It always amazed me that products that were sold to prevent pests in the garden were toxic for humans and pets when they didn’t have to be. The usual commercial pesticide works on the central nervous system of the critter, and guess who else has a central nervous system that the pesticide can also work on? If you guessed yourself, you are entirely correct. There are many household items that work just as well as, if not better than the kind you buy at the store. These other methods of protecting your garden have been used for hundreds of years and are non-toxic to animals and humans. This excellent video tutorial I found by BuzzFeed Nifty, describes how to make three different kinds of repellant sprays that will keep your garden pest-free without harming your kids and pets.

Ingredients:

Recipe 1:

• 2 1/2 cups of water
• 3/4 cup Cooking oil
• 3/4 tablespoon Dish Soap

Recipe 2:

• 3/4 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon baby shampoo

Recipe 3:

• 1/2 of an onion (roughly chopped)
• 5 cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cups boiling water

Directions:

Recipe 1, which is water baby shampoo and oil, is very useful on soft-bodied insects, such as mites, whiteflies, and aphids. The active ingredient here is the cooking oil, the critters just can’t take it and stay away.

Recipe 2, is made of onion and garlic, roughly chopped, and steeped in boiling water with cayenne pepper. The liquid is strained off when it’s cooled. This recipe is a great repellent and will keep any pest from feeding on your plants.

These recipes are great, I have used them all and they work very well.

3 DIY Garden Bug Spray Recipes