Do any of you have a safe, reliable recipe you have used for years?

Yes. Every single one of us.

Dan

"Yes. Every single one of us."

Whatever that meant, it went right over my head.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

Whatever that meant, it went right over my head.

I've worked with many engineers from various professions over the years, and one thing I've learned is: answer only the question asked.

I gather, AG, you are not an injuneer.

;o)

Dan

I don't use them but here is a good publication on the topic from the University of Florida. Universities can be wrong but their data is usually well tested before it's given to the public. (But I bet you already knew that!)

Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: Insecticidal soap info

Dan, actually.....I was hoping to get more than just "yes". If you would care to share your ingredients/method, I'd love to hear it.

Sandy, thanks for the link! It had some good reading....

EG

Engineers should not read the following message!

Very dilute Dawn dishsoap in a spray bottle. It's probably 1 teaspoon / gallon, but I make it right in the 1/2 gallon spray bottle and do not measure. Then I spray it directly on aphids & they die!

Thanks for the info!

See, Dan....that didn't hurt a bit. Heh.

EG

Hey, I answered the question asked - do you know how long I had to be trained by engineers to do that? I'm trained real good (don't let the better half hear that) :o)

The garlic and chili powder help repel other critters as well.

Dan

Does this recipe also work for other insect pests? Like to use things that won't harm the lizards and butterflies.

boy i can see things haven't changed much, **grin** still some smart pants. geeze!! LOL
i used the in 1 gal of warm water, 1 bar of melted down ivory soap, 1T olive oil. and it worked, but to tell ya the truth, it sucked on aphids, so this year i'm looking for something else for them and them big ol bugs!! ya know the one's we had problems with last year. LOL ~Medo who likes to tease **big grinn**

Start with a pint of very hot water in a 1 qt spritzer bottle. Then add a tsp of {{gwi:138802}}
and few drops of Murphy's Oil Soap (or dishsoap). Shake well. Add a pint of 70% rubbing alcohol. Shake again and spritz. Make sure to cover all surfaces, especially the underside of leaves and leaf axils (crotches). Shake frequently to keep the blend emulsified. Spray at 2 week intervals.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Click me and I'll take you to more info about Neem Oil

al - thanks for that information. I'll have to try your mixture as well...

EG

EG, just don't use the anti-bacterial dish or hand soap if you are going to use BT.

Granny

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Kitchen Garden

EG, I've always heard that a Tablespoon of dawn in a gallon of water will run off just about any bug. However, I resorted to Sevin dust last year to kill the squash bugs...shhhh, don't tell anyone, okay? ;)

I also love diatamaceous (sp?) earth because it's all natural. However, I understand that DE isn't good for bees, so be cautious about its use.

BTW, Dan, engineers aren't the only ones trained to answer only the question asked...paralegals are taught that as well.

Granny - I have a small bottle of ivory liquid on hand, and I reckon that's as good as any.

Lissa - you killed squashbugs with sevin? I sprayed them directly with liquid sevin, and mine didn't even slow down. That's why I went in after 'em every evening. I like decapitating them. :-) Ha!

EG

I can relate to EG's answer. My hubby is and injuneer and that's what he does, though I think he does it to bug me. :p
I have heard a lot about the dish soap + cayenne powder(heck, they make a wax pest repellent out of that stuff) + garlic + onion to repel aphids and the like. Will it repel slugs too? I just noticed some bites out of my new sunflowers and pepper leaves! :(

carroteggs - make yourself a beer trap for those slugs.

EG

I made Dan's recipe today using a blender to crush the garlic in a little warm water and then added the chili powder. I then used it to make up a gallon with Dawn soap and cooking oil. My young pepper plants were loaded with aphids even though I used Neem Oil spray five days ago. It looks like it worked very well, even killed the ants on the plants. Thanks, Dan for your recipe.

I have used this recipe for aphids on seedlings with very good results.
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons dish soap or MurphyÂs soap

John

Here is a link that might be useful: Johns Journal

Love all the recipes, What kind of spray bottle do you use? Does the dollar store variety that teenagers dampen their hair with do the job or do you need a "special" sprayer?

Rita

It looks like it worked very well, even killed the ants on the plants. Thanks, Dan for your recipe.

:o)

Dan

EG, if you search for info on this on gw, can I warn you that I found a recipe that used tobacco last year. I tried it and it burned every plant I tried it on. It did kill the bugs, but I think it set my peppers back a month or more.

carolyn - that's unfortunate! Hey! I could just spit on them, I've already got tobacco! Ok....I know, tobacco mosaic virus...Anyway, that's why I asked the question in here, because I trust nobody will steer me wrong.

EG

Back in the day (waaaaaaay back) when I was a little girl living on my grandparents' organic farm in northern NM, my grandpa used to make up this witches brew of garlic powder, powdered red chile, probably some DE and god only knows what else. He'd fill his huge industrial-sized sprayer with it and we'd drive the tractor around the apple orchard (I assisted by sitting on the wheel guard), spraying apple trees with it.
He picked calm days to do it but there was always a rogue breeze that coated me with the stuff. I probably swallowed enough of it (mixed with tractor exhaust) to make me impervious to bugs for the rest of my life!!

sorry, just had to reminisce there. . . :-)

I've used a combination of tobacco, coffee, cayenne pepper, and crushed garlic. I let it percolate for a while in a covered bucket before being strained into the sprayer (actually, I brewed it in an old stocking foot that I disposed of after each batch), to which a bit of dish-washing soap and Neem oil was added (and often a bit more water to cut the strength of the stuff). Not many pests wouldn't be either killed or run off by that stuff.

hello. thank you for all the helpful info so far! i rummaged through my cleaning supplies and found palmolive (someone threw away one of those huge refill bottles and i couldn't pass it up despite preferring more natural products when i'm purchasing them) and murphy's. i know some people say that a dish detergent, such as palmolive, simply won't work, while others say that it does... what i want to double check is that using murphy's (and the palmolive) is safe on plants that i plan on eating. specifically i'm having an issue with my swiss chard plants, looks like leaf miners most likely (although the discolored areas aren't as intricately tunnel-like as i've seen in many pictures. i've read/seen that they can leave less artistic splotches as well).

can i spray murphy's, or other soaps, directly on the leaves i plan to eat?

thanks!

Soap will do zero for leaf miners. Nonetheless, non anti-bac Palmolive is fine and better is vegetable oil for less smell. And add the other stuff per my recipe above.

Dan

thanks for the reply dan! i had read on another website that someone used a homemade insecticide soap against leaf miners which is why i was planning on trying it. i have read some of the many threads on leaf miners, but nothing too promising has been revealed. is there anything you, or anyone else here, has had success with against leaf miners?

the most useful advice seems to be to pick off the infested leaves, but that's pretty much going to mean all of my tiny chard plants... any ideas if i can still pick off nearly all the leaves and the plants will still produce new leaves? this is my first year gardening, so any advice is much appreciated! i know that for harvesting the chard you can pick off some stalks and new ones grow, it's just that my largest plant is only a few inches tall at this point, so i'm worried about the resilience of such small plants.

and any reason why i shouldn't use murphy's or other soaps on plants/leaves that i plan on eating?

thank you!

Thanks for all the info in here gang - what's the reason to stay away from anti-bac soap..?

(what's the reason to stay away from anti-bac soap..?)

It will deactivate BT/Thuricide.