How to Make Your Own Pesticide

We all by now know of the immense harm caused to our health by the use of toxic pesticides. Instead of using those harmful chemicals, you can make your own pesticides at home, the likes of which have been successfully used by our farmers for generations. The ingredients used in making these pesticides are easily available or if necessary, can be bought cheaply from the market. Find here some pesticides that you can make at your home that will effectively keep pests out of your garden.

To make your own pesticide, you can first try tobacco or nicotine spray. This mixture is highly effective against many types of bugs, especially caterpillars, aphids, and many types of those nasty worms. For preparing this mixture, you need a cup of tobacco and a gallon of water. First, put the tobacco into a container of water and allow the mixture to set for about 24 hours. Check the color of the mixture after that period. If it takes the shade of weak tea, the mixture is ready. If it is too dark, you need to dilute it with water until it looks right. Be careful not to use this solution on peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, or any other member of the solanaceous family as tobacco chemicals can kill these plants.

If you are really keen to make your own pesticide, soap spray is another option. What you need for this is just soapy water. Collect some of the soapy water in a pan and pour it into a watering can or even use a pitcher to pour it over the plants. If you want to make your solution even stronger, mix three tablespoons of liquid detergent into a gallon of water and use this solution weekly. Many bugs just can’t tolerate the taste of soapy water.

Alcohol spray is excellent for houseplants, being particularly effective against meal bugs. The ingredients needed are 1/2 cup of alcohol, 2-3 tablespoons of dry laundry soap, and 1 quart of warm water. To make your own pesticide, mix all ingredients and spray immediately. Remember that this solution must be made fresh for each use.

Another type of pesticide is salt spray, which is used for cabbageworms and spider mites. To make this pesticide, you require 2 tablespoons of salt, and 1 gallon of water. All you have to do is to simply mix and spray.

You can also try garlic spray to fight slugs, cutworms, wireworms, and whiteflies. The ingredients required are 1 garlic bulb, 1 quart of water, 1 medium onion, 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper, and 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap. First crush the garlic, mincing it fine. Add finely chopped onion to the mixture, and add the rest of the ingredients except the soap. Wait an hour before adding the soap to the mixture. The spicy ingredients must sort of stew or steep, almost like tea. After an hour, add the soap and you have made your own pesticide.

You can also make your own dead bug spray by taking some dead carcasses of the same insects and mixing them in water. Use one pint of water and 1/2 cup of slug carcasses. To make the insect carcass solution, you have to blend well the water and insects and then put into a plastic container or glass jar. To use this, pout into a sprayer and squirt a few drops on the affected plants. You can freeze this mixture for storage. Never use flies, ticks, fleas, or mosquitoes in this solution as they carry many communicable human diseases.

Another is spearmint-hot pepper-horseradish spray, which requires 1/2 cup of red peppers (hot), water, 1/2 cup of fresh spearmint, 1/2 cup horseradish (root and leaves), 2 tablespoons of liquid detergent, and 1/2 cup green onion tops. Mix all of the spearmint leaves, horseradish, onion tops and peppers together with enough water to cover everything. After straining the solution and mixing all of these, add a half-gallon of water and the detergent also. Mix 1/2 gallon of this solution with 1/2 gallon of water. This spray is now ready to be used on any plant safely.