All Natural Garden Spray for Aphids
by DeeDee
4 Materials
$2
10 Minutes
Easy
Our garden is struggling this year, not sure why, but it could be the strange weather we had going on in early Spring. Anywho, most recently the tomato plants were showing signs of deterioration in a few spots and on closer inspection, my honey decided we had what he called "lice". I'd never heard of plants having lice, but he grew up gardening (for a living) and that's what they called it. I went to Google to see what the "lice" were. Turns out, they are Aphids, and Aphids really like tomato and pepper plants!
You will need a spray bottle, water, castile soap and garlic. Its that simple! The soap kills the aphids and the garlic will hopefully detour any new aphids coming to the plant party!
Mixing recipe can be found on our blog at the link down below.
This is what the Red Beef Steak looked like when we first planted it back on April 22. It was a bit distressed because our goofy weather couldn't make up its mind if it was going to be freezing cold or warm, so it took us a while after purchase to get it into the ground.
Here it is today (May). It's finally growing, getting blooms and producing fruit. We've gotten two whole tomatoes so far! lol!
Click right here to see how we use 99.9% pure water to hydrate our garden, trees and other plants.
This sad little stem is the first thing we noticed while watering the garden one evening.
And even more sad little stems on the other side. These little bugs work fast don't they?
I went to Pinterest to find a natural or organic solution. After all, we are going to be eating these tomatoes soon and we don't want to spray some type of chemical on them.
The liquid castile soap would be much easier to use, but our local Walmart didn't have anything except the bars, so that's what we got. It was a three pack for $3.28. If you happen to find the liquid version, one good squirt should do.
NOTE: Please use a pure liquid soap, such as Castile, or all-natural soap. The active ingredient in this insecticidal soap comes from the fatty acids in animal fat or vegetable (coconut) oil, so it’s important to use the real thing. Please don’t use detergents (which aren’t actually soaps), like dish soaps, or any products with degreasers, skin moisturizers, or synthetic chemicals, these are NOT GOOD for your food products!
This next detail is VERY important! ONLY in THE EARLY MORNING or LATE EVENING, spray your plants on all the infested sides, including the bottoms of the leaves (that's where the aphids live). You do not want to spray a liquid on your plants in direct full sun because the water will act like a magnifying glass and burn your plant up and that is worse than having bugs on them!
Snip or pinch off any dead or dying stems and discard them away from your plants. We added our snippings to our natural compost bin to recycle them.
Since we normally get our spray bottles from Walmart (.97 cents) and they all look alike, I like to use a sharpie marker and mark on the bottle what it holds. I wouldn't want to accidentally spray my plants with something I shouldn't! Eeeek!
It's only been a few days since we sprayed the plants, so I'll check back in soon and let you know how its working for us.
The exact mixing recipe is on our blog along with more tips and tricks. so click right here to see the full blog post.
Thanks for looking!
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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5 of 29 comments
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You can buy non-scented liquid Castile soap (dr bronners is a good brand) for ease and it’s immediately in solution. I usually mix 4:1 water:soap and spray preventively. It doesn’t seem to deter ladybugs. Also, it’s really better to water in the morning (so the plants are ready for full sun; and leaving the soil wet all night invites fungal growth) and spray the soap mixture at dusk once per week (when bugs and worms are most active; also so the soap doesn’t run off with watering). Spray UNDER the leaves and the stem, too, to deter moth caterpillars (hornworms, etc). That along with pruning my tomato plants vigorously has always given me a bounty of tomatoes and peppers.
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Hi Melanie, these are all great tips. Thank you! :)
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Hi will this work on keeping the bunnies and squirrels away from eating my flowers? They got al of my tulips this year
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Hi Robin, I don't believe so, this is just for bugs. :)
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Hi ladies, I’ve been having the same issue but now it’s getting worse, the squirrels are digging into my garden and destroying my tomatoes, cucumbers, cilantro, mint, and peppers. What should I do besides using that soap??
TIA
Will ivory soap work?
What can I use on my rose bushes? Something is eating them up so bad that they are almost dead! In fact some are dead! Whatever is eating them has done it so fast, like over night almost!