How to Make Pepper Spray for the Garden
Pepper spray can be a useful garden tool, particularly to organic gardeners, who prefer to use no chemicals in their gardens. You can make your own pepper spray easily and inexpensively without the use of harsh, harmful chemicals. This garden pepper spray is effective for repelling insects, deer, dogs, cats and many rodents. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Disposable gloves
- Blender
- Coffee filter or cheesecloth
- 8 Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers
- 2 tbsp. cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup Ivory dish-washing liquid
- Glass jar with tight-fitting lid
- Funnel
- Plastic spray bottle
Instructions
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1
Put on disposable gloves before handling the Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers. These varieties can cause your skin to burn for days after handling them. Put the peppers in the blender and puree them.
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2
Add the cayenne pepper and 2 cups of water, and liquefy the mixture.
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3
Pour in the dishwashing liquid. This is an important ingredient, because it contains surfactants, which are wetting agents and will allow the solution to spread more easily. It will also make the pepper spray stick to the plants better. Blend thoroughly on the lowest setting to avoid excessive foaming from the detergent.
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4
Strain the pepper spray through a coffee filter or cheesecloth into a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. You can also store any unused solution in this jar.
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5
Set the end of the funnel into the plastic spray bottle. Funnel the pepper spray from the jar into the spray bottle. Cap the glass jar with the remaining pepper spray tightly and store in a cool, dark location.
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6
Apply a band of pepper spray to the ground around the perimeter of the garden. This will be helpful in repelling unwanted guests. Spritz the plants in the garden, and apply some to the ground surrounding each plant.
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7
Reapply the pepper spray each week. You'll also need to repeat applications after heavy rains.
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Comments
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hwtran
Nov 11, 2010
Great article! I used this pepper spray on various vegetables in my garden, and it effectively kept the little intruders away all summer long. Instead of using habaneros, I made mine with red chili peppers that I had dried from the previous year. Blending them in the blender made a "smoke," which made me cough, so if you use dried peppers, be careful about taking deep breaths while blending. :-) Thanks for sharing this!
