Insects are a part and parcel of your lush green garden. Many of them are beneficial who help plants to pollinate & many of them are harmful to garden plants; we label them as pests. There are established chemical pesticides & insecticides which are extremely efficient in agriculture & farming. However, it’s a well-known fact that these poisonous chemicals impose a threat to human health in the long run. Read more about types of insect pests in your garden. In home gardening, vegetable gardening & organic farming, it is recommended that one stays away from harmful chemicals & uses natural pest control remedies. Natural pesticides are simple homemade solutions that are prepared from plants with known insecticidal properties. These may not be as deadly to insects as their chemical counterparts, but they pack a punch to repel insect pests, drive them away or make then sick, ineffective. Let’s have a look at some pesticides that you can make at home:
Neem extract:
Soak 1 kg of Neem leaves in 5 litres of water overnight. Grind & filter the extract, and use it as a spray. This extract is very effective on sucking insect, mainly the mealy bugs. Read more about how to get rid of mealy bugs.
Chili-Garlic extract:
Blend few chillies & equal cloves of garlic. Boil in water & keep for two days. Strain & use as a spray. This is an excellent insect repellent for nasty insects like aphids.
Tobacco extract:
Soak 100 grams of tobacco leaf in 4 litres of water overnight. Grind & filter the extract and use it as an insecticide spray. Avoid using tobacco extract on solanaceous vegetables like tomato, chilli, brinjal& capsicum.
Custard apple seed powder:
Use this powder dry & sprinkle it over the soil of pot or apply it in the form of paste on the stem of a plant. Custard apple seeds have high insecticidal properties.
Soap water:
In any of the homemade insecticides mentioned above; 10 grams of non-detergent soap (washing soda) should be added in the spray. Soap water enhances the effectiveness of natural pest control remedies. Apart from these, various other ingredients can be used to prepare your homemade natural pesticides. Eg. Marigold petals, orange peels, wheat flour, etc. Make sure you don’t repeat the same pesticide in spraying cycles & keep mixing it up to confuse the insect pests. Happy gardening!
