As a permaculture enthusiast I've been growing 100% organic fruits and vegetables for years now and prefer to eat this way. And I use home made contraptions and constantly try to come up with ideas to improve my gardens and make the space I have more efficient and yield more food. After all the more I have the more I can give to others, the less I have to buy to keep us all healthy and happy with full tummies.
But there are some threats to our gardens that are extremely hard to reduce or eliminate without removing ones edible plants. So here are a some of the problems and a few different more natural solutions.
Natural sprays, powders and home made insecticides, fungicides and herbicides
pyrethrum based sprays and powders are derived from the pyrethrum daisy, do not permeate the food and washes off easily. This is the most effective way to get rid of these pests without using serious chemicals.. but also is a poison even though it's natural. But we want to avoid this product except in the most extreme cases where we need to wipe out hundreds right? Well we are in luck!
*Below is a verbatim excerpt from Jeffrey Hodges’ book Natural Gardening in Australia (2002).*
All-purpose onion/garlic/chilli spray:
This is an all-purpose general insecticide, but it is also a mild fungicide, antiseptic and antibiotic, with a strong odour. It is effective on all kinds of soft-bodied sucking insects such as aphids, mites, thrips and scales, as well as slugs, snails and caterpillars.
DIRECTIONS: Combine 2 finely chopped onions, 6 cloves of freshly crushed garlic and 1 tablespoon of hot chilli powder (or 6 finely chopped red chillies), cover with 2cm of water, stir well and allow to steep for 24 hours. Dissolve 1 cup of pure soap flakes in 5 L of warm water, then add the strained onion/garlic/chilli mixture and stir well. Use within 24 hours.
For added knock-down power (for example, for citrus scales, grasshoppers and some caterpillars) add 25 mL per litre of pyrethrum liquid (commercially available), or as prescribed on the bottle.
If you’re using pyrethrum, it’s better to spray in the late afternoon to avoid killing beneficial insects. In particular DO NOT SPRAY CITRUS WITH INSECTICIDAL SPRAYS WHEN FLOWERING, as you will kill the bees and reduce pollination of your trees.
BT and Bug Juice Sprays:
Bacillus thurigiensis (BT) is a commercially available bacterial powder (under the brand names of Dipel, Thuricide, Biotrol, etc.) used for the control of caterpillars (for example, cabbage white butterfly larvae.) When mixed with water and sprayed on the target caterpillars, the bacteria produces a stomach poison that kills the caterpillar within two to five days of ingestion.
Bug juice utilizes the naturally occurring bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms that attack specific insects, much in the same way that myxomatosis virus has been useful to control rabbit populations in the wild. It may sound a bit gruesome, but it can be a very effective control measure.
DIRECTIONS for bug juice: Collect a cupful of the target insects – caterpillars, grasshoppers, whatever – and mix in a blender with 500 mL of water. Strain, and add water to make up to 5 litres. Use immediately – DO NOT STORE! If desired, add 1 cup of pure soap flakes as a ‘wetting’ agent.
Neem Oil Spray:
The seeds of the neem tree contain azadirachtin, which does not actually kill insects but, rather, confuses their mating, growth and feeding by somehow disrupting hormone or pheromone function. Neem oil has been shown to offer effective natural protection against fruit flies, grasshoppers, aphids, ticks, fleas, locusts, lice, mosquitoes, weevils, heliothis caterpillars and many other insects. It is commercially available. To use, follow the directions on the label of the purchased product.
Fungicide Sprays:
Tomato / chamomile / milk spray - A general fungicide effective against mildew and damping off. Note that it should not be used of plants of the same family as the tomato – that is, potatoes, capsicums or eggplant. DIRECTIONS: Add 1 cup of chopped fresh tomato leaves and two chamomile tea bags to 1 L of boiling water, and 1 L of fresh milk. Use immediately.
Bordeaux Spray – This is a general fungicide effective against mildew, black spot, peach leaf curl, potato blight, etc.; however, it should be used sparingly to avoid excessive copper build up and subsequent toxicity in soil. DIRECTIONS: Put 40 g of copper sulphate (available from chemists) in an old stocking and soak overnight in 5 L of water. In another container, mix 40 g of slaked lime in 5 L of water. Combine the two mixtures and stir well. Use immediately.
Seaweed Sprays – Seaweed sprays have a mild fungicidal effect, but more importantly can provide a boost to the plant’s natural immune system by supplying natural growth hormone, trace elements and other micro-nutrients. A large variety of seaweed sprays are commercially available – Naturakelp, Seasol, etc. – some of which have added liquid NPK chemical fertilisers – so careful reading of the contents is a good idea.
Other Measures
Barrier Bands – Barrier bands are wrapped around tree trunks to stop crawling insects such as earwigs, weevils, snails and slugs from accessing the fruit, or ants from reaching scales and tending and spreading them. Barriers can be made from sticky substances such as axle grease, molasses or Vaseline, or from dehydrating materials such as slaked lime. For sticky bands, attach a band of paper or cardboard to the tree trunk about 30cm from the soil surface, and smother with the sticky substance. Check every few weeks. A slaked lime barrier is made by mixing a paste of slaked lime and painting it on to the trunk from soil level up to the first branches, and on the junctions of the major junctions where ants and other pests have to travel.
DIRECTIONS: Make slaked lime paste by adding a little at a time (3 to 4 cups in all will be needed) to 2 L of water until a sloppy paste is made. Paint on with an old paint brush.
Yellow boards – The colour yellow is attractive to many insects, so can be used to lure them onto sticky traps. The traps can be effective against aphids, cabbage white butterfly, thrips, whitefly, and so on.
DIRECTIONS: Paint 30 cm square pieces of cardboard a bright yellow, then attach them to stakes scattered throughout the garden, ideally placed 2 metres apart around susceptible crops. Apply the sticky substance (molasses, axle grease, Vaseline, etc.) as a trap to the yellow cardboard squares.
Baits – Baits are substances that are attractive to the target insects, generally stored in containers of some kind that either subsequently trap the insects or kill them. Baits are effective against problem insects such as fruit fly and snails, both of which can be difficult to contact-spray directly.
DIRECTIONS: Generally baits are made from mixtures of honey, yeast, Vegemite and so on, mixed with a little water and pyrethrum. Containers are made and oriented so that the insects find it difficult to escape once they enter the trap. Traps can be made from simple, readily available materials such as plastic drink bottles, margarine containers, etc. Situate the traps in areas frequented by the target insects – for example, hanging in tree branches for fruit fly, or in shaded cool places for slugs and snails.
*Above is a verbatim excerpt from Jeffrey Hodges’ book Natural Gardening in Australia (2002).*
This last one is my own battle of late and not listed by Jeffery Hodges though he did mention traps and that is surrounding problem numbers of Earwigs and Bull Ants.
Earwigs and Bull Ants are both omnivorous, though Earwigs are nocturnal while Bull Ants are active during the day. But both are essentially the garbage men of the bug world eating everything and anything made from plant or flesh. And both are very very resistant to most insecticides and trap measures because of general toughness and sheer numbers.
For example a person could spray an ants nest but the only ants to die would be those on the surface at the time and not the ones below. so here are ideas to get rid of them.
Earwigs - "The oil trap."
DIRECTIONS: take a plastic bottle, a glass tumbler or other little dish. (If using a plastic bottle poke holes in the side and keep the lid) fill with around 2-3cm of cheap cooking oil and bury in the garden up to the entry holes or rim of the glass or dish and then further disguise with a piece of wood or brick over the top to make it inviting. The earwigs will be attracted by the smell, fall in and drown. empty regularly.
Bull Ants - "Oil spill"
This is a less smelly and environment damaging variation of the Diesel method
DIRECTIONS: Take a large can of cooking oil and pour it over the entire ant nest. The ants will attempt to move out. Wait it out and use Pyrethrum spray along the resulting ant line. You may even be lucky enough to see the queen ant out in this line (spray or squash her immediately) as well as all the ant larvae being evacuated. Depending on the size of the nest this may take several applications but is cheaper and less toxic than an exterminator.
Boiling water
DIRECTIONS: this is exactly what it sounds like. Pour copious amounts of boiling water on the nest. The ants will die. Unfortunately this method would take many applications and water restrictions make it less desirable.
Make a sculpture
there are a few videos on YouTube around involving ant nests and molten metals. Not exactly cheap but would be poison free and would eradicate the problem nest
So there you have it. A few ideas that don't involve serious poisons. But one last note.
Please remember that insects are an important part of the ecosystem. If the numbers aren't huge and they aren't posing a threat to yourself, your children, pets or eating your garden just leave them be. They are fulfilling a role that is important and we wouldn't have the world we do without them. Just use these methods if they are a significant danger to you plants or family.
