Free Organic Home Remedies to Battle the Bugs
To begin with, try companion and trap plants, which combat troublesome insects
when planted near more valued plants. These helpful trap plants either repel
insects from the general area, or attract insects to them so that they can be
trapped and destroyed in considerable numbers. Examples o trap plants are larckspur and white geraniums, which can be used to attract Japanese beetles
away from tomatoes; when the beetles congregate on these plants, they can be
collected and destroyed.
Companion plants, plants that repel insects, include
marigolds, which cut down on nematodes in the soil; begonias, which are never
approached by aphids; and garlic, which repels many insects. Experiment with
other plants, too. Observe combinations that seem to work in the garden.
There are also a number of homemade organic repellents that will combat pests
and do no ecological harm. They include:
Compost Solution - A spade full of compost soaked in a bucket of water for an
hour or so and sprinkled over plants will both fertilize them and repel a number
of insects.
Garlic Pepper Soap Spray - Blend together four crushed cloves of garlic, four
tablespoons of hot pepper, a cake of strong soap, and a cup of hot water.
Dissolve in two gallons of hot water (the size of most watering cans), cool, and
use for a general insect spray.
Garlic Spray - Press a garlic clove and mix the oily juice with a gallon of
water for an all purpose spray.
Ground Hot Pepper - Sprinkle on plants for protection against insects.
Hot pepper Spray - Grind hot pepper pods and mix with an equal amount of water
and a little soap powder for use against tomato worms.
Onion Spray - Chop onions finely in an electric blender or by hand and mix one
tablespoon with a pint of water for an all purpose spray.
Pickled Peppers - A pint (or a peck) of pickled peppers put through a blender
and sprinkled over plants makes a good general insecticide.
Rhubarb Leaves - Soak three pounds of the leaves in three quarts of water for an
hour and sprinkle over plants infected with aphids.
Soapy Water - A soapy solution sprayed or splashed on tomato plants serves as a
good general purpose insect repellent. Green soap or soaps made with fish or
coconut oils are best, but any will do. Hose off the soap a few minutes after
applying it or it might harm plants. Some gardeners mix one cup of green soap
with two cloves of garlic and three gallons of water for a soap solution.
Tomato leaf Spray - Tomato leaves contain solanine, an alkaloid that is a
repellent to many insects, including aphids. Boil the leaves and stems in water
and spray the solution on plants when it cools.
Vegetable Spray - Grind finely and mix two hot peppers, a large onion, a garlic
clove, and a teaspoon of detergent and let this set in a little water for a day
or so. Strain it and add the liquid to a pint of water for an all purpose insect
spray. You can use geranium leaves, mint and other strong flavored plants in the
mix, too.
Water - A fine hose spray of water will kill aphids and many other insects, or
knock them off the plants. The water also dilutes the juices aphids feed on,
thus turning the bugs off so that they do little damage.
Insect Allies That Will Work for Nothing in the Garden
Scientists estimate that 99 percent of the 1.6 million known insect species are
beneficial to plants. Learn which insects are helpful to plants and don't harm
them; in fact, introduce them into the garden where possible. The same applies
to birds and other wildlife. A list of some of these "good guys" follows:
Assassin Bugs - Long legged brown insects 3/4 inch long, with wings folded
together over the body. They do bite people if bothered, but if left alone
devour a good many harmful insects, grabbing them by the front legs and
"assassinating" them.
Assassin Flies - Hairy black and gray flies about 1-2 inches long with yellowish
legs. They prey on many insects.
Birds - Birds can be a problem, but their good qualities
usually far outnumber their bad habits. Little birds especially are apt to
be meat eaters and won't harm plants. Most birds feed voraciously on
slugs, aphids, and other harmful bugs.
Centipedes - Flat, brown, many legged creatures with one pair of legs per
segment (unlike the slightly harmful millipede, with two pairs per segment) that
often live under rocks. They dine on several types of insects, as well as slugs
and snails.
Damsel Bugs - These resemble the assassin bug, but are only about half their
size. They feed on aphids and other small, soft bodied insects.
Doodlebug - A plump brown insect with jaws like forceps. Doodlebugs trap and
destroy ants, which often carry aphids. They dig a cone shaped hole in the
ground, hide at the bottom, and wait until an ant falls in.
Dragonflies - Large (2 inches long) insects with big eyes and transparent wings,
these fast fliers catch other insects with their legs while airborne.
Flower Flies - Small (3/8 inch long) insects that resemble bees. Flower flies
hover over flowers and pounce on aphids and other harmful insects.
Lacewing Flies - Delicate, 2 inch long pale green insects with golden eyes and
filmy wings twice the size of their bodies. Lacewing fly larvae are about 3 inch
long, yellowish and torpedo shaped, with hairs on the body and jaws shaped like
forceps. These larvae are called aphid lions because of the prodigious amount of
aphids they eat. Lacewing larvae are also valuable because they devour hard to
kill mites and other insects.
Ladybugs - Ladybugs, the best known beneficial insects, comprise some 350
species around the world. They feed on aphids, mites, white flies, scale
insects, and the eggs of other insects.
Moles - Moles can be destructive in the garden, but they do eat grubs, cutworms,
and other harmful insects.
Praying Mantis - Another familiar insect, often kept by kids as a pet, the
praying mantis lives entirely on insects like aphids. Huge by insect standards
(about 5 inches long), they are greenish or brown and have triangular heads that
they turn from side to side. Their front legs are held in a "praying" position,
ready to seize other insects.
Spiders - Spiders destroy numerous garden pests. They have eight legs, insects
six - count the legs if you're in doubt.
Toads - Keep a pet toad in the garden and it will devour many pests, including
cutworms, slugs, and stink bugs. Toads can be attracted by keeping a clay pan
filled with water in a shady part of the garden.
Trichogramma Wasps - These are tiny microscopic insects whose black eggs are
often found in the garden. The wasps deposit these eggs among the eggs of more
than 200 harmful insects. When the trichogramma eggs hatch, the larvae kill the
embryos of their host eggs. So leave those black eggs alone.
Hornets, ground beetles
- and many other insects can also be helpful in the
vegetable patch; only the most common benefactors could be mentioned above. If
you want to introduce beneficial insects to the garden, there are quite a few
insectaries that sell ladybugs, trichogramma wasps, and other good guys. A pint
of ladybugs contains about 10,000 of the little insects and costs only three or
four dollars.
How to Eliminate Slugs and Snails in the Garden
Dark, slimy, soft bodied, snail like forms up to four inches long that are
voracious night feeders, slugs feed on foliage and even on fruit near the
ground. They hide under rocks, boards, mulch, and other objects in the daytime
and travel at night, lubricating their nocturnal paths with slimy mucus like
secretion. It takes them about eight days to travel a mile, even when they swing
from plant to plant via mucous ropes. Carefully inspect the garden, especially
under rocks, mulch, and so on, and destroy any slugs you find by dropping them
into kerosene. You can also put boards in the garden to attract them, or use
cabbage leaves for the same purpose. As slugs need lubrication to travel,
placing a circle of dry sand, sea sand, ashes, sawdust, or hydrated lime around
plants will stymie them. Keeping plants staked also helps, as do coarse scratchy
mulches like hay. Replacing soil at the base of plants with rocks helps to
prevent slugs from crawling up the plants.
To kill slugs.,
-
Place near plants shallow
pans of stale beer that the slugs will crawl into and drown in (beer
attracts thirty times as many slugs as commercial baits, says the USDA);
-
Use a pan of one tablespoon
of flour and 8 teaspoons of yeast mixed with a cup of water in the same
way as beer;
-
Use solutions of grape wine,
blackberry wine, or vinegar in the way you would use beer;
-
Sprinkle salt on the slugs
or spray them with two tablespoons of salt dissolved in a quart of hot
water (though excess salt residue in the soil is harmful);
In the early spring you can
help destroy the slug population by turning over the soil so that slug
eggs are exposed and dry out and die in the sun. Try not to have the soil
too acid slugs thrive on an acid soil.
Free Houseplant Prescriptions
* A good general treatment for sick plants: put several empty eggshells into a
milk bottle filled with water and let stand for a day. Then water the plants
with this mixture.
* To revive "sick" ferns, water them with one half teacup of salt added to six
pints of lukewarm water. If ferns are infested with worms, stick matches into
the soil, sulphur end down. For an ordinary sized plant, use four matches; six
for a large pot. The sulphur does the trick.
* The best way to remove mealy bugs from African violets is to dip a small swab
in alcohol and touch each bug individually. It's time consuming, but reliable.
Don't touch the leaves; this will cause brown patches.
* Remove mites and thrips from houseplants by dipping the plants in 110'F. water
to which 3 tablespoons of Fels Naphtha has been added per gallon. .
* Swab dust from houseplant leaves with Q tips, which are small enough to get in
all the corners.
* If green algae forms on the soil of your houseplants, stir up the surface and
water once a month with a solution of potassium permanganate - one half a
teaspoon per gallon.
Seven Free Ways to Keep Birds out of the Berry Patch
Birds are probably the worst pests you'll encounter in raising berries. They can
be harmful to tomatoes and other crops, too, though a berry garden will attract
many beautiful species you wouldn't have otherwise seen. To prevent birds from
devouring the entire crop, try any of the following methods in addition to the
time honored scarecrow:
* Pieces of rope or garden hose placed at strategic sites are sometimes mistaken
for snakes by birds, who keep their distance.
* White string wrapped around bushes looks like spider webs to birds and scares
them off because birds fear spiders.
* Broken mirrors or aluminum pie plates strung on bushes often frighten birds
away.
* Some gardeners leave transistor radios on in the berry patch, since the birds
evidently appreciate neither rock nor classical music.
* Another ploy is to plant berries for the birds; that is, plant enough of'their
favorites, such as mulberry trees, to divert them from precious raspberries and
strawberries. Birds have actually been known to get drunk on overripe, fermented
wild berries. It is not unusual for waxwings, for example, to get smashed on
fermented rowanberries; and crash into cars on the road, and ducks can get so
drunk on overripe mulberries; that they cannot fly.
* All berries and tomatoes can be protected by covering them with cheesecloth or
clear plastic. Either can be draped around individual bushes or spread over the
strawberry patch. Cheesecloth, because it comes in narrow widths, has to be sewn
together to make a piece big enough to cover a strawberry patch. It can be
spread right over the plants and anchored down on the sides or attached to a
frame constructed around the bed. Clear plastic can be used in the same ways,
plants. But punch small holes in it to provide good air circulation.
* Experimenters have found that human hair packed in nylon nets repels deer when
the nets are hung on the branches of trees and shrubs.