When I began my organic nonGMO gardening adventure it crossed my mind that it would take more than some light reading and buying some fancy seeds. Along with many other worries I knew there would come a day when pests would appear.
Here on the right you'll see my organic broccoli starts once they were transplanted outside this spring. Looks like it has potential right?
Well folks, that day I'm talking about came a few weeks ago. When I noticed the devastation of my broccoli one morning. I spent much of my days the next two weeks squishing cute little green pillars and burning leaves whose undersides were covered in little yellow eggs. Inspecting the potatoes for beetles became a rather fun pastime... but really anything to escape to the garden if only for a few minutes more each day.
Well to no avail I gave up on that remedy, it was going to take much more to stop these bugs. Trying to find a a chemical free, nonGMO, organic, etc. pesticide is near impossible so I opted to do some research and find a recipe to make from home. Here's what I came up with...
To the left you'll see some of the broccoli that was literally being eaten alive by these cute dumb bugs! You can notice how most of the leaves have holes eaten through, some bad enough have full sides and edges eaten away.
There's one of the little buggers now!
Seems pretty harmless huh?
Think again my friends...
These clever fellows will eat your plant with an insatiable veracity that can be tough to beat, while laying eggs like crazy and grow quickly.
ORGANIC PEST CONTROL
Basically you want this spray to be stinky... Im talking scare even people away kinda stinky... Please folks do as I say, not as I do... Meaning wait for the wind to die down before you spray this!!! Trust me.. I got down wind of this stuff and its a perfume you don't wanna sport. Moving on..
INGRIDIENTS:
1 organic yellow onion
4-6 cloves of organic garlic
2 tbsp organic cayenne pepper
2 tbsp castille soap
20 drops peppermint essential oil--- looking 4 Certified Therapeutic Grade oils? Email me!
1 spray bottle
1 gallon jug
1 fine mesh colander/bag or cheese cloth
PREPARATION:
Add onion, garlic, cayenne, (all of which was purchased at my favorite of stores COSTCO! They carry so many organic and NonGMO Project verified foods...just FYI) and essential oil to your blender or food processor and blend completely.
Let sit for a couple hours or overnight if you prefer.
Once it has settled strain through either colander, bag, or cheese cloth... I used a reusable mesh vegetable bag from MightyNest.com since I didn't have a cheesecloth or mesh colander fine enough.
Strain mixture into a mason jar.
Transfer the liquid into a gallon repurposed gallon milk jug.
Add the castile soap (we use Dr. Bronner's purchased through Amazon.com) and water enough to fill the jug.
At this point you can store the gallon up to a week, transferring whatever amount into the spray bottle for application in your organic garden.
It is sure stinky but I tell you this stuff works! Spray on the undersides of the leaves on plants who are being pestered the worst. I don't put it on everything in the garden, just those who really need some defensive help. Avoid spraying directly on fruits and veggies if applying when your garden plants are in flowering stages as to avoid changes in taste. But by all means spray tops and bottoms of leaves to ensure no pests lay eggs down before vacating the stinky premises!
I would advise applying after a rain or after watering in the evening. I have heard that these bugs don't prefer the agitation of watering from above like a sprinkler or hand attachment for your hose. I have since been watering from above on my broccoli which was the most attacked and it seemed to make a drastic improvement even before applying this spray.
Since my application last week in our homestead garden I have seen a severe decrease in bugs and eggs in my broccoli and zucchini. Ive also since seen a great couple harvests of both and a couple zucchinis the size of my farmstud's forearm!
Amen to wholesome harvests. And zucchini bread. And fried zucchini. And zucchini hummus. Oh and broccoli out the you know what!
The only other thing I can say about homesteading is, I love it.
How do you defend your crops against pests in your organic gardens? I would love to hear your tips!
Interested in essential oils?
Email Quincy at quincy.burke91@gmail.com with all your homestead techniques and hacks.
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