The Power of Natural

Homemade Pesticides

Using chemical sprays to control pests has proven to have many seriously harmful damages on the natural environment and human health. Reversing damages to ecosystems, plant and animal species, water contamination, crop loss, and human health has cost billions.

However, there was a time when products like Roundup did not exist and people used more natural methods to control pests. Biological Control is the practice of using natural means to maintain pests and plants. There are natural ingredients that can be used as effectively as chemical pesticides but lack the harmful side affects. Using these alternatives can lower your contribution to environmental pollution and economic cost by decreasing the dependency on chemical pesticides.

 Here are a few of the many many mixes you can make to use for pest control. These options won't harm your family or pets! You can find more here

Pesticide	Ingredients	Instructions
Oil spray	Combine 1 tablespoon dish soap + 1 cup cooking oil, add 4 tsp soap and oil mix to 1 pint of water	Spray generously once every 7 days to control aphids, thrips, spider mites, and whiteflies
Baby shampoo spray	Combine 2 tablespoons baby shampoo with 1 gallon water	Spray generously and let sit for several hours before rinsing off with water. Do use the spray in the sun of on plants with hairy leaves
Garlic Spray	10-12 garlic cloves with 1 quart of water in a blender, allow to sit for 24 hours, then strain mixture through a cheesecloth into a jar and add 1 cup cooking oil. When ready to use combine ½ cup of garlic mix with 1 gallon water	Apply liberally to plants. The scent of garlic keeps many little pests away
Red pepper spray	Combine 1 tablespoon of red pepper powder, 6 drops of dish soap and 1 gallon of water. Mix thoroughly	Spray generously on plants for control of pests like leafhoppers, spittlebugs, beetles, and loopers
Salt spray	Combine 2 tablespoons salt with 1.5 gallons of warm water, allow to come to room temperature	Spray generously to control spider mites, caterpillars, cabbage worms, and chewing insects
Citrus spray	Boil 4 cups water, remove from heat, add 2 cups orange or lemon peel, let cool and strain.	Spray to repel white flies
Peppermint tea spray	Mix together 1 tablespoon peppermint essential oil with 1 quart water	Spray liberally, repels ants
Chrysanthemum flower tea	Boil 100 grams of dried chrysanthemum slower in 1 liter water for 20 minutes, strain and let cool	Spray generously. Chrysanthemum has a chemical component that attacks insect’s nervous system. Add organic neem oil for enhanced effectiveness.

Myths of lawn care

It seems like most people just tend to do what is "normal" when it comes to taking care of their lawn. We water daily, use the most popular brand of fertilizer (because it is the best), spray the weeds, and mow our grass as low as we can so we don't have to do it again for another week or two.

Why would you do anything different? Being organic and using more sustainable methods are more expensive and much more time consuming. WRONG!

Being sustainable and taking care of your lawn is much easier and less expensive than we could ever imagine! The first and easiest thing to do is to simply mow your lawn at the highest setting. Yes you may have to do this once a week, but you won't have to bag it (the clippings give back natural ingredients to the soil and there won't be many anyways if you are mowing at the highest level), it will help prevent weeds from growing (the height of the blades of grass will help block out the sunlight for the weeds to grow), then with no weeds growing you won't have to spray!

This method is known as organic lawn care for the cheap and lazy. This website will provide much detailed information point you to other organic ways to keep a healthy and sustainable lawn.