For R.P. and gardeners

[yoyescu]

Hi!!!

I was reading a post and saw Raw Pristess formula for garden pests (vinager, garlic,cayanne and borax crystals). sounds like what we need but my question is: will it dicourage good bugs like earth worms and lady bugs too? I also need help on how to get rid of grub worms in a organic matter preferably no kill just discouragement. any tips and help will be greatly appreciated.

Have a joyful day

[rawpriestess]

please note, my recipe is to deter garden pests not to kill, never any reason to kill anything.


the vinegar and garlic make pests like deer etc, not want to come near because of the smell, the cayenne will stop aphids etc from chewing, the borax is just to bind it and hold the mixture on the plant during rains, etc.

as far as grubs, moles love to eat them, so I would just allow the moles to be in your garden, grubs don't necessarily harm your plants though, what kind of grub? they grow into something else.

marigolds or onions planted around your garden will keep alot of pests away, we plant onions around all our gardens, also copper strips will keep out slugs, which works beautifully.

and oak leaves keep out slugs too.

[robertandenith]

I use a mixture of water with dr. bronner's magic soap. they are biodegradable and enviromental safe. Will no kill anything but repel pests and grubs too :) This soap will help to 'wash' the foliage, and will kill weeds though! how cool is that? I used it to wash my lawn ;)

I like your mixture idea RP! :) I planted onions and marigolds in garden and noticed a decrease of pests, love those plants!

[Nini]

RP, would you email me your garden pest recipe?

granijani@ameritech.net

and robertandenith - what ratio of water:soap?

Thanks. I am planting my first garden!

[robertandenith]

Just 1 oz of soap (peppermint works best) and a gallon of water. If you can get a rain barrel will be ideal, since it will be free of chlorine. I got mine on ebay!

[Nini]

Thanks! I love the rain barrel idea!

[rawpriestess]

well, we just take a spray bottle and fill with lake water, no chlorine or chemicals that way, then we add 1 T of each vineger, crushed garlic, powdered cayenne pepper and borax crystals.


works great, just spray on.

[yoyescu]

R.P. thank you for the advice, that is what we will do. I could never imagine you using anything that kills ;)
Robertandenith: thank you we will try the soap for our lawn too.

[BerryGirl]

I was going to ask a similar question, so I'm glad I saw this! We have had some sort of bug on our tomato plants. My husband sprayed the plants with a soap/water mixture (don't know what kind of soap), and when I went out and looked at the plants today, I saw that the bugs were still on the plants, but they didn't appear to be eating the tomatoes. It was like they were just hanging out, having a convention or something. I also noticed some stink bugs hanging out on top of the stakes of the plants. Once I saw them I took a few steps back-- I know they don't hurt people but they're just so scary looking! Anyway, if the bugs aren't eating the plants, do I need to treat the plants again, or just leave them be?