I need a simple pesticide recipe, please.

[LadyJack]

I am TOTALLY new to organic gardening. The most I have ever done is grow a few herbs each spring/summer/fall. This year I planted tomatoes and peppers (in addition to my herbs), and have now become so hooked, I've ordered a greenhouse. :D Because all of these things are edible, I would like to use a non-toxic, organic, safe, pesticide. Of course I realize that I will still want to thoroughly wash everything before human consumption, but I do NOT want to put any kind of chemicals on my herbs and vegetables.

Thanks so much for any/all information provided! I look forward to participating in the forums a lot in the future.

LadyJack
8)

[Tricky Grama]

I've found garlic pepper tea to be the best. Look on the home page for 'library' & go to 'g'.

Basically it's a bulb of garlic & hapenero peppers blended w/water, strained then diluted in about a gallon of water. Spray it on the plants.

Patty

[merri]

patty-
how many peppers do you use?

so it is one bulb (not clove) of garlic and 'x' peppers in one gallon of water.

do you have to reapply it after every rain or watering?

will it make all the veggies taste really hot?

can it burn the plants the way the citrus oil can?

thank you for sharing!!!
merri

[Kathe Kitchens]

Ladies,
Remember that keeping your plants healthy is the first line of defense. In tomatoes & peppers, it is especially effective to give them a regular folar feed of compost tea & seaweed, especially seaweed in summer. Mine get a good dousing once a week in summertime. It doesn't take much and it's very effective.

Plenty of compost in the soil makes for a good healthy diet for the roots and a hardy plant overall - making the need for pesticide of ANY kind less.

FYI a simple mix of dish soap and water (1 tsp soap to 1/2 gallon water) will kill pretty much any pest but it's non-specific. Garlic/pepper tea is a repellant to keep them away, and yes, the garlic taste can be absorbed so you'll want to use it with discretion. I use Simple Green or peppermint Dr. Bronners too...any soap will do it.

Good luck & keep 'em warm this weekend.....brrrrrrrr! :shock: :roll:

Kathe

[merri]

Kathe-
when you apply a foliar feed, what do you use to apply it? I have seen everything from hand held sprayers to the thingies that hook up to your hose (better for a soil drench i suppose)...

how much do you apply? just enough to wet the leaves?

how much is effective as a soil drench?

i really appreciate all of the great advice i am getting here!

thanks, merri

[Tricky Grama]

Merri-

Here's the directions for garlic pepper tea from HG's book: "TX Gardening the Natural Way"-

Liquefy 2 bulbs of garlic (I sometimes don't have the exact am'ts!) 2 cayenne or habanero peppers w/water in blender. Strain the solids. Pour the juice into a gallon container & fill w/water. Shake b/4 using & add 1/4 cup of this mixture to each gallon you spray with. For additional power add 1 oz of seaweed and molasses to each gallon. (Store w/loose fitting lids.)

I have used both an old windex bottle to spray with as well as a 3 gallon pump sprayer. Depends on the size of the area to be sprayed.

Patty

PS-remember this will harm some small beneficials.

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

I dilute 2-3 ounces of any kind of milk (chocolate, spoiled, reconstituted dry, goat's, etc.) in a gallon of water and spray. You could also spray with liquid seaweed diluted the same way.

These materials improve the health of the microbes living on the outside of the plants.

[merri]

I will definately try the seaweed...we are vegan and have no milk in the house, but I can see it being worth a trip to the store!

PS - will garlic pepper spray burn the leaves on my plants and seedlings? I have started using it because I noticed the neem oil was burning some leaves.

thanks!!!
merri

[merri]

I mixed up my first batch and wowzers! The house smelled like garlic for days - even with the windows open and a strong breeze...We love garlic, so it's ok...

I am still wondering if this concoction will burn my plants. Any thoughts or experiences?

PS, whatever is chewing huge holes in my basil seems to think the addition of garlic and pepper is a delight. Italian bugs, perhaps????

thanks, merri

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

I must have posted without reading all the messages. Tricky Gramma posted Howard's recipe for garlic pepper tea. I wanted to add that the amount of water to use in the blender is just double the weight of the garlic. So if you use a pound of garlic, you need two pounds (32 liquid ounces) of water. Most blenders hold about a quart so just toss in the two bulbs (actually 1 pound) of garlic and other stuff and fill it with water.

Here is a link to a patent with various garlic recipes spelled out. Recipes cannot be patented but the concept of using the mixtures can be, so even though you can make the mixtures at home, you cannot sell them without contacting the patent holder to get a license (I think that's how that works).