Natural Pest Control

[johno]

It's just about the time of year when bugs start quietly growing and propagating, and soon afterwards some of them can become a serious problem. My inclination is to encourage beneficial insects, microbes, and other creepy-crawlies to deal with the bad guys, but that's not always reliable...

I thought we should have a thread to discuss homemade sprays, OMRI approved products, etc. for dealing with garden pests.

Here's a link to some homemade insecticides to kick us off:
organicgardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/cheap_organic_pest_control

[Alan]

Thanks for that link Johno.

For most soft shelled bugs I use two teaspoons of palm olive original or Ivory original in a gallon of water sprayed by hand.

For potato bugs, here is a neat trick, nock them off with a stick early in the morning on hot days, some of them will crawl back on the plants, others out of instinct (fear of birds), will lie on the ground without movement and bake in the sun or be eaten by birds, you never get rid of all of them, but it greatly reduces the numbers and is a nice exersize free of monetary constraints and chemical inputs.

For powdery mildew, one cup of whole milk to one gallon of water (approximately) will keep it under control (how, I don't know, I picked this up from a great, great, uncle in the middle of nowhere in appalachian KY).

Any others?

Of course for most insect pests you can brew a nicotine tea using dried tobacoo leaves from your own stock or snuff/dip (natural), be carefull this stuff is wide spectrum and kills indescriminetly.

Then you can also use hot pepper spray (capsium peppers), use only fruit from undiseased plants to make the spray, I use a fish pump aerator to do make all of these teas, for the peppers I dry and grind the skin and seeds and steep them for several days.

[plantsnobin]

Lye soap dissovled in water will kill wasps.

[johno]

Here's a useful link that allows you to look up the pest, and what is the best treatment - Biorationals: Ecological Pest Management Database, by ATTRA. For example: you can select 'insect,' then select 'striped cucumber beetle,' and it will tell you basically that pyrethrins and diatomaceous earth are the two recommended "biorational" controls. From there you can search what companies sell them, and under which names, if you like.

attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/biorationals/biorationals_main_srch.php

I hope you find it useful.

[raymondo]

'Glue' spray for sapsuckers - aphids, scale etc. Dissolve as much flour in water as necessary to make a thick but still sprayable liquid. Spray the offenders not forgetting the underside of leaves. Leave for some hours then hose off. Not a good idea on a hot day as it smothers the plant as well. I add a little soap to help it stick. Wash out the sprayer immediately after use.