Comments on: Organic Pest Control for Gardens (Natural Options)

By: Dr. Vibhu Goel

Dr. Vibhu Goel — Wed, 29 May 2024 08:25:23 +0000

Keep your garden green with these eco-friendly pest control methods, ensuring a healthy harvest while preserving the environment.

By: Dr. Pratik Dhabalia

Dr. Pratik Dhabalia — Wed, 29 May 2024 06:07:40 +0000

Gardening organically can be rewarding and eco-friendly. These tips for natural pest control make gardening healthier and more sustainable.

By: Carole Schmitz

Carole Schmitz — Fri, 10 May 2024 02:34:29 +0000

In reply to Candace. The ScareCrow will work for a few weeks then the deer start taking a bath with it! Seriously, I tried everything and the ONLY thing that works is the polypropylene deer fencing - easy to put up, confounds the deer so they can't jump it, and not an eyesore. I had one for many years and never had another deer problem

By: Tammy

Tammy — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:53:19 +0000

Katie or anyone else, Do you have experience using mosquito bits for a gnat infestation? It has been recommended in a lot of gardening sites and says it’s non-toxic but I would like to get other opinions.

By: Teressa

Teressa — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 22:46:35 +0000

Hi. I’m dealing with a bad Japanese Beetle infestation on my apple tree and grapevine.

I read that apple cider vinegar would kill them, so took a few cups out to sprinkle on them… or drop them into to kill.

I ended up leaving the partially filled cups of vinegar on the porch for a few hours… when I came back to clean up (and spray some neem oil product – which works great, by the way)… and the beetles were kamikazing into the cups!!!

Now the cups are full of dead beetles!

Have you ever heard of them doing this before??? (I can share pics if possible)

I am going to make a beetle trap for them with apple cider vinegar… so I hope this works and helps someone else too! These beetles are super destructive and ANNOYING!

Thanks!

By: Candace

Candace — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 18:45:36 +0000

In reply to Lisa.

Try a ScareCrow Motion Activated Animal Repellent. You hook it up to a hose, and it uses a battery for the motion sensor. When a deer comes around, it sends out a plume of water for about 3 seconds – enough to scare the deer away and not hurt a thing! It has worked great for keeping all my hostas safe – otherwise it was open salad bar!! Just make sure you turn it off when YOU are around!!

By: Candace

Candace — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 13:33:52 +0000

Will spirulina powder work as well as as kelp? Only because I have a whole bag of spirulina…!
Thank you!

By: Katie Wells

Katie Wells — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 15:21:20 +0000

In reply to Jan St Anne. That's a tough one. Get a dog and let it chase the squirrels away?

By: Jan St Anne

Jan St Anne — Sun, 02 Jun 2019 13:10:33 +0000

I have 6 peach trees and 4 pecan trees. I live in the country and there are lots of squirrels that attack the trees. They chew on the peaches and drop them down on the ground. They take the pecans and leave none for me. I don’t kill the squirrels and have tried many things to discourage them, but to no avail. Any ideas for me?

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 12:52:54 +0000

In reply to Pooja. Make sure that you use a mask when applying DE. It is not good for the lungs to breath in the dust and on a windy day it’s hard not to!

By: Richelle

Richelle — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 21:01:45 +0000

Thanks for the great tips! I love companion gardening. I have heard that neem might kill bees.. might be worth looking into..

By: Fiona

Fiona — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 17:48:08 +0000

In reply to amy.

Amy, you can get lemon balm from any garden centre but as it is quite invasive, i would be careful where you plant it.
Ask someone who has it in their garden….they would be thrilled to get rid of some to you.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 17:43:33 +0000

I have also used Great Horsetail…that invasive weed that is so pretty….as a fungicide.
I boil it up in a large kettle, let it steep for a while, strain and then spray on affected plants. The actual boiled plants I spread between rows or round roses to ward off fungus and mold.

By: Debra

Debra — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 15:17:31 +0000

Great readings , I too use many flowers to encourage growth of the vegetables and to deter pests, been oil is good mixed with a mild soap like ivory and a tsp of oil, I’ve found that worm castings are superior for soil quality and food production. Also I feed my tomatoes and pepper plants only fish emulsion and Epsom salt, I started all my plants by seed indoors and they are fed this and ate now 7 ft tall and loaded with fruit.another top is to save your banana peels, put them in a container of water, let sit for 3 days, water your plants with this, high course of potassium, plants need this and magnesium, it is not readily found in our soil, they need vitiams and no deals as we do..

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 11:56:36 +0000

I have a ton of lemon balm in my garden, so I am intrigued about using it to deter squash pests. Do I just steep a bunch of it in water and spray it rather than buying the tea bags? I’d love to try this. My cukes and zukes are just starting to come out.

By: Katie - Wellness Mama

Katie - Wellness Mama — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 18:45:53 +0000

In reply to Lisa. They only thing I've found to deter deer is a tall fence or a dog that barks if they come near.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 18:03:03 +0000

What about keeping deer away? My husband doesn’t want a garden because we have deer visiting our yard sometimes.

By: George

George — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 09:26:33 +0000

Great post about how to prevent and control pest in garden with help of basil. Thank you for recommendation!

By: Cosette

Cosette — Sun, 24 Dec 2017 03:52:41 +0000

In your post about remineralizing your teeth and the body being able to absorb nutrients, wouldn’t blood and bone meal, especially the one you suggested, create the issue of high phosphoric foods?

By: Dorothy Miller

Dorothy Miller — Sun, 23 Jul 2017 14:38:31 +0000

I would caution anyone making the pepper spray to add the liquid soap AFTER blending the other ingredients. I do not have a Vitamix, but my Oster blender is quite powerful. I had my hand on the lid when I started the blender, but it still blew the lid off, and I was able to switch it off quickly. So I thought, “maybe if I take half the ingredients out, it won’t blow off”. Should have thought again. This time it blew the lid off again, spraying my face. My daughter led me, blinded, to the shower where i stripped and rinsed in cold water. My face is still burning as I type. Aloe is helping. Perhaps the 5 cup carafe was too small. Next time, I’ll blend the garlic, oil, and water, grind peppers in the coffee mill and add, them, along with the dish soap to the water mixture. I hope this will have been worth the burns and effort to keep the bean and flea beetles away!