Beer As A Fertilizer (2024)

Unfortunately, that's anold wives tale that may have started way backin the early 1800s. It sounds like it might be agood idea in theory (i.e., a good source of food(carbohydrates) for plants and microorganismsin the soil and minerals to promote betterplant growth), but it doesn't work out that way.Beer doesn't help plants and, in fact, it can bedetrimental.

Beer contains: Carbohydrates (sugar),protein, carbon dioxide, water, alcohol andother trace elements.

Carbohydrates: Plants can't take advantage of any added carbohydrates, but themicrobes in the soil can. The carbs in beer, however, are the wrong kind to do any good.Beer has carbs called "simple sugars", but the beneficial microorganisms in the soil canonly utilize complex carbohydrates.

Proteins: Protein includes nitrogen. On average, there's about 6 grams of protein per literof beer (not very much!). It won't hurt, but the quantity is so small, it would be a waste ofgood beer.

Carbon dioxide: There is plenty already in the air; any added to the soil by adding beerwon't have an impact on plant health.

Water: That's always a good thing!

Alcohol: That can be a very bad thing for plants. Several weeks ago, I wrote about usingalcohol to deliberately stunt plant growth of paper whites, but in very carefully mixeddoses. If you overdo it with too much alcohol, you can kill the plant!

Other trace elements: Iron, copper, zinc, etc. are in such small amounts, they won't doany good.

There is, however, a great use for beer, if you have slugs or snails in your gardendamaging your plants. Bury a shallow dish in the ground with its lip even with the surfaceof the ground and put beer in it. Snails and slugs love the smell and they will dive in andwon't be able to get out!

The bottom line - unless you are going after slug and snail control, beer in your gardenmay sound like a good idea, but it's not.