Natural remedies with help with pests
By LaVERLE McCANDLESS
Contributor
“The smell of spring is so invigorating…I could enjoy the returning birds, leaves and flowers, but it wouldn't be the same without the good smell of wet, warming earth.” Holly Daigle
Ah, yes! I would add a nice gentle rain to wash the dust off the plants and trees to clean the air and bring out the aroma of dampened earth.
Now it's back to taking care of pesky pests that will try to mess up your yard and garden by chomping, chewing and rasping the leaves, stems and in general making more work and problems for gardeners.
The best thing is to try to use pesticides that are not toxic to our gardens and environment. Sometimes one has to resort to strong pesticides but not too often if, and that is a big word, IF you take the time and energy to keep your plants healthy. A plant that is not healthy is the first plant that pests attack. How the pests figure this out is still something biologist, agronomists, gardeners and many others are trying to puzzle and work out. Why would one plant be weak and the rest healthy? Another question to be answered. Many theories, pick your answer and go with it.
First thing, if you want beneficial insects in your yard, do not use Sevin Dust! This product is deadly for honey bees, bumble bees, all beneficial insects in your garden and there are many of them doing the work you would have to with a small paint brush pollinating your plants if you eliminated the beneficial insects with Sevin Dust.
Now that is off my lists of “Do Not Use” and for us it is number one. You can use plants to deter pests, which I mentioned last week, and there is more. The worst pests in the yard/gardens seem to be aphids, spider mites and white flies followed by slugs, leaf hoppers, potato bugs and gnats.
One old fashioned remedy, using nicotine based spray, is not recommended because it can be toxic to some plants such as the tomato and eggplant families. If you just have to use any commercial chemicals and it happens to be labeled “danger” or “poison” or a combination of the two words, should not be used by home gardeners. Those commercial chemicals labeled with “caution” are less dangerous and harmful but make sure to read the label, then read the label again to be sure if this is what you really want to use.
So, how to do you take care of your yard and garden? When you first spot a pest, give them a good shower with water and knock them off to the ground.
Most insects such as aphids and spider mites will not crawl back on the plant and will die on the ground. If this doesn't work and you let the pest get a good population going, then try liquid dish soap and water. Now don't use the good smelling, fancy liquid soap but the cheapest you can find, with no perfumes but a little more oil in the soap to smother the insects.
Use one tablespoon of liquid soap to a quart of water. The best time to spray is in the morning before they get warmed up and move around. They are usually bunched up when it is cool.
Hot chilies are also good for insecticide. You can use chili powder to dust the plants and ground where the insects are (this is also good to keep the cats out of the flower beds, they don't like the taste of chili when they start grooming after business in the flower beds). You can add chili powder to the soap water for spider mites. It takes some good shaking to get the powder thoroughly wet.
When your hot peppers get growing well, chop a few hot peppers with seeds quite fine, add hot water and simmer until the peppers are soft, let stand until cool, strain into a quart, add one tablespoon of liquid soap and water to fill the quart for hot pepper spray. Label the bottle and do be careful not to get this on your face or in your eyes.
Have slugs in the garden? Oh yes, we are getting some whoppers on this side of the mountains. They come here hiding in plants which were brought over to be sold, by people who purchased “I just have to have this plant” while on the coast or by friends and relatives sharing plants.
Make a solution of salt water just for these critters; fill a pan with water, heat it up until almost boiling, then add salt until no more will dissolve. Let cool, pour into a quart spray bottle, fill the rest with plain water and shake to mix. Label this bottle, “slugs only” as you don't want to spray any plants with salt water.
None of these home remedies will harm the animals or humans. Yes the pepper spray can make your hands tingle. Always wear protective clothing, regardless what you use--home remedy or commercial pesticides. This includes rubber gloves and eye protection.
Questions and comments should be directed to LaVerle at (509) 455 7568 or laverle905@gmail.com.
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