Defend Your Garden with Herbs
(Page 2 of 3)
June/July 2008
By Susan Belsinger and Tina Marie Wilcox
Spraying Simplified
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Now that you’ve determined that a pest has taken up residence among your plants, you can take actions to stop it. Begin with the least toxic, least expensive and most convenient method first: a strong spray of water.
You’ll need an adjustable nozzle turned to the fan setting. This will allow you to direct a wedge of water over a large plant surface. Adjust the pressure so the water will wash away pests without damaging the plant. Spray the entire plant, side to side and top to bottom—as well as the top and bottom of leaves—until the plant is completely clean.
The best time to spray water (or any control product) is in the cool of the day when plants are not in direct sunlight. In direct sun, water droplets act as tiny magnifiers, concentrating light on plant tissues and causing them to burn.
Plant-feeding pests also are less energetic and easier to target in early morning and evening.
Besides using these water baths to stop pests, we also use a homemade garlic-chile-soap spray (click here for recipe), neem oil and horticultural oil, alternating among them monthly, if necessary, to keep pests off balance.
For instance, after we spot an infestation, we first blast the plant with plain water, then follow with garlic-chile-soap spray every three to five days until the pest is gone. A single spray rarely removes all of the tiny pest eggs, which are attached to leaves with strong webbing. Also, rain washes off the soap spray, so you need to re-spray every few days.
If the pest still is present after a month or so, we switch to a neem oil solution, applied according to package directions. And if neither the garlic-chile-soap nor the neem oil sprays do the trick after two months, we use horticultural oil spray the third month.
We find the following treatments very effective against most garden and greenhouse pests. Note: Whenever you try a new spray, be sure to test it on a small area and wait a day or two before you spray the entire plant.