For humans, good health is ensured by by way of prevention: eating right, exercising, plenty of rest, etc. The same holds true for the plants in our gardens. Give them what they need (ie: plant them in the right place!) and they will grow strong and healthy and will generally be able to resist pests.
Honestly, it's not hard to keep your plants happy and healthy! Mulch regularly with compost (homemade compost or wood chips for permanent, established display beds are the best in my humble opinion). Keep your beds weed-free with regular cultivation (hoe once every few weeks with a sharpened hoe), deadhead as needed, and ensure that all plants are receiving enough water.
However, there are times that those pesky pests just seem to get the better of us and extra measures need to be taken. Before you run off to the store to buy a bottle of 'bug killer', try one of these easy, ready-at-hand remedies instead:
SLUGS & SNAILS
These pests tend to hang around a little too long when we've had a lot of rain and everything is nice & moist. Here are a few tricks to keep them at bay:
EGGSHELLS: Keep your eggshells and crush them up! Sprinkle liberally around plants as the soft-bodied slugs and snails do not like slithering over them since the sharp edges can cut and insure them. (Remember that you can also add eggshells to your compost!)
BEER: Slugs & snails just LOVE beer, but unfortunately the yeast just doesn't seem to agree with their systems and thus it becomes a fatal attraction. Pour some beer into a shallow container or dish and sink it into the earth near the plants that are suffering an excess of slug & snail visits. Check periodically for casualties & remove them (you can put them in the compost!), and be sure to refresh the beer after a rainfall.
SLUG DOUGH: This is a recipe that also takes advantage of the slugs' and snails' attraction to yeast products:
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 3 tbsp cornmeal
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 tbsp yeast
Mix all ingredients together and put into an open-top container, sunken into the ground. NOTE: you don't need to activate the yeast ahead of time!
APHIDS & OTHER SOFT-BODIED INSECTS
It is important to note that aphids generally attack plants that are already stressed. Healthy plants have a certain amount of resistance to pests, so again, make sure your plants are being mulched, cultivated and watered regularly to ensure good health. When all else fails, try these ideas:
HOSE 'EM! Sometimes just hosing the aphids off will help! Try this or mechanical removal (pick 'em off by hand) before trying anything else.
MECHANICAL REMOVAL: It's a little 'icky', but if you don't have many aphids to deal with, sometimes just picking them off the plant and squishing them is all it takes!
SUNLIGHT DISH SOAP: Add a couple of drops into a spray bottle of water and shake & spray. The soap will penetrate the soft bodies and dry them out. The soap works immediately, so after spraying the insets, water your plants, rinsing them off.
ORGANIC PESTICIDE SPRAY:
1 large, very sharp onion with skin on (the kind that really makes you cry! If it doesn't, it won't work in this recipe)
- 3 cloves of garlic
- dash chilli powder
- tbsp hot sauce
- dash powdered cayenne pepper
Put all the ingredients into a blender and liquefy, adding water as needed to keep it liquid. Pour mixture through a cheesecloth over a bowl to strain out the onion skins. Fill a spray bottle with 2" of this mixture. To that add about 1" Sunlight dish soap and enough water to make the spray come out easily through the spray nozzle. Spray the mixture directly onto the affected areas of the plant. This spray is good for aphids and white flies, plus a few fungal diseases like leaf spot and mildews because garlic has anti-fungal properties.
***IMPORTANT!!!!! Just because it's organic doesn't mean that it won't cause harm! This spray can harm beneficial insects too, so use this as a last resort and with care! A healthy garden is a balanced environment. In order to have the beneficial insects around they need to have food. This means that some tolerance of pests is required. So don't panic if you see a couple of aphids or a slug or a caterpillar. Know that they are there to feed the 'garden guardians', like ladybugs, lacewings and other predatory insects. In the end Mother Nature does most of the work for us. All we need to do is slow down and smell the roses!
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