Defend Your Garden with Herbs: Ant-Repellent Herb and Soap Spray

June/July 2008
By Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox 
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Ants herd aphids, mealybugs and scale, acting as hosts so they can harvest the other insects’ secretions, commonly called honeydew. Control the ants with this spray and you’ll inhibit these other common pests.

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• 1/2 cup fresh tansy leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh santolina leaves
• 1 quart boiled water
• 1 tablespoon Murphy’s Oil Soap™
• 10 drops vetiver essential oil

Add herbs to boiled water, cover and steep until infusion is cool.

Strain out herbs. Stir in soap and vetiver oil.

Before use, shake mixture well, then filter it into a sprayer. Spray ant trails, counters, soil surfaces or wherever ants are a problem.

— Tina Marie Wilcox is head gardener and herbalist at the Ozark Folk Center in AR. Contributing Editor and herbalist Susan Belsinger lives in Brookeville, MD.

Sources for natural pest control products:  Arbico Organics, (800) 827-2847, www.Arbico-Organics.com; Gardens Alive!, (513) 354-1482, www.GardensAlive.com; Planet Natural, (800) 289-6656, www.PlanetNatural.com.

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