To combat several pests this season, I have put a load of plastic bottles to reuse before I recycle. With their caps and labels removed, their insides washed free of lingering beverage, and their bottoms sliced clean off, I employed the menagerie of bottles I collected as a fairly effective shield.
I’m not sure where the original inspiration came from, whether to pat myself on the back for recognizing the common-sense of it or to laud someone (my wife says my mother-in-law, Kat) for an explicit suggestion.
Either way, I first made use of this reconfigured plastic as a barrier to keep the slugs, snails, and especially the legions of pill bugs away from my new bean sprouts. This method involved some trial and error before it became mostly effective. After clearing away all visible pests, I pushed the sliced end of the bottle an inch or so into the soil with the plant at center, taking care not to disturb the developing roots. However, I initially neglected to ferret out any subsurface bugs, which is where the woodlice tend to hide during the day. Because of this, several of my second-round sprouts died despite the bottle. But, when I carefully debugged the area, the plants survived.
When the plants put out their second set of true leaves, the bottles can be removed and transferred to another seedling. Or stored for later. Or recycled.
This tactic seemed to protect the plants from grasshoppers, too, but fared poorly as a defense against mammals. The bottles also worked as a kind of portable greenhouse, retaining moisture and heat — though I had to be careful with this in San Diego as we had several days of hot weather in March, which these covers amplified. Additionally, the cut-off bottle bottoms can be filled with a mixture of cheap beer and sugar then set around plants to attract, trap, and kill slugs and snails. I haven’t tried this yet, but plan to.
I have also been employing the bottles as protection for ripening fruits. Last season we lost all but six of our strawberries to the birds. As soon as they’d begin to redden, they’d be pecked to pieces. While removing bottles from ready seedlings last week, I slid a few of the medium-sized varieties over several bunches of berries. So far, so good. We ate the first of the ripe strawberries a few days ago — excellent. In addition to keeping the birds out, the bottles also keep the developing fruit off the ground, preventing rot.
Yet another upside to this project was my initial inability to execute it. We have been so effective at reducing our use of plastic that we had no plastic bottles to put to this purpose. While this proved frustrating in my effort to protect the young garden, upon reflection, I can appreciate the implications. It’s not always easy to see when something’s working.
A stealthy raid of my parents’ recycle bin while they were out of town provided the bottles for this project. Thanks, folks.
This is a novel way to use the ol’ plastic bottle as plant protection / growing enhancement. Cool. I have the same problem when needing bottles for my projects. My neighbours, however, haven’t entirely gotten rid of their bottle habit.