Is Beer Good for Plants? 10 Ways To Use Beer in Your Garden

“Is beer good for plants?” you may be asking yourself if you are thinking of more ways to provide your plants with nutrient-rich soil, which is natural for any care-providing homeowner.

The answer is yes and lucky for you we will cover everything to help you know about ways of providing beer to your plants. So read on for some great tips!

Is Giving Beer Good for Plants, in General?

️⚡ Yes, giving beer to plants in general is good as it is an excellent source of nutrition. Since beer contains beneficial bacteria, yeast, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

These nutrients complement each other well, allowing gardens to thrive and make a great addition to your garden.

Beer and wine are excellent composting materials. Beer’s yeast, nitrogen, and ammonia make excellent starters for hastening the composting process. Using old beer instead of a store-bought compost booster saves money.

The yeast used for the brewing process is another consideration, and it’s clear why people believe this benefits plants. Yeast is a type of fungus, and grows when a fungus is introduced into the soil around plants (for example, when using beer as fertilizer).

The fungus’s growth is frequently accompanied by a foul stench, which basically helps your plant, you just have to ignore the stench.

In What Ways Can You Use Beer for the Plants in Your Garden?

The ways in which you can use for plants in your garden is for boosting your compost heap, fertilizing tomatoes, using as all purpose fertilizer, creating a trap for all kinds of pests, as well as encouraging beneficial insects to visit your garden.

You will use beer in your garden for all the benefits and nutrition it provides. While using it may seem strange initially, the benefits are worth doing something unusual occasionally. As mentioned, beer is high in nutrients and beneficial bacteria, which can help your garden thrive.

1. Boosting Compost Heaps

Composting in the backyard has grown in popularity among families in recent years. This is fantastic news for our gardens because composting adds important nutrients to our soil at little or no cost and is a lot more environmentally friendly way to enhance plant development than fertilizers.

If you’ve ever wondered what creative things could go into your compost, you’d be surprised at how many unexpected things can help your garden thrive. So, how do wine, beer, and gardening intersect? Both wine and beer make wonderful additives to a compost heap.

If you frequently hold dinner parties that result in leftover beverages, it is preferable to compost the leftovers rather than pour them down the drain. Brewing sessions are another excellent source of beer solids for compost piles.

2. Fertilize Plants Such as Tomatoes

Many people want to know is beer good for tomato plants and the answer is simple: because of the magnesium and other nutrients, beer can be used as fertilizer for your garden’s tomatoes, potatoes, and other hungry plants. You can directly pour the beer at the base of these plants to encourage them to produce more fruit.

3. Use Beer as an All-purpose Lawn and Garden Fertilizer

For those asking, is beer good for roses or is beer good for flowers know that beer is an excellent choice for a complete lawn and garden fertilizer, including roses. It is because the nutritional value boosts the health of the overall plant. The beer attracts slugs and snails when undiluted, so dilute it thoroughly before application.

You can use a garden sprayer, commonly used for pest control, or a garden hose attachment to help disperse it while watering your lawn and garden. Beer will aid in the development of your garden soil.

4. Get Rid of Slugs and Snails With a Bit of Beer

Slugs and snails can cause havoc in your garden by eating leafy plants, which can be extremely damaging to a group of greens or herbs. Slugs and snails will crawl into a pie pan full of beer, drowning in the alcohol and leaving your plants alone.

5. Create a Trap for Flies

For those asking can I pour old beer in the garden or what to do with old beer, the best way is to make a simple fruit fly trap. You’ll definitely need this if you plant berries or have a compost bin, fruit flies can become a major problem.

Fill a jar halfway with old beer and a few drops of dish detergent. Place this in areas where fruit flies are thriving. This will attract them, and they will drown when they fall into the jar. It is very helpful if you have bushes in your garden that attract flies.

6. Make an Effective Trap for Wasps

Do you have a problem with wasps in your garden? Beer can eliminate wasps in your garden, and you can make a wasp trap from a 65 oz soda bottle.

Remove the top half of the bottle, remove the cap and insert it upside down into the lower half of the bottle – it will create a funnel. Tape the edges together and fill the container halfway with beer. To get to the beer, the wasps will go into the bottle. They will enter and cannot leave, then they cannot terrorize your garden or you while you work on it.

7. Encourage Butterflies to Visit Your Garden

While beer can lure pests to their demise, it can also attract beneficial pollinators. You can use beer to grow your garden and produce more fruit by attracting butterflies. Place a pan of this butterfly-attracting meal in your garden and watch them come from a long distance away. Here is an effective beer fertilizer recipe:

• 5 overripe bananas
• 1 pound brown cane sugar
• 1 to 2 cups of beer

Mash the bananas and combine everything to make a thick paste. Apply to the plants. Keep this off the ground to avoid attracting ants and other pesky bugs.

When using beer in your garden, remember what you might attract and understand well about how to use beer for plants. Diluted beer, conversely, is less likely to attract ants, slugs, snails, and other unwanted insects, so avoid simply dumping undiluted leftover beer into your garden and walking away.

8. Encourage Bees to Visit Your Garden

Beer is not only enjoyed by butterflies. If you’ve ever sat outside with a cold one on a hot day, you’ll know how much bees adore beer, and unfortunately, beer tends to drown them.

Make a feeder for the bees to help them survive. Fill a shallow dish with stones and pebbles. Pour beer into the dish, leaving the upper portions of the pebbles dry to provide a safe landing area for the bees. 

If you want to use beer, keep in mind that it also attracts unwanted insects, so if you aren’t using it to attract them, make sure to dilute it well to keep slugs, ants, and flies from destroying your hard work.