Practically each of us, once again splashing his summer cottage with various kinds of pesticides, thought about how people dealt with attacks of insects and harmful plants before the appearance of agrochemicals. Previously, nature helped them in this process of natural selection: it cultivated the right combinations of plants. That is why today the popular methods of protecting the garden and garden against pests are popular: folk remedies are made according to the recipes of nature. Consider the most popular folk methods of pest control with the help of available tools (soap, honey, soda, vinegar, salt, sugar, mustard powder, etc.).
Tar soap
One of the most common insecticides for aphids on plants is tar soap. Its effectiveness lies in the peculiar composition: in the usual soap is added Birch tar. That tar is a key tool for saving plants from pests, it is especially effective in the process of eliminating aphids and ants. The harm of the latter is that they tolerate aphids and thereby infect new and new plants. Exists several recipes cooking "goodies" for pests using tar soap.
- The most common solution - 60 g of tar soap mixed with water (10 liters). Such a mixture can spray infected areas, or wash the tops of the branches of berry bushes. But it is worth remembering that such procedures can be carried out no later than after the flowering of the crop, since at the stage of fruit formation and ripening, the procedure can harm a person who will consume the crop: the soap itself is toxic. You can collect a similar insecticide in bottles and place them in the crowns of diseased trees. A similar solution, but with the use of sulfur tar tar soap will help drive away the pear gall midge.
- To combat aphids on the bushes, it is advised to prepare the following remedy: mix 10 liters of water, 500 g of wood ash, 50 g of minced garlic and 50 g of ground tar soap. Prepare the mixture to treat the tops of diseased shrubs. This should be done immediately after flowering, not later. The smell that this product emits leaves no chance to pests.
- The following environmentally friendly and safe infusion will also help to get rid of aphids: 200 g of crushed leaves of dry tobacco can be mixed from 2 chopped bitter peppers and pour 10 liters of water. You must wait 24 hours for the solution to infuse. After the expiration of the day add 40 g of tar soap with wood ash. Spray the affected areas with the mixture.
Did you know? The miraculous power of tar soap lurks in its sharp smell, which only increases in conjunction with other components of the prepared folk insecticide. The suffocating aroma irritates the insects, they simply do not stand it and leave the "captive" tree or bush.
Laundry soap
The spectrum of action of the laundry soap is quite extensive: this harmless product helps to eliminate aphids, spider mites, powdery worms, caterpillars, fungal diseases, in particular, gray mold. Not surprisingly, the use of soap in horticulture is widely known since its invention. Use soap means can be in the treatment of vegetable, fruit, indoor and ornamental crops.
Experienced gardeners recommend combating insects with the help of next solution: Grate 150-300 g of soap and dilute in hot water to avoid lumps, then pour the mixture into a container filled with 10 liters of water and mix thoroughly. As a result, a clear solution should be obtained, which can be used to qualitatively treat the dacha. It is possible to spray crops with such medicine at any time, except for the flowering period. In addition, newly planted crops cannot be treated with this tool. For the purposes of prophylaxis, it is advised to wipe the leaves and young shoots with soap and water.
Important! Even if you dilute the soap in the ratio of 1: 500, the insecticide will neutralize 90% of the aphids. The fact is that in the composition of the soap a lot of fatty acids, in particular caproic acid, which instantly neutralizes aphids.
Vinegar
Vinegar itself is an antiseptic. In gardening it is used as an insecticide, herbicide and fungicide.
To free the plants from small insects, like ants, it is enough just to spray ordinary vinegar around them. In addition, vinegar is extremely afraid of snails. And even novice gardeners know about the extent of harm from the invasion of the snail horde. For snails, vinegar is something like poison. But it is necessary to spray vinegar with care, as it is a powerful herbicide and can destroy some varieties of crops (for example, sage).
With the help of vinegar and mustard, you can get rid of the Colorado potato beetle.
A solution of vinegar is a powerful tool for aphids on fruit crops. The secret of cooking is very simple: 1-2 tbsp. l vinegar diluted in 10 liters of water. The result will be visible after the first spraying, but experienced gardeners advise to repeat the procedure 2-3 times. If the plants in your garden are infected with fungal diseases, they must be sprayed with a solution of 4 liters of infusion compost and 2 tbsp. l vinegar.
Important! Acetic treatments will be effective only if they are repeated after each rain.
a piece of chalk
Chalk is mainly used as root fertilizer. Due to the useful internal composition (silicon, magnesium), the infusion of chalk is a powerful fertilizing crops that are planted on acidic soils. It prevents the fall of the ovaries of the plum and cherry, which are planted on the oxidized soil.
Familiarize yourself with a table of soil acidity that is optimal for garden and garden crops.
Especially useful is the treatment of soil with chalk during planting of seedlings, since such a natural fertilizer helps the seedling to adapt to new conditions, strengthens its immunity, and protects against disease-causing microbes.
To prepare the "medicine" from the chalk is quite simple. It is necessary to dissolve in 1 bucket of water 1 tbsp. l chalk, ground into powder. Water culture is necessary for 10-12 days. Spraying with such an infusion is an effective remedy for aphids, but it often attracts many butterflies, which is undesirable.
Ground black and red pepper
Ground black and red pepper is another excellent household pest remedy in the garden. You can organize a fight with unwelcome guests, just scattering pepper in the aisle after irrigation of the soil. The aroma of pepper instantly scares cabbage flies and flea beetles from radish. He will also drive away mice and slugs from your site.
To combat the Colorado potato beetle, aphids, and even fungal diseases, you need to prepare the following infusion: 3 tbsp. l ground red pepper diluted in 0.5 liters of hot water and leave overnight. 10 g of prepared infused concentrated solution and 5 g of ground soap are added to 1 bucket of water. Spraying this folk remedy effectively cope with the invasion of harmful insects.
Important! It should be remembered that loosening the soil immediately after the “medicinal pepper procedures” is not recommended, as the pepper can get into the soil and burn the roots of the plants.
Mustard powder
The use of mustard powder in the garden is no less popular ecological means of protecting crops from "ill-wishers". It can be used both independently and in broths with other improvised household insecticides.
For a quick and high-quality crackdown on slugs, you must sprinkle mustard powder between the rows.
To repel attacks of gooseberry fire and sawflies on berry bushes will help mustard powder infusion. For its preparation you will need:
- 100 g of mustard powder;
- 10 liters of water;
- 40 g of laundry soap.
The water-mustard mixture should be infused for 2 days, then strain and dilute the crushed soap in it. Sprinkle shrubs recommended in the first half of summer. The same infusion is effective in the fight against leaf-eating caterpillars and the caterpillar of the apple moth on fruit trees, which must be sprayed for 15-20 days after the end of flowering.
Mustard solution will also drive away aphids, bedbugs and thrips from cabbage and root crops.
Did you know? In Denmark, mustard is used not only in the kitchen and in the garden. It is believed that this product brings happiness. Therefore, the Danes scatter mustard around the house and garden to lure happiness and drive away the evil forces.
Soda
Ordinary soda, which exists in the kitchen of every housewife, among other things, is a powerful insecticide. The use of soda in the garden is one of the easiest and most accessible methods.
Thus, soda solution (1 cup per bucket of water) is widely used in the prevention and treatment of powdery mildew on currant and gooseberry bushes. If your crops are struck by aphids, prepare the following “treat” for such a guest: dilute 75 g of soda in 10 liters of water. You can spray all the trees and bushes. This "medicine" will drive out and weevil, as well as help eliminate fungal infections.
Pharmaceutical preparations are also used in gardening and horticulture: iodine, brilliant green, potassium permanganate, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide.
Salt
Salt is used in gardening as a fertilizer; it catalyzes the growth of plants through the activation of the assimilation of many nutrients by the root system.
The salt solution (1 cup per bucket of water) is known as a toxic chemical that can eliminate powdery mildew on currant and gooseberry bushes, planting onions, and also fungal diseases on fruit trees. It is important to note that the sprinkling of fruit trees with salt infusion can be carried out to the stage of blooming buds: salt burns the leaves. To eliminate ants and slugs, it is recommended to pour salt between the rows of crops from the site.
Important! Getting to the salt procedures in the garden, it is important to learn the chemical composition of the product. Even at school chemistry lessons, it was explained that salt is composed of chlorine and sodium, which displace calcium from the soil. As a result, the soil floats and becomes waterproof, nutrients in such an environment do not enter the root system. The consequence is chlorosis and plant drying.
Sugar
Sugar is a sweet treat not only for humans, but also for insects. That is why this product is often used as bait for pests.
For example, it is the sugar that helps to eliminate the cabbage soup butterfly that settled on your summer cottage - or rather, thick sugar syrup. Syrup needs to be poured into saucers or other containers, and add a little yeast to it. Capacity to arrange in areas where the butterfly lives. In order to spread the aroma of fermentation, the bait is placed on high stands. Cabbage soup will not take long to wait: they quickly flock to the smell of syrup and get stuck in it. That's how cheap and angry you can save the crop from a very harmful insect. This recipe is relevant for the fight against wasps, which bring a lot of trouble to the gardener.
Honey
In the composition of honey found nutrient growth stimulants. That is why honey infusions are widely practiced when planting plants. Effectively soak the seedlings of crops in honey solution (1-2 tbsp. L. Honey in a bucket of water). This procedure contributes to the rapid adaptation of the planting material to the soil, survival rate, proper development of the root system of culture and its full growth.
Important! This infusion is advisable to spray fruit trees, fruit and vegetable crops during flowering. This technique attracts bees and other pollinators and contributes to increasing the yield of the garden.
In the fight against insects, honey, like sugar, is used as bait. The preparation of the syrup and the procedure for catching pests on live bait using honey is similar to the method with sugar. As you can see, there are many assistants in your home to organize the fight against insects and other pests of garden crops. Therefore, it is not always necessary to run to agricultural stores for the purchase of agrochemicals for the garden. You can simply draw on people's experience and use it. After all, pest control using household products (vinegar, salt, sugar, soap, etc.) is much safer for you and for plants than the use of agrochemicals.
