Natural pest control is safer for your garden, your family, the natural wildlife and the environment.
Organic garden pest control works as follows:
- Smell Garlic, tobacco, rhubarb and other strong smelling substances like fish repel pests.
- Oil Mineral oil, vegetable oils, cottonseed oil will suffocate soft-bodied pests.
- Soap Natural vegetable based soaps are added to sprays to make them stick to plants.
Decide what you need to do and do no more.
For example: You want to kill the wretched caterpillars that are making a mess of your cabbages? Right? Get the biggies by hand and/or make up a strong killer mix and stop them in their munchy tracks!
You’ll love the aroma of this citrusy spray but caterpillars HATE it!
It’s cabbageworms on your broccoli or armyworms on your tomatoes, my Orange Aid Elixir will solve all of your caterpillar problems. And,
INGREDIENTS 1 cup of chopped orange peels (lemon, lime, or grapefruit) water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put the orange peels in a blender or food processor.
- Pour 1/4 cup of boiling water over them.
- Liquefy.
- Then let the mixture sit overnight at room temperature.
- Strain through cheesecloth.
- Pour the liquid into a hand-held sprayer.
- Fill the balance of the jar with water.
- And, spray your plants from top to bottom.
To keep caterpillars off of your cabbage, make a solution of milk and a little lemon juice or vinegar. Spoon this into the center of each cabbage once a week for an effective deterrent.
Still another deterrent for this problem is to place a thin coating of newly mowed grass cuttings around the cabbages. This also works to keep broccoli and similar plants caterpillar free.
Want to know more about organic garden pest control?
Go to the post titled “Vegetable Garden: Plant Diseases’
Post a question or a comment below, please. And
Follow me and tweet me in Tweeter and Facebook links up above on the right side.
Yours truly for a great garden with outstanding berries, herbs, veggies and flowers.
Polly, Organic Gardener
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
hmm, nice info, do you have a recipe to expel some kind insects ? i need it for my tomato plant. there is some insects like spider that bites the leaves.
Oil sprays and insecticidal soaps work well for spider mites on tomatoes. I prefer Neem oil for spraying.This type of chemical control will only work by contact. It prevents pests from maturing and reproducting.
Polly
I am always looking for natural ways to control pest in my flower gardens. I love your tips! Thanks and keep up the great work. I love your site. Will be back again and again!
Cheers
Dear Polly,
Your help is wonderful! I am trying to decide which of your methods I’m going to try. I am tempted to use diatomaceous earth, but that will kill all the beneficial insects, too, right? I wouldn’t want to do that.
Tomorrow morning, I am going to go outside with a jar of organic milk and organic apple cider vinegar. I chose that remedy for my terrible cabbageworms because I don’t have one of those sprayers, and I do have lots of jars and spoons!
I know you’re right about the smells, too, because none of the broccoli that I planted amidst the onion patch are being bothered.
I need to try this other tip that my 90 year old grandmother (and widow of a farmer) told me: she says she always saved cardboard toilet paper tubes to put around the stalks to keep certain critters from climbing up. I don’t think that would stop butterflies from laying their eggs on my plants, but it might stop the snails!
I’ve tried this recipe yesterday and it works. Amazing way to go for organic pest control.
The good news is that in minor cases, a little DIY treatment can solve the issue but there are times when no amount of sprays and powders from the local hardware store is going to get the job done and it really is time to call in the professionals.