How to Use Chillies as a Natural Pesticide

Chili peppers can add more than spice to your meal. They can also serve as a helpful, natural insecticide. The preparation is actually quite simple--provided you don't eat your ingredients first.

Instructions

1. Dry 2 handfuls of chilies, and grind them into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.

2. Mix your chili dust thoroughly in 2 liters of water, and boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Add 2 more liters of water, and let cool. Alternatively, let your mixture soak overnight.

3. Filter the water through a thin cloth. Add soft, potash-based soap (and not a more caustic, modern soap)--this will help your mixture to stick, but without harming your plants.

4. Add the end result to your spray bottle. Apply to your plants, 2 or 3 times a week if it rains, but only once if it doesn't. This natural pesticide is best used as a preventative measure--in case of outright infestation, you may have to resort to something stronger.

Tips & Warnings

• Find the appropriate concentration of chilies for your garden. Too much can burn the leaves.

• Take care not to inhale excess chili dust or to get the water in your eyes or on your skin.