Recipies and Cures for Garden Pests

APHIDS:

To keep aphids and other pests off your roses: 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.
A strong jet of water from a hose will dislodge aphids. Best done early in the day to allow plants to dry more rapidly and avoid conditions for fungal diseases.
For cabbage plants - Undersowing the crop with clover: this can reduce the number of cabbage aphids by over 95%, as well as decreasing the amount of other pests like caterpillars and flea-beetles. The best way to do this is to sow a strip of wild white clover during April to August - clover takes longer to germinate than brassicas - and transplant your brassicas into the strip once the clover is established. Clover can become invasive and compete with the crop plants for food and water, so keep the clover trimmed with shears to a height of about 10cm. After you have finished cropping, the clover can be dug in as a green manure.

EARWIGS

Traps: Upturned flower pots stuffed with staw/shredded paper and positioned on top of canes next to plants will attract earwigs. Rolled-up newspapers, or lengths of dry broad bean stalks placed on the soil will have the same effect. Shake these traps regularly over a bucket of soapy water to catch and drown the earwigs.
Shallow tin cans, filled with a cm of vegetable oil, also make good traps. Spread them round the garden and replace the oil as they fill up with earwigs.

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.

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.
Place crushed eggshells, cinders from the fireplace or very sharp sand around the base of plants.

ANTS

Place a mixture of equal parts borax and icing sugar on a pIece of wood or stone near the ants, they are attracted to the sugar and as they eat their droppings the whole nest gets poisoned with borax.
It is said that ants don't like talcum powder, so a little on the floor near their entrances could be helpful. They can't cross water with detergent in it either, so a `moat' might be useful in some situations. Natural oils of eucalyptus, pennyroyal and citronella are also said to be useful repellents.

GENERAL INSECT REPELLENT:

3 hot green peppers (canned or fresh)
2 or 3 cloves garlic
3/4 tsp liquid soap
3 cups 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.
A similar mixture with chilies, water and soap makes a good deterrent for ants.
CAUTION: Always test any new insecticide on a few small leaves before starting a full-scale application.

MILDEW:

A spray made of half milk and half water sprayed every couple of days in humid weather. Water plants in the early morning rather than at night.
Use a copper sulphate fungicide.

CABBAGE MOTHS AND GRUBS

Blend one quarter part vinegar with three quarters water and add a teaspoon of washing up liquid. Use as a spray.

ROSE BLACKSPOT

Biodynamic spray: equisetum (horsetail) tea is a spray used by biodynamic growers to strengthen a plant's resistance to disease infection. Take 3/4oz dried horsetails and simmer for 30 minutes in 2 pints of rain water. Stand for 24 hours. Make up to 1 gallon, stirring the mixture for about 15 minutes. This mixture will keep for a couple of weeks. Spray the plants thoroughly every 10-14 days, starting early in the season. The later sprayings can be more dilute (making the solution up to as much as 10 gallons) but should always have a pale yellow-green or brown colour and smell of horsetails.

USEFUL KITCHEN CHEMICAL FOR THE GARDEN

Milk is effective against a range of mildews on peas, pumpkins and cucumber leaves. Use equal parts milk and water and spray every couple of days until the mildew is under control. If the mildew is out of control remove the affected leaves to avoid the mildew from spreading and do not water at night, try watering in the mornings.
Vinegar ideal for cabbage moths and grubs on the Brassicas.
Recipe. Blend 26% vinegar with 75% of water, then mix in one tea spoon of detergent, which will help the vinegar to stick to the grubs, bugs and leaves of the plant, spray top and under side of the leaves. this brew is deadly to the grubs, bugs. you can also add molasses to this brew.

Vegetable Oil.1 table spoon of dishwashing detergent & 1 cup of vegetable oil. Mix together and store in an air tight bottle. When required add 1 to 2 ½ tea spoons of brew to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle, spray on plants covering all leaf and stem surfaces.
Chamomile Chamomile tea is a mild fungicide. pour boiling water over a chamomile tea bag, leave to steep for ten minutes, when cool use as a spray.

Herb sprays

Late afternoon is the best time for spraying.
Garlic Spray Recipe. Chop 90 grams of garlic, cover with mineral oil let soak over night, strain, add 1 litre of soapy water and store in a glass jar with a sealed lid.
Dilute one part garlic to 50 parts water for use in spraying.
Pyrethrum (Harmless to animals and humans) Recipe. Two heaped tablespoon pyrethrum flowers, stand in one litre of hot soapy water for one hour, strain and use ( the soap will help the spray to stick on the plants). Do not inhale the fumes as they are toxic.
Chili Pepper Recipe. Blend fresh chilies in water, add pure soap, strain and spray. Acts as a stomach poison and can be used against caterpillars. Spray along ant trails or kitchen shelves as an ant repellent. Used by beekeepers to keep ants from hives.
Rhubarb A spray made from rhubarb leaves is harmless to bees and breaks down quickly, but it is harmful to humans, so be sure to keep it out of the reach of children.
Recipe. Boil 1 kilogram of leaves in 3 liters of water for half an hour, strain, add some soap. Dilute with equal parts of water before spraying.

THE USE OF HERBS AS PEST CONTROL

COMPANION PLANTS TO SOW TO PREVENT DISEASE

BASIL: Helps to repel fruit fly and improves the quality of tomatoes. Repels the house fly.
BORAGE: Attracts bees - planted near strawberries it helps promote a heavier crop.
CALENDULA: Helps control nematodes. Beneficial to rose trees. Repels white fly. Attracts bees.
CHAMOMILE: Repels flies and midges (Useful in the compost heap). Improves crop size in onions
CHIVES: Plant under roses to help prevent aphis attack. DILL: Bees attracted to flowers and other useful insects. Helps repel cabbage moth.
FENNEL: Attracts bees. Repels fleas so can be used for cats and dogs washes and around their sleeping areas. It is NOT liked by tomatoes or beans
GARLIC: Companion to roses.
HYSSOP: Companion to grapes. Liked by cabbage moth, could be used as lure.

LAVENDER: Repels most insects but flowers attract bees.
LEMON BALM: Companion to all vegetables
MINTS: Deters cabbage moth, ants, aphis, fleas, flies and mozzies
NASTURTIUM: Repels aphis and ants and promotes a healthy garden.
PARSLEY: Beneficial to roses and tomatoes.
ROSEMARY: Beneficial to carrots, repels carrot root fly
RUE: Repels the house fly.
SAGE: Deters cabbage moth
THYME: Attracts bees. Repels root fly.
YARROW: Good companion to all vegetables and herbs. A compost activator.

The Use of Herbs as Pest Control

The use of herbs as pest control in the vegetable garden does work, maybe not a 100 % but it does help. Vegetables can also be used as companion plants; for example lettuce and cabbages planted beside each other, the lettuce will deter the cabbage moth, when the moths fly over the cabbage plot to lay their eggs they think the cabbages are lettuce and keep flying.
Companion planting is planting herbs and vegetable together which will benefit each other in several ways. It encourage predators by providing shelter. It discourages some insects and bugs by the aromas the different plants send off. It is not just planting a cabbage beside a sage plant; it is also creating an ecosystem for all the plants in your garden, over a period of time. It will take time, and it won’t be over night. Below is a list, on likes and dislikes for suggested companion planting in a vegetable garden.
Beans. Like Nasturtium, a deterrent against aphis. Dislike Onions, Chives, garlic.
Brassicas. (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli)Like Sage, Pennyroyal, Mints, Oregano, Parsley. Dislikes Tomatoes.
Carrots. Like Onions, Feverfew, deterrents against carrot fly. Dislikes Parsnips.
Parsnips. Like the same as carrots,( but not carrots.)
Peas. Like Beans. Dislike Onions, Chives, Garlic.
Tomatoes. Likes Basils, deterrents against fruit fly. Parsley, Marigolds. Lettuce plants in between. Dislikes Cabbages.
Not only are herbs a good deterrent for insects and bugs in the garden but they smell good too, and you also have a supply of culinary and medicinal herbs.
Most organic gardeners have their own little secrets for their garden. One idea in another garden may not work for you, so you should experiment with companion planting. The most important thing is to remember about companion planting is don't plant the onion family next to peas and beans, plant a row or two of carrots in between beans and onions.

THE TEN LAWS OF GARDENING!

Nothing ever looks like it does on the seed packet.
Your lawn is always slightly bigger than your desire to mow it.
Whichever garden tool you want is always at the back of the shed.
The only way to ensure rain is to give the garden a good soaking.
Weeds grow at precisely the rate you pull them out.
Autumn follows summer; winter follows autumn, drought follows planting.
Evergreens go a funny shade of brown in the winter.
The only way to guarantee some colour all year round is to buy a garden gnome.
However bare the lawn; grass will appear in the cracks between the patio paving stones.
"Annuals" mean disappointment once a year.

Best Organic Way of Control is to Pull the Weeds Up put them in the middle of a compost heap so the heat will kill the seeds place them in a plastic bag,
Using lots of mulch on top of your garden will deter weeds from growing
Pour hot salty water over the weeds, use a watering can, (pool salt is the cheapest)
With a lawn - mow your lawn higher
Place black plastic, thick layer of newspaper, old carpet over the affected area weigh down with a couple of bricks, (carpet is known to leach chemicals into the soil, leave that one up to you?)
This information leaflet was compiled by the Environmental Awareness Office, Longford County Council. Phone 043-43468. Remember - the Environment - Too Good to Waste!