Non-toxic Pest Control

To prevent insect damage, keep a close eye on your garden. Check plants at least once a week for pests. Remove slugs, snails, and other large pests by picking them off plants; wash aphids off with a strong spray of water from the hose. To keep down populations of pests, keep your garden beds clean and free of weeds and other debris.

Tips for using garden sprays
Natural insecticidal sprays can be effective controls for garden pests, but they can also cause damage by burning leaves or harming tender plants. To be on the safe side, first test a few plants (or a few leaves if you are treating one large plant) for sensitivity before spraying an entire bed. Check for damage after a couple of days. Apply an insecticide spray in the evening, and soak the plant thoroughly with the spray, including the undersides of leaves.

Simple soap spray
This spray kills a wide variety of soft bodied insects, including spider mites mealybugs. aphids, and whiteflies.

1 tablespoon natural liquid dishwashing soap
2.5 litres (4 pints) water

Mix the ingredients together in a pump-type garden sprayer and shaky well. Apply the spray liberally to plants each week and after every rain until you have the pest problem unaer cons oi.

Avoid spraying plants in the sun
To prevent the sun's rays from damaging a plant's leaves, use soap and other insecticide sprays in the evening or on a cloudy day.

Simple garlic spray
Garlic fends off many leaf-eating garden pests.

1 head chopped garlic
1.25 litres (2 pints) warm water

Mix the ingredients and steep for four hours. Strain through a coffee filter, pour into a spray bottle, and spray affected plants every other day for two weeks.

Garlic and pepper spray
A garlic and hot pepper spray keeps insects from eating plants.

1 head garlic
8 hot peppers
1.25 litres (2 pints) water
1/2 teaspoon natural dishwashing soap

Wearing rubber gloves, chop up the garlic and peppers and blend with water in a blender Steep overnight. Strain through a coffee filter into a pump-type garden sprayer. Add the soap and shake well. Spray your plants liberally once a week and after each rain until the pests are under control. Store the spray in your refrigerator for up to a month.

Herbal repellent spray
A spray made from rue, feverfew, and chives helps to repel destructive leafeating garden insects.

40g (1.3oz) chopped fresh feverfew leaves
20g (2/3oz) chopped fresh rue
20g (2/3oz) chopped fresh chives
1.25 litres (2 pints) boiling water
1/2 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing soap

Pour the boiling water over the herbs, cover, and steep until cool. Strain and pour into a pump-type garden sprayer Add the soap, shake well, and spray your plants.

Tansy spray for cabbage worms
Tansy tea, sprayed on to cauliflower, broccoli, and other members of the brassicas family. helps to repel imported cabbageworms.

80g (2.75oz) chopped fresh tansy leaves
1.25 litres (2 pints) boiling water
1/2 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing soap

Pour the water over the tansy. cover, and steep until cool. Strain through a coffee filter and pour into a pumptype garden sprayer Add the soap, shake well, and spray your plants.

Wormwood spray for aphids
A strong tea of wormwood helps to keep aphids away from plants.

80g (2.75oz) chopped fresh wormwood leaves
1.25 litres (2 pints) boiling water
1/2 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing soap

Pour the boiling water over the wormwood. cover, and steep until cool. Strain through a coffee filter and pour into a pump-type garden sprayer. Add the dishwashing soap. shake well, and spray your plants.

Essential oil repellent spray
Thyme, sage, and lavender essential oils help to control a variety of destructive garden insects.

3 drops thyme essential oil
3 drops sage essential oil
5 drops lavender essential oil
1 teaspoon vodka or rubbing alcohol 2.5 litres (4 pints) water

Mix the essential oils with the vodka to help them disperse evenly in the water. Combine with the water in a pump-type garden sprayer and thoroughly spray your plants.

Tobacco spray
Nicotine is toxic to various pests, especially aphids. leafhoppers, thrips, and leafminers. It's toxic to beneficial insects, too, so use as a last resort

15g (1/2oz) dried crushed tobacco leaves
2.5 litres (4 pints) warm water
1 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing
soap

Soak the tobacco in water for half an hour and strain. Add the dishwashing soap and shake well. Using a pumptype garden sprayer, spray the leaves thoroughly with the solution. Store in a cool place in a tightly covered container for up to two weeks.

Tomato leaf spray
Tomato leaves are rich in alkaloids that are highly toxic to insects. A tomato leaf spray can help to control aphids and corn earworms.

80g (2.75oz) chopped tomato leaves 1.25 litres (2 pints) water
1 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing soap

Soak the tomato leaves in water overnight. Strain through muslin, pour into a pump-type garden sprayer, and add the soap. Shake well. and spray your plants liberally.

.Hot pepper dust to combat ants
A combination of powdered cayenne pepper, garlic, and dill helps to keep ants away from plants.
65g (2oz) powdered cayenne pepper 60g (2oz) powdered garlic 60g (2oz) powdered dill
Buy powdered herbs or grind dried herbs into a powder in a coffee grinder. Mix them together, and sprinkle liberally around affected plants in a wide margin.

Potato flour spray for suffocating pests
A spray made from potato flour is non-toxic, but kills by suffocating pests. It helps to control aphids, thrips, whiteflies. and spider mites.

30g (1 oz) potato flour
1.25 litres (2 pints) warm water
1 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing soap

Mix the potato flour with the water until it is thoroughly dissolved. Pour into a pump-type garden sprayer and add the dishwashing soap. Shake well and spray your plants liberally.

Defeat cabbage root flies with paper
Cabbage root flies deposit their eggs around the base of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and other brassicas.The eggs hatch into maggots, which tunnel into roots and kill plants.To foil cabbage root flies, place a 15cm (6in) square of heavy paper around the base of each young plant Cut a slit in the paper large enough to slide the plant stem through before planting.

Control aphids
One of the most common garden pests. aphids multiply rapidly and blanket tender new growth of roses. vegetables, and perennials. Aphids weaken plants by sucking out the sap.This spray helps to control them.

1 teaspoon natural liquid dishwashing soap
2 teaspoons light cooking oil
2.5 litres (4 pints) water

Combine the soap. oil, and 250ml (Bfl oz) of water and mix together thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a pump-type garden sprayer. Shake well, add the remaining water, and then shake again. Liberally spray each and every aphid-infested plant with the solution once a week and after each shower of rain until the aphids are under control.

Eggshell barrier to combat slugs and snails
To discourage slugs and snails from gaining access to your plants, place a generous barrier of coarsely crushed eggshells in a circle around the base of each plant

Banish slugs and snails
Slugs and snails come out at night. and eat large, ragged holes in leaves and chew off tender new growth. Handpick them at night sprinkle salt on slugs to dehydrate them. During the day, they hide in cool, moist places. Set out large plastic flower pots turned upside down with one edge lifted slightly for the pests to crawl under. Each morning, dispose of the slugs and snails you find there.

Protect plants from slugs and snails
To prevent both slugs and snails from chewing on your plants, place a ring of diatomaceous earth around the perimeter of the garden or around the specific plants you wish to protect. Diatomaceous earth is a fine powder made from the microscopic skeletons of marine algae and can be purchased at garden supply centres. Their razor-like structure cuts into snails and slugs and dehydrates them. To be effective. diatomaceous earth must be re-applied after every rain.

Lure snails and slugs with beer
Snails and slugs are attracted to traps of stale beer. Bury a shallow pan so the top is level with the soil and fill it halfway with beer. Place pans where you have seen evidence of snail and slug activity. In attempting to drink the beer, the pests fall in and drown.

Copper barriers
Copper strips, available at garden centres, make an effective slug and snail barrier Slugs and snails generally will not cross copper; they receive a mild electric shock when their slimy bodies touch the metal.To protect garden beds, bury a 10cm (4in) wide strip of copper one inch into the ground. and bend the top 12mm (0.5in) of the metal outward to create a lip.

Remove cabbage white caterpillars
These caterpillars love cabbage family plants. but also eat the leaves of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, and peas. They are easy to spot and can be picked off by hand. Garlic spray (see No. 799) also deters them. Crops can be treated with Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), a naturally occurring bacteria which kills caterpillars and is not toxic to humans or other mammals. Use BT specifically on plants infested with pest caterpillars to avoid killing the larvae of other butterflies.

Cover plants with fabric
To protect your plants from pests, cover them with sheer fabrics, such as muslin or nylon mesh, tacked on to simple bamboo or wood frames. Buy special lightweight floating row covers at garden centres, which allow your plants plenty of sun but protect them from insect damage.

Natural insect repellent
Citronella, lavender, and eucalyptus oils help keep mosquitoes and other biting insects at bay without the toxic side effects of chemical repellents.

1-1/2 teaspoons citronella essential oil
1-1/2 teaspoons lavender essential oil
3/4 teaspoon eucalyptus essential oil
1 teaspoon jojoba oil 250m1(8fl oz) distilled witch hazel

Mix the essential oils and jojoba oil in a glass spray bottle. Shake well. Add the witch hazel and shake again. Spray on your body and clothing, avoiding your eyes and mucous membranes.

Thwart cutworms
Cutworms are rarely seen in daylight hours, but at night these fat gray or brown caterpillars cause serious damage in the vegetable garden. They devour small seedlings and transplants, and sever young plant stems at soil level. Protecting plants from cutworms is the most effective approach. Save cardboard rolls from paper towels and toilet paper; cut to 15cm (6in) high, and place around the plant to create a physical barrier, sinking the tube 25mm (I in) below the soil level.

Enlist birds to eliminate cutworms
Birds love cutworm larvae and, if given a chance, will quickly eliminate a significant number of the pests frorr your garden.To expose the larvae, dig over your soil several times over a period of a couple of days before planting-you'll find that birds will quickly descend on your garden for a cutworm feast

Trap wireworms
Wireworms are the larvae of click beetles; they burrow into root vegetables such as carrots and potatoes as well as flower bulbs.
To trap them, cut chunks of potatoes and thread one or two pieces on to a bamboo skewer. Bury the chunks near root vegetable crops, using the skewer as a marker. Check the traps after a couple of days and dispose of the larvae infested potatoes.

Eradicate root-knot nematodes
These nematodes are microscopic soil-dwelling worms that infest the roots of many garden vegetables, especially lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots. Nematodes weaken plants and cause wilting. pale or yellowed leaves. and stunted flowers and fruit. If you pull up a plant the root will be swollen and knotted.To treat a nematode infestation, remove the plants from the bed and plant a thick cover crop of strongly scented marigolds.Tum the marigolds into the bed in the autumn.

Get rid of earwigs with oil and molasses
Earwigs are small brown insects with telltale pincers protruding from their backsides.They like to feed on soft plants such as lettuces and flowers. They hide during the day and come out at night to feed.To make a trap for earwigs. fill an unwashed 175g (6oz) tuna can with 12mm (0.5in) of vegetable oil and half a teaspoon of molasses. Place several cans of this mixture around your garden near susceptible plants. Replace weekly or as needed.

Foil earwigs with newspaper traps
Earwigs search out dark, moist spots during the hours of daylight Rolled-up newspapers secured with a rubber band and moistened with water provide just the kind of place they like to hide. Place a few of these newspaper traps around your garden; in the morning dispose of the pests.