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Home Remedies

COMPANION PLANTING   Some plants just naturally repel insects. Marigolds are a well know flower that keep away insects. Here are a few others:

    • Asparagus planted with tomato, basil and parsley repel asparagus beetle.
    • Catnip repels Japanese beetle and aphids. Plant near Roses!
    • Cosmos, Chrysanthemums and Marigolds repel Mexican bean beetle from beans.
    • Plant Garlic with strawberries to repel insect pests.
  • One clove of garlic planted near roses helps repel aphids and greenflies. The garlic also exudes sulfur, which will kill black spot fungus.

NATURAL INSECTICIDE Rhubarb leaves are highly poisonous. After you have made strawberry-rhubarb pie with your rhubarb stems, boil 1 pound rhubarb leaves in a quart of water for 30 minutes, strain, then add a dash of liquid soap to make it stick. Spray it on aphids and spider mites to kill them.   Or if you prefer, Liquefy 1 garlic bulb and 1 small onion, add 1 tsp. powered cayenne pepper, and mix with 1 quart water. Let steep 1 hour, strain and add 1 tablespoon liquid soap. Mix well and spray.

GROUNDHOG REMEDY – Evict groundhogs (Also known as Woodchucks) from under your buildings by placing a bowl of cleaning ammonia in the area they are using. The fumes will drive them away almost immediately, and hopefully they won’t return.

LADY BUG & BOX-ELDER BUG NATURAL REMEDY – Have Lady Bugs or Box Elders invaded your home. Use your vacuum cleaner to get them up. Release them outdoors.  We also use this method in the greenhouse with whitefly.  We use an old shop vac.

SLUG PROBLEM – Slugs are repelled by crushed eggshells spread thickly around plants. Or pour a bit of stale beer into an old jar lid and leave it in the garden. The slugs will drown happy. Or, leave an old board overnight in the garden. Slugs will hid under them, and come morning, squish away.

INVITE BATS INTO YOUR YARD – Bats are some of the gardener’s best allies in the war on pests. Each bat consumes between a quarter and half of its weight in insects every night; a single Brown Bat can eat more than 500 mosquitoes in an hour. If you are lucky enough to have even a small colony of twenty or so bats on your property, over twenty thousand mosquitoes, or a smaller number of heavier insects like beetles, gnats, moths, or flies, could be consumed by bats in your vicinity every warm summer night.

NATURAL DEER REPELLENT – Artemesia or Wormwood is an extremely fragrant herb, reported to repulse deer. Scatter Artemis cuttings over shrubs, and plants to keep deer away. Aromatic oily herbs such as rosemary and lavender planted around tasty plants repel deer. The deer can’t afford to get the aromatic oils on themselves because the strong odor would prevent them from smelling danger.

HOMEMADE DEER REPELLENT – Dissolve 2 tsp. beef bouillon and 2 well-beaten eggs in 1 gallon water. Let the mixture sit for a few days (preferable outdoors because it will smell terrible) and spray on plants. Reapply after heavy rain. Since deer are herbivores, the beef and egg mixture repulses them. The eggs, particularly, because of their high sulfur content repulses them greatly.

Block their way with fencing.  Deer can’t eat what they can’t reach!  Sometimes just a well-placed bicycle or wheelbarrow will do the trick.  Be creative and use nets, radios, sprinklers, lights or anything you can think of.  Interplant aromatic herbs and plants to confuse their sense of smell.  Good Luck!

NATURAL MOSQUITO REPELLENT

If you want to avoid mosquitoes but do not want to put terrible-smelling sprays on your skin, take heart. There are some plants that repel mosquitoes naturally.
Garlic:  Mosquitoes can be compared to tiny vampires in two ways. One, they like to suck your blood. Two, they apparently do not like garlic. You might want to try garlic sprays, powders and plantings to keep them away.
Catnip:  There is a chemical in catnip that may be more effective in controlling pests than Deet; a chemical used in common repellents. You can plant catnip in your yard to avoid mosquitoes.
Rosemary:  If you have some of this herb in your garden, you can take some and rub it on your skin. It will smell like you are a great chef, but the mosquitoes should stay away.
Citronella:  Citronella is often sold as oils, candles and sprays to repel mosquitoes. It is also a plant that when you bruise the leaves & rub it on your skin, will repel mosquitoes.