Natural Remedies to Get Rid of Common Garden Pests
Are insects bug…ging your plants? (pun intended) How about trying some of these natural remedies for ridding your garden of some common pests? These natural methods are especially beneficial if you have any sort of pets and would like to avoid strong poisons in your garden and on your plants as this will also actually ward off some useful insects such as bumble bees for instance. So take a look at this list and share in the comments if you know of some other interesting home remedies to rid your garden of pests, that I may not have mentioned.
1. Soapy Water
Firstly one of the most common known remedies, using some soapy water to spray your plants. Use about 5 tablespoons of dish soap and mix with 4 cups of water in a spray bottle, shake to mix and spray onto your plants. A simple yet effective way to get rid of those pesky tiny, red little spider mites you might have seen creeping around your precious plants.
2. Beer
Yes, you read that right, beer can also be a very delicious temptation for snails and slugs. Set out a shallow saucer filled with beer to trap snails and slugs as they also like chugging on some Castle Light. This will lure them away from chewing on your delectable plants’ leaves and allow you the opportunity to catch them if you’d like.
3. Garlic
Garlic isn’t just for scaring away vampires, garlic also works wonders on warding off creepy crawly insects. Just put a clove of garlic into the soil of one of your pot plants and watch as bugs shudder away from the garlicky smell.
4. Essential Oil Spray
You can make a spray using some easy-to-get store-bought essential oils. Simply dilute a couple of drops of essential oil with water (5-10 drops with about 250ml of water should do, precision is not crucial in this and you can simply eyeball how much essential oil you use). Essential oils that work for pests include peppermint, lavender, basil, thyme and sage oil. Plus as a bonus, if you spray your essential oil mix onto houseplants, you will also be gifted their heavenly herbal scent to linger around your home.
5. Nicotine
No, you don’t need to smoke out those pesky pests. You can simply use about 1 cup of dried and crushed tobacco leaves, soak them in about 3.5l of hot water and half a teaspoon of dish soap to create a tobacco spray. Let soak for half an hour and spray directly onto your plants’ leaves.
There you go, some interesting home remedies to rid your plants of pests. Let us know in the comments what other weird or interesting remedies you might know of, or if you have tried out some of these methods and if they have worked for you. Thank you if you took the time to read today’s post and have a lovely weekend.