I found this on another forum and thought I would share. Good organic solutions to pests.
"Old Fashioned Home Remedies For The Garden
Are you tired of running to your local garden center every time one of
your plants is overtaken by a new fungus or an infestation of insects?
Are you sick of spending extra dollars on a concoction that you arent
even sure is effective and that you think might be doing some harm to
the environment, animals and your loved ones? But what to do?
IÂve got the answer right here with a list of old fashioned home made
remedies: some of which have been passed on from other gardeners and/or
their mothers or grandmothers.
Practically all of the ingredients used in these homemade recipes can be
retrieved from you kitchen or medicine cabinets at home.
BAKING SODA
Baking soda can be used to ward off black spot, a terrible fungus that
usually hits roses by late Spring. The most effective recipe IÂve found
is the Cornell one which is:
1T. of baking soda with 1 t. of dishwashing detergent to 1 gallon
of water. Mix together and spray on roses early in the morning once a
week until disease has disappeared.
BEER
Beer is an old time favorite for getting rid of slugs and snails. This
is how you do it. Place the beer (it doesnÂt matter what brand) in
either shallow pans or a cut down some paper cups to about 1"tall. The
pests will crawl into the pans or cups and drown themselves.
VEGETABLE OIL
Believe it or not, if you mix 1 cup of vegetable oil with 1 T. of
dishwashing liquid together and then take 1 T. of this concoction
and mix it with 1 cup of water, you now have a formula to get rid of
aphids. Aphids are very tiny insects that suck the sap from a plant
ultimately weakening it. If your leaves look curled and deformed, look
under the leaves closely and you may find a colony of aphids.
HOT JALAPENO PEPPERS
I was once told by a listener on my radio show that after trying all of
the concoctions to get rid of moles, gophers and groundhogs, he planted
jalapeno peppers within 4" from the area that they were invading. And
voila! They ran for cover after taking a test of these hot veggies. I'm
going to try this advice but will divide the hot peppers in half when I
plant them. I think he is on the right track because Hot Pepper Spray (a
prepared organic spray) is sold in garden centers as a remedy for
getting rid of rabbits, squirrels, moles, voles and groundhogs.
CASTOR OIL
Castor Oil sprays are sold in garden centers as a solution to get rid of
groundhogs and deer. I would be tempted to go to a pharmacy or health
food store and just buy myself a bottle of castor oil and dilute with
water and spray on affected areas to see if it works.
PEPPERMINT OIL & GRIT
Peppermint oil is good deterrent for ants who have invaded your garden
or home. You can either saturate cotton balls with it or mix in a spray
bottle with water and spray where needed. GRITS sprinkled in the garden
are also supposed to be an effective way to kill off ants.
VINEGAR (and Lemon Juice)
Vinegar has become a well known organic way of eradicating weeds. Some
people say that they're able to get rid of weeds merely by spraying
household vinegar on them. Others say that you need to buy a higher
concentration of vinegar in order for it to be effective. I would check
one of the bottled organic vinegar solutions at your garden center to
see what concentration of vinegar they're using. It wouldnÂt hurt to add
lemon juice to your homemade weed killing formula either. Word has it
that the combo of vinegar and lemon juice is a dynamo for killing weeds.
BUTTERMILK
So you think that buttermilk is just a method for helping pots get that
aged look or for getting moss to grow? Well, think again. For those
pesky mites, the teeny tiny, reddish insects that you can barely see
with the naked eye (but that can do tremendous damage to a plant in what
seems like no time at all causing yellow foliage and twisted leaf tips),
here is a homemade formula that is sure to solve your mite problem. Mix
½ Cup of buttermilk with 4 cups of wheat flour and 5 gallons of water.
Strain this mixture through a cheesecloth. Spray it onto the diseased
plants. It will kill all of the mites and their eggs.
GARLIC
A mixture of 1 chopped garlic bulb and 1 T. of cayenne pepper
steeped in 1-2 quart of water creates a mixture that will help keep cats
and dogs out of the garden. Adding 1 t. of liquid dishwashing soap to
help this spicy combination adhere to the plant. Strain the portion that
you are going to use and spray onto the plant leaves. The remainder of
the formula can stay fresh in the fridge for several weeks.
IRISH SPRING SOAP
Cut up a bar of Irish Spring Soap and cut the end of an old pair of
panty hose. Put the piece of soap in the panty hose and tie onto the
trees and bushes where the deer have done damage. Before you know it,
the deer will be gone. They canÂt stand the smell of Irish Spring.
SUNLIGHT DISHWASHING LIQUID
Quite a few listeners from my show swear that the brand name of
"Sunlight Dishwashing Liquid" is the one remedy that works 100% of the
time on mites. Mix 1 T. of Sunlight with 1 gallon of water.
OLIVE OIL
If you place 1 T. of olive oil on any water surface, it will prevent
mosquitoes from breeding there.
RUBBING ALCOHOL
When in doubt, I go to my medicine cabinet and get out the old rubbing
alcohol. I soak a few cotton balls in the alcohol and rub on the
infected area for such insects as:
spider mites, aphids, slugs and whiteflies. It may take a few times
before you successfully get rid of these pests, but eventually it does
work. Rubbing alcohol is a 'must have' for the garden.
LEMON JUICE and SUGAR
In order to keep cut flowers fresher for a longer period of time, I add
1 T. of lemon juice and 1 T. of sugar to a container 2/3 filled
with cool or tepid water.
I'll add one. For potato bugs use self rising flour. The baking powder in the flour will cause them to blow up from eating it. This I know works."
keski
lowraine
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