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How to Make Homemade Pesticide
How to Make Homemade Pesticide. Using pesticides around a home with pets or small children can prove challenging. Many household items, which are generally safe, can be used to make homemade pesticides that work as well or better than the chemical concoctions found on supermarket or garden center shelves.
Using pesticides around a home with pets or small children can prove challenging. Many household items, which are generally safe, can be used to make homemade pesticides that work as well or better than the chemical concoctions found on supermarket or garden center shelves.
Things You'll Need
Spray bottle
Dedicated blender or food processor
Protective gloves
Mix homemade garden sprays using water and plants (or dried powders) from the garden such as hot peppers, onions and garlic. Add a drop of dish detergent to help the solution stick and store in a spray bottle to apply to infested vegetables or flowers.
Capture a handful of the problem insects, drop them in a blender and hit the mix button. Pour the paste into a shallow dish and place where the problem insects are located. Ground-up insects will repel their own kind.
Use companion planting techniques and plant garlic bulbs around the roses and fruit trees. The garlic will repel Japanese beetles and aphids.
Sprinkle diatomaceous earth in areas where slugs or snails are a problem. The microscopic sharp spikes of this material pierce the skins of these soft-bodied pests and they die.
Visit the pantry for some homemade pesticides that are commonly available. Sprinkle flour or powdered sugar on cabbageworms and table salt on slugs and snails.
Paint a mixture of cooking oil and soapy water on the bark of infested fruit trees to smother the eggs of problem insects.
=Mix a quarter pound of cedar chips with one gallon of water and let sit for two hours. Use the spray on beetles.
Grow a mosquito plant, pennyroyal or eucalyptus in the garden to repel insects. Make a tincture of pennyroyal and apply to repel annoying black flies and gnats.
Add a quarter pound of animal glue to a gallon of warm water and spray on trees and bushes to trap insects.
Use household borax in dry form or mix with water to repel ants in and around the house. The ants will eat the sweet material and carry it back to their homes where they die.
Make a trap for slugs by placing an almost empty can of beer on its side in the garden. Slugs and snails will go into the can to drink the fermented liquid and not come out.
Place a yellow pan with soapy water out in the garden to attract aphids and beetles. They are attracted to their favorite color and the soapy water suffocates them.
Create a toxic infusion of rhubarb leaves or tobacco leaves in water to spray in the garden or on flowers. This homemade pesticide is also toxic to humans so handle with care. Avoid spraying on tomatoes.
Tips & Warnings
Wear gloves, label all containers, and wash hands when handling pesticides.
Store all pesticides, whether homemade or purchased, away from children and pets.
