Household pests can be an expensive problem for homeowners and even more so when it comes to the garden.
You can’t put a price on the value of protecting plants that have taken months to grow, just for slugs to come and nibble away at the result of your hard work.
However, remedies to banish these slimy pests don’t need to cost a fortune when you can spend less than £1 on an effective trap.
Sharing advice on organic gardening for Dabah Landscape Designs, Lauren Liff explained that cola is a surefire way to curb a slug problem.
She said: “Since Coke was originally being used as a health tonic, you might be asking, what possible use could it have in our gardens? It turns out that Coke can be used to kill slugs!”
Some gardeners call upon beer to banish the slow-moving pests from their plants, as suggested by gardening expert David Domoney, but cola works just as well. Plus, it’s a much safer alternative to pesticides or poison.
As for knowing when to spot a slug problem, slugs start devouring the garden in the spring before most other insects are even close to causing damage.
The suspects are easily identified as slugs, who leave behind a trail of silvery slime wherever they go and feed on plant foliage. Lauren warned: “They chew ragged holes into the leaves and can sometimes devour an entire seedling.”
Luckily for anyone battling relentless garden slugs, a cola trap is easy to make in a matter of minutes. All you need is some cheap cola – just 70p in Sainsbury’s, and an empty one-litre water bottle or a bowl.
Organic gardening expert Lauren said: “To use the Coca-Cola method to control slugs in your garden, simply fill a low bowl or cup with Coca-Cola and leave it in your garden overnight.
“Just like using beer, the slugs will be attracted to the sugar in the soda and lure them into the bowl. The slugs will then find their way into the sugary drink and suffer a death comparable to drowning in acid.”
For a water bottle trap, cut the top off a plastic one-litre bottle, remove the lid and then position the top of the bottle upside down so the bottle neck is pointed towards the base.
Fill it with cola up to the bottle top and wait for the slugs to travel downwards into the trap where they will drown.
According to gardening icon David Domoney, a DIY beer (or cola) trap works best when slightly hidden.
He explained on ITV’s This Morning: “I’d bury them in the ground so that there’s at least an inch or more above the ground to stop battles falling in my mistake.”
Make a small pit in the ground near the plant (or plants) the slugs like in your garden the most, then bury a small bowl so only the liquid in the bowl is visible.
David urged: “It’s almost like a dinner bell for the slugs as they come in then you can humanely remove them.”
