Companion Plantings and Pesticide recipes

With many recipes and ways to drive those pests over to visit with 
your neighbors. Yu might want to use companion planting, and trap 
crops, which also work and can add beauty to your yard and gardens as 
well.

APHIDS:
To keep aphids and other pests off: Finely chop
1 onion 
2 medium cloves of garlic

Put ingredients into a blender with 2 cups of water and blend on 
high. Strain out pulp. Pour liquid into spray bottle. Spray a fine 
mist on rose bushes, making sure to coat both tops and bottoms of 
leaves.
(see beneficial insects)

ALUMINUM FOIL "FOILS" APHIDS

Use an aluminum foil mulch around the base of plants such as 
tomatoes. The reflection confuses the insects and drives them away.

SPIDER MITES:
Combine 1/2 cup buttermilk, 4 cups wheat flour and 5 gallons water. 
Suffocates spider mites and other mites.

MEALYBUGS:
Apply rubbing alcohol to insect clusters with cotton swab. Wash with
insecticidal soap and rinse. Isolate infected plant if possible.

CABBAGE WORMS:
Sprinkle flour on developing cabbage heads. The flour swells up 
inside the worms and bursts their intestines.

SLUGS:
Sprinkle salt directly onto slug. They shrivel up and die. 
Place shallow bowl of beer on the ground near slug trails and leave 
overnight. Copper wire? Coil a piece of wire around the base of your 
plants to give slugs a shocking experience. They won't come back.

GENERAL INSECT REPELLENT:
To help protect flowers, vegetables and shrubs from insects attacks. 

Recipe 1:

1/2 cup dead insects 
2 cups water

When insects infest flowers, vegetables or shrubs, identify and 
gather the pests. Collect at least 1/2 cupful. Place in an old 
blender with the water. Blend on high, and then strain out the pulp 
using a cheesecloth or fine sieve. Dilute at a rate of 1/4 cup to 1 
cup of water. Pour liquid into a spray bottle and apply to plants. 
Will keep up to a year, stored in a tightly sealed container. 

Recipe 2:

3 hot green peppers (canned or fresh) 
2 or 3 cloves garlic 
3/4 tsp liquid soap 
3 cups raw water

Puree the peppers and garlic cloves in a blender. Pour into a spray 
bottle and add the liquid soap and water. Let stand 24 hours. Strain 
out pulp and spray onto infested plants, making sure to coat both 
tops and bottoms of leaves. 

CAUTION: Always test any new insecticide on a few small leaves before 
starting a full-scale application.

NATURE'S INSECTICIDES

Basil: Plant with tomatoes to improve growth and flavor. Plant with 
asparagus to increase vigor. Plant near compost pile to keep insects 
away. Plant around doors and windows to keep insects away. DO NOT 
plant with Rue.

Bay Leaf: A fresh bay leaf in storage containers of beans or grains 
will deter weevils and moths.

Borage: Plant with tomatoes, squash, and strawberries to deter horn 
worms and black flea beetles. Also attracts honeybees. Plant as close 
as possible to compost pile; adds potassium, calcium, and other 
minerals when decomposing.

Caraway: Good for loosening compacted soil.

Catnip: Deters flea beetles.

Chamomile: Improves flavor of cabbage and onions. Also promotes 
growth in nearby plants.

Chervil: Improves growth and flavor of radishes.

Dill: Improves growth and health of cabbages. DO NOT plant with 
carrots or tomatoes.

Fennel: DO NOT plant in garden for any reason. Plant separately, 
plant coriander with it to prevent seeds from setting. Attracts bees.

Garlic: Plant with roses, raspberries, and lettuce to repel aphids 
and Japanese beetles. Also repels blight from potatoes and tomatoes, 
flea beetles from potatoes, red spiders from tomatoes, and green 
lopers from cabbage. DO NOT plant near peas.

Horseradish: Plant near potatoes to repel potato bugs. Also at the 
base of fruit trees to fight fruit rot.

Hyssop: Plant with grapevines to increase grape yield. DO NOT plant 
with radishes.

Lovage: Plant with any plant; improves health of all vegetables.

Marjoram: Plant with any plant; improves flavor and health.

Mint: Plant with tomatoes and cabbage to improve health. Also repels 
cabbageworm; black flea beetles from radishes; hornworm from 
tomatoes; ants from almost everything.

Parsley: Plant with roses to repel rose beetles; Mix with carrot 
seeds to repel carrot flies; Attracts bees second year if allowed to 
flower.

Rosemary: Plant with cabbage, beans, and carrots to improve overall 
health.

Sage: Repels cabbageworm, and white cabbage butterfly. Also repels 
carrot flies. DO NOT plant near cucumbers.

Southernwood: Plant near cabbage to repel cabbagemoths; also dried 
leaves repel ants.

Savory: Plant with beans and onions to improve flavor; repels cabbage 
moths, hornworms, and black flea beetles.

Tansy: Plant with blackberries, grapes, raspberries, and roses; 
repels cane borers. Also repels flying insects, Japanese beetles, 
striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs, cabbageworms, cabbage 
butterfly, and ants.

Thyme: Deters cabbage butterfly and cabbageworms.

Valerian: Plant anywhere in the garden to attract earthworms.

Yarrow: Plant with any other herb to increase the oils in that herb. 
Also good with any vegetable.

Sugar Ant Hotel More Pest Control Solutions 
by Annie Berthold-Bond, Care2.com Producer, Green Living Channels 
The ants go marching one by one into this homemade sugar ant hotel. I 
make three to six of them every ant season, place a few in the 
kitchen, and wherever else ants like to frequent. There are a number 
of herbs such as mint and pennyroyal, and spices such as cayenne 
pepper, that repel ants, but I've never had to do much more than make 
these ant-trap hotels to rid our house of these common spring and 
summer pests. 

Simple Solution: 
Sugar Ant Hotel

a.. 1 cup borax 
b.. 1 cup sugar water 
c.. 4 shallow glass jars with screw tops (small jar of marinated 
artichoke heart jars are ideal) 
d.. 4 loose wads of toilet paper 

In a bowl, mix the borax and sugar. Place a loose wad of toilet paper 
into each of four different screw-top jars. Pour a quarter of the 
sugar and borax mixture into each of the four jars, over the toilet 
paper. Fill each jar with water to one inch of the top. Screw the 
lids on the jars, and with a hammer and nail, make four to eight 
holes in the lid. Place the jars in areas where you have ants (but 
keep away from pets and children). 

Helpful Hints: 
This ant trap will catch the workers but not the queen. A more 
comprehensive solution is to blend 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar 
and one tablespoon of borax and sprinkle it in ant traffic areas. 
There is not enough borax with this method to kill the worker ants 
immediately, so they take it back to the nest, ultimately eradicating 
it. (If the worker ants do die at the powder, cut back on the borax.) 

Caution: Keep borax products away from pets and other animals.

This is a start to get you on the right track to a more healthful and 
productive garden and orchard.

Jon Wood-Master Gardener, and Organic Homesteader


