Out Of Your Garden

Few things can ruin a gorgeous home garden quite like an infestation of slimy pests. For many homeowners growing flowers, leafy greens, and low maintenance ground cover that flourishes in a shady yard, an invasion of slugs could mean facing an unending battle of chewed up plants. Luckily, there is a simple and inexpensive solution to stop slugs dead in their tracks (literally), using a plastic water bottle, a splash of water, and your choice of bait straight out of the pantry. This easy DIY transforms a water bottle into a super-effective slug trap, making your garden a bit safer, and reducing your carbon footprint by upcycling the plastic material. Notably, it also skips the harmful chemicals used in common pesticides you should think twice about, leaving your flowers and produce to grow naturally and unimpeded.

Whether you're dealing with an all-out slug infestation, or just looking for a way to curtail occasional unwanted visitors, this trick will support you in building a garden paradise, rather than an open buffet. Plus, once you're done with the traps, you can still clean and recycle the water bottles for future repurposing.

To build a slug trap from a plastic bottle, start by slicing the bottle in half, and cutting three arches into the top half like mini entryways. From there, you'll have to prepare your bait, depending on what you've got on hand. Some guides from our neighbors Down Under recommend using Marmite, a savory — and importantly — very salty spread made from yeast extract which is quite popular in Australia. Those using Marmite to bait their traps will want to dissolve a hefty scoop in a pot of boiling water in order to suspend it in solution, like a simple syrup. Slugs are not particularly picky eaters, though they are highly attracted to yeast and fermentation. If you're having trouble locating Marmite, feel free to employ cheap beer or even some fermented fruit to keep your garden slug-free. 

Create a bottle-sized hole in your garden near plants that are getting munched on, and place the bottom half in it. Fill it with the bait and place the top half so it sticks up out of the ground, with the slug-sized arches providing entry into the bottle and the tempting food solution within. From there, slugs will hopefully find themselves more attracted to your homemade concoction than they are to whatever you've got growing, and shimmy their way right inside. The creatures will find it impossible to climb out once they're submerged in the liquid, and drown. The bottle's cap also provides protection from rain, preventing extra dilution of your bait. Place several bottle traps around the garden wherever slugs seem to visit, and your worries should soon be over. Of course you'll want to check your traps regularly and clean them out from time to time.