Keep Your Garden Pest Free With These Natural Pesticides


If you’re getting started with your backyard or container garden and want to be ready for when the inevitable unwanted guests move in, you don’t have to run out and grab a couple of bottles of commercial pesticide from your local hardware store — there are safer, more natural options that won’t leave your fledgling produce covered in chemicals. Best of all, you probably have the ingredients for them already.

We don’t mean to bemoan the use of garden pesticides — not all of them are bad and you should use whatever makes you comfortable and keeps the pests away on your personal garden. However, the folks at Apartment Therapy have some great bug-repelling concoctions that you can load into a few spray bottles to keep your plants happy and the pests away. Just raid your spice drawer for some garlic, chilli powder, baking soda and cooking oil. Head to the bathroom and pick up some lemon or essential oil and come back to the kitchen for a little dish-washing liquid, your spray bottles and some water. That’s all you’ll need to make three different repellants.

The dish-washing liquid repellant will make your plants inhospitable to common pests like aphids and the like, while the garlic chilli spray is supposed to keep away beetles, slugs and even larger animals. The baking soda spray on the other hand is great for treating plants suffering from fungal diseases. Of course, depending on what you’re planting and your local climate, your mileage may vary with these tricks, but we’ve heard good things about the dish-washing liquid spray and the baking soda formula. Have you tried any of these yourself? Any other natural pest control methods you employ in your garden? Share them in the comments below.

How to Make Natural Garden Pesticides [Apartment Therapy]


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