Controlling Pests and Weeds
while Protecting Pollinators
Without pollinators like bees and butterflies, we would have no produce from our gardens. Pesticides negatively have affected the bee populations, so we are offering pollinator-safe solutions that will keep your garden free from weeds and pests.
Instead of Roundup use this Pollinator-Friendly Weed Killer
Recipe:
1 gallon vinegar
2 cups Epsom Salts
1/4 cup Dawn Liquid Soap
Mix and put in sprayer. Spray weeds after dew disappears in the morning. Check after dinner and you will be amazed! A second application may be necessary within a week for stubborn weeds.
Safer Liquid and Powder
Garden Insect Repellents
POWDER: Use DIPEL instead of Sevin
LIQUID: Use Neem Oil
Safe Powdery Mildew Treatment
Recipe:
1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon of liquid dish soap
1 gallon of water.
Also effective for powdery mildew: Neem oil, fixed copper fungicides, sulfur and "Stylet" oil.
Safe Fungus Preventive
Recipe:
2 gallons water
4 tablespoons baking soda
4 tablespoons hydrogen peroxide
Mix ingredients in a 2 gallon pressure sprayer. We shake it up and spray it all over our summer squash plants about every 10 days or after every heavy rainfall.
All Purpose Garden Plant Bug Spray
Recipe:
2 gallons of warm water
3 tablespoons of baking soda
2 tablespoons each of canola oil, vinegar and oil soap
Cover your plants' foliage with this spray in the evening to deter pests naturally. Avoid using the spray earlier in the day because sun-scald on the plants may result.
(Source: Deterring Garden Bugs by Adrian Hunsberger of the University of Florida IFAS Miami-Dade County Extension Office)
Eliminate Aphids
Four Methods
Spray cold water on the leaves to dislodge aphids. They usually won't return to the same plant.
If you have a large aphid invasion, dust plants with flour. It constipates the pests!
Neem oil, insecticidal soaps, and horticultural oils are effective against aphids. Be sure to follow the application instructions provided on the packaging.
Spraying the leaves of the plant with a mild solution of water and a few drops of dish soap. Soapy water should be reapplied every 2-3 days for 2 weeks.
Not-So-Little Garden Pests
Keep ants off your fruit: Put wood ashes at the bottom of the tree to deter them
Rabbits, Dogs, Cats and Deer: Put up a fence or sprinkle cayenne pepper on plants.
Armadillos: Sprinkle area that attracts them with Epsom Salts. The crystals are too rough on their noses.
Radical & Safe Treatment:
Nutsedge Weed Killer
We sprinkled a raised bed invaded by nut grass with sugar and watered it in! No ant beds formed and after two weeks, no more nutgrass!
Recipe:
Need sugar (4 cups per 1,000 feet)
sifter
garden hose
1. Use hose to wet the garden area with nutsedge problem.
2. Sift sugar evenly over nutsedge area making sure that the sugar falls on the ground evenly.
3. Sugar will "eat" the nutsedge while nourishing microbes in the soil.
4. Lightly mist nutsedge once more with just enough water to re-moisten the nutsedge and coax the liquid sugar down into the soil and roots.
In a few days most of the nutsedge leaves will turn yellow and die. Repeat the procedure over remaining nutsedge.