I've had some problems with keeping down the cabbage worm population on my collard greens this year. I pick them off when I see them, but I still see carnage the next day, so I've been using a homemade insecticidal soap.
Homemade Insecticidal Soap:
1 TB. of Murphy's Oil Soap
1 gallon of water
Mix well and spray on plants when you are sure it will not rain.
It seems to have been working. I've not seen but one worm for over a week. I only sprayed once, and had to spray again today.
Janet over at Janet's Garden also uses this recipe with the addition of baking soda and mouth wash for mildew and fungus. See her before and after pictures of a sickly anemone which becomes healthy again with this spray. She also mentioned that it repelled male cats from spraying against her home. Apparently Murphy's Oil soap is a good critter repellent as well.
Gabrielle's Garden has a very helpful list of homemade garden recipes from natural gardening expert, Jerry Baker.
10 comments:
oooooh...be careful with that baking soda! I learned the hard way that baking soda will burn plants very quickly. I was trying to remedy my squash of powdery mildew and lost almost every leaf to burn from the baking soda!
Good to know...maybe Janet used less? Her recipe called for only 1 tsp per liter of water.
I also heard a milk/water recipe is helpful for powdery mildew.
Great tip! Wonder if this works on horn worm as well????? Actually, I wonder if this would work on the slugs and snails that are munching on my hostas!
(Then again, next week they are someone else's problem!)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! We just put in a beuatiful veggie garden and the horrible little insects have already set in on ruining it. I'll have to try this today.
Do you think that Janet's mixture with the baking soda will work on Spider Mites?
It's worth a try. Have you Googled spider mites and homemade remedies? You might find something helpful.
I have been battling a terrible whitefly problem on my gardenias. I'll try the insecticidal soap recipe. Any other suggestions?
Our bugs here have been resistant to this soap remedy, so I have moved to pyrethrin. It's all natural and sold at Ace Hardware stores. It can be dangerous for pets. I spray it and wait two hours until it dries before allowing the pets to out. This stuff is wonderful! It kills off fleas and ticks as well.
Alexandra,
If it is dangerous for pets can it still be used on vegetable plants?Thanks.
It's toxic cats when wet, but fine after it dies. I use it around my cat just fine.
Here's a link, but if you Google it, you'll find a lot more information:
"Natural pyrethrum is so safe that the U.S. Government approves its use on such insect-prone foods as tomatoes, even while they are on their way to the supermarket or processing plant."
http://www.bugfreebackyards.com/pyrethrum.htm
There are different spellings...I think the most common is pyrethrum...not the one I mentioned in the previous comment above.
Hope this helps. :)
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