Recovering The SelfA Journal of Hope and Healing

Environment

Non-Toxic Homemade Remedies for Common Garden Pests

by Jesse Hughes

Pests come in all shapes and sizes but they have one thing in common; they are going to be a nuisance and potentially cause damage to your home or yard.

When you discover you have a pest problem, the easiest solution is to call your local pest control service and get them to deal with it.

While this can be very effective you may prefer to adopt a more natural approach. This should help to prevent the ingress of toxic chemicals into the ground and ultimately our water supply.

The good news is that there is a natural solution to almost every type of garden pest. The bad news is that just agricultural usage of pesticides is likely to hit $2.9 billion by 2020!

Here are a few natural remedies you can use to help get rid of garden pests while saving the environment!

Get Rid of Weak Plants

A weak plant will attract pests as it is an easy source of food. Getting rid of them on a regular basis will help to ensure pests stay away.

Seaweed

You can get this as a spray or mulch. It will help your plants to stay healthy while preventing some pests from getting to them. Slugs are particularly adverse to seaweed.

Check Your Plants

You may not realize it but there are certain plants that actually attract your garden pests. By removing them from the garden you’ll be limiting the arrival of new pests.

Equally, you can plant a variety of plants, including rosemary, basil, bay leaves, and Venus fly traps which actually repel pests!

Canola Oil

Just one tablespoon of this with three drops of ivory soap can be mixed in water to create a natural spray pesticide.

It works particularly well on mites, aphids, and mealy bugs.

Milky Spore

This is something you should be able to pick up in your local store and then spread the granules round the base of your plants.

It is very effective at keeping grubs away. In fact milky spore will kill the grubs.

Pepper Sauce

Add one tablespoon of cayenne pepper to two drops of ivory soap and a small amount of water. Leave the mixture overnight and then start spraying in the morning.

This is great against virtually all types of insects.

Diatomaceous Earth

This natural substance is formed through the decay of fossils over thousands of years. It consists of tiny sharp pieces which are unnoticeable to the human hand.

But to insects, slugs, snails and earwigs it is deadly; effectively destroying their exoskeletons.

Potato Slices

Food attracts pests and in this instance you’ll get all the wire worms heading for your potato slices. Then you can simply discard the slices; removing the worms from the garden.

Baking Soda

This is very effective against any fungal diseases you find in your garden. Simply mix two tablespoons of baking soda with a gallon of water and then spray where you need to.

Don’t forget that any spray you make to kill garden pests can also affect the beneficial insects that visit your garden. Use with caution!

About the Author

Jesse Hughes has carved out its niche in the interior design world with a dynamic, exuberant style, unfettered by fleeting trends and underpinned by a unique creativity. Jesse has broken the mould for high-end interiors, eschewing the ‘just finished’ look to embrace the layering of carefully sourced materials, one-off pieces and commissioned artworks with their client’s own collection. This approach has brought a refreshing authenticity to his writing and has built up an enviable word-of-mouth reputation for elegant and sophisticated design.

Share This Page

PinIt

Subscribe to RTS Journal posts

DISCLAIMER: please read

Recovering The Self is a forum for people to tell their stories. Individual contributors accept complete responsibility for the veracity, accuracy, and non-infringement of their reporting.
Inclusion in Recovering The Self is neither an endorsement nor a confirmation of claims presented within. Sole responsibility lies with individual contributors, not the editor, staff, or management of Recovering The Self Journal.
Malcare WordPress Security