How to Make Homemade Garden Bug Spray

Gardening is very rewarding, whether you grow your own vegetables or have a beautiful flower garden. To keep your garden healthy and looking its best you must keep insects from infesting and eating up all your hard work. Commercial insecticides work great but if you will be eating what you've grown or if you have pets and children they may not be the best choice. The good news is that you probably have what you need to rid your garden of bugs right now. Did you know that ordinary dish soap is excellant at killing many garden eating bugs? In this article I will show you how to make homemade garden bug spray using dish soap.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• dawn or ivory dish soap
• garlic
• cayenne pepper

1. You will need an empty gallon jug or bucket. To make homemade garden bug spray mix 5 tablespoons soap with 1 gallon of water. Mix well. Pour the solution into a sprayer.

2. Spray the entire plants with the homemade bug spray. Making sure to get under the leaves because bugs will hide and lay eggs there. Don't spray in the heat of the day or on humid days, the plants are more likely to burn in these times.

3. 
    
   This Bug Spray Works Best on Soft Bugs Like These Aphids

   Allow the spray to dry. This homemade garden bug spray will kill bugs on contact and works best on soft insects like aphids, spidermites, mealybugs, eggs and larvae. The residue will need to be rinsed off.

4. Rinse the plants to remove any soap residue left behind and reapply the bug spray once a week or whenever you see bugs.

5. If you find that there are bugs in your garden that are tolerant to the soap you can add repellant to the homemade bug spray. Some natural repellants are cayenne pepper and garlic.

6. You can make an infusion of garlic by boiling some water in the microwave. Then put several cloves, cut in half, into the water. Let set for several hours or over night. Then pour the water into the bug spray.

Resources

• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide