The Use of Stale Beer in Gardening

A half bottle of stale beer has many uses in the garden.


The party is over, the guests have gone home and the leftover beer is losing its bubbles in the hot sun. Instead of throwing away all the half bottles of stale beer, why not use it in the garden? Beer has a number of uses, including trapping pests and greening up the landscape. In addition, once the bottles are emptied, you can take them down to the local recycling center and retrieve the bottle deposits.

Slugs, Snails and Earwigs

All you need to trap slugs, snails and earwigs is a shallow bowl, a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid and a can of stale beer. By scooping a hole in the soil and placing the bowl so the rim is at ground level, then gently mixing the dishwashing liquid and beer before placing it in the bowl, you have an irresistible brew that snails, slugs and earwigs will eagerly crawl into -- and drown in. A recycled glass or plastic jar set in the soil at a 45-degree angle with the rim at ground level and filled with stale beer serves the same purpose for earwigs.

Fruit Fly Trap

Catching fruit flies, flies and other flying pests is easy with a plastic soda bottle and some stale beer. By cutting the plastic bottle in half and inverting the top onto the bottom, you have a funnel leading into the trap. After taping the two parts together with duct tape, simply add 2 inches of beer and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. When set in a bright window, outside on a picnic table or under a fruit tree, the fruit flies and other flying pests will swarm into the trap and drown in the beer.

Compost Starter

If your compost pile seems a little slow in heating up, get it going with a beer chaser. Mix a bottle of beer with a cup of ammonia in 4 gallons of water, then pour it over the compost pile to get the pile cooking. The yeast and sugar in the beer and the nitrogen provided by the ammonia feed the beneficial bacteria that facilitate decomposition, speeding up the process of breaking down the individual components of the compost pile.

Green-Up Tonic

According to Master Gardener Jerry Baker, a mixture of ammonia, dishwashing liquid, liquid lawn food and molasses combined with a can of beer and applied to your lawn and garden with a hose sprayer will quickly green up your landscape. The ammonia provides nitrogen while the dishwashing liquid is a surfactant, which helps the leaves and soil absorb the nutrients provided by the liquid lawn food. The molasses and beer add sugar and yeast to feed the beneficial microbes and bacteria in the soil, further nourishing the plants. Regular applications keep the garden thriving through the summer.

Photo Credits

  • Hemera Technologies/ Images
Suggest a Correction