You need the sugar for the yeast to "work". I've seen recipes for using it with a little flour thrown in too, if memory serves me right. Didn't work well for me. Diatomeceous earth has to be reapplied every time it rains or if you water. Gets a bit tedious. I still have the best results dousing the plants with an ammonia/water mixture. And later in the season, I also have a spray bottle, but I also add in some insecticidal soap as I've also seen earwigs on the hostas at night. Beer apparently works, by drowning them, as mentioned above. Seems like a real waste of good beer. My local hosta nursery's owner uses slug bate pellets and puts boards over it in the garden. We can't get the really potent stuff here in Ontario.
