"Insecticide." The word along makes me cringe. I am sure BlogSpot will inundate this post with adds for round-up and other chemicals that may very well kill the pests in your garden but may also poison your backyard's ecosystem. But this post is about a natural system of ridding your garden of pests... well that is a lofty dream... let's just try to cut the pest population down to a reasonable size.
First, a word of caution: this solution can cause leaves (especially tomato leaves) to burn. Do not use in direct sunlight. Apply the solution around dusk or dawn. Let it sit for 20 minutes or so. And then water your garden to wash the solution off.
Also, this solution will kill beneficial insects like ladybugs and ladybug nymphs (learn what a lady bug nymph looks like). So try do not to spray them!
The solution is simple:
Dish soap and water. Yep, that's it! (I use seventh generation or another plant based dish soap). Dish soap and water works really well on a large variety of garden pests. Just fill a spray bottle with water. Add about a tablespoon of dish soap. Shake/mix. Spray directly on insects (they like to hang out on the undersides of the leaves.) Water afterwards.
Squirting the underside of leaves can be exhausted, so I like to use a insecticide sprayer. Add a tablespoon of soap to one gallon of water. Mix. Pump to pressurize. Spray away! And then water.
So far I have successfully used it to combat aphids and squash bugs.
What insects have you found it useful on? Please comment!
No comments:
Post a Comment