Garlic Fire Spray and More!

 Non-Toxic Organic Garden Pest Control Solutions

GARLIC FIRE SPRAY is the stuff of legend. There are many recipes, but they consist of some or all of the following: garlic, chilli peppers, soap, vegetable oil, kerosene and water. Don't leave home without a concoction of this. Depending on its strength it will slay dragons and ants (must have dragons if we mention legends)!
The brew I use at the moment is very effective and goes like this:

• 2-3 garlic bulbs (about 6-10 cloves per bulb)
• 6 large or 12 smaller hot chilli peppers (any variety will do, or if unavailable try 1-2 tablespoon hot chilli powder)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 squirts of liquid detergent (approximately 1 heaping tsp) recommendation: LEMONBRITE
• 7 cups water. (Use about 2-3 cups in the blender, and top up with the rest later)

Put the whole lot into a blender and vitamize well, then strain through muslin, a coffee filter or similar. Pour what you need into a spray bottle for use and keep the rest in jars with lids on in a cupboard or on a shelf somewhere, well labeled.

Experiment with it if necessary. Check for results or any damage to young plants. If it fixes the problem and your plants are happy, you have the perfect mix. If you still find a few pests, albeit struggling, then lower the water dilution rate or change the ingredient quantities slightly.
This great concoction is a lovely garlicky, pungent mixture, but the smell dissipates quickly once it's been sprayed around.

This garlic fire mixture needs to be re-sprayed frequently - for example after rain and dew. It's best to spray every few days until there is no sign of pests. Thereafter, apply about every week to 10 days for any eggs or larvae that may have hatched out.

Uses for this natural garden pest control are unlimited. Because it has oil and dishwashing liquid in it, it sticks to plants and suffocates pests such as scale and mealy bug. It will kill ants, aphids, caterpillars, grubs, bugs and just about anything small.

SO BE VERY SELECTIVE — MIND THE LADYBUGS, LACEWINGS, BEES AND OTHER BENEFICIAL FRIENDS.

Spraying this mixture around the edge of your garden will deter pets. Rabbits, gophers, woodchucks and other garden gate crashers will also be discouraged.

Here's another version, that requires NO blender.
Put a whole garlic bulb through a garlic press and let it set in a glass jar with several ounces of mineral or salad oil. Mix a few spoonfuls with dishwashing liquid, hot pepper sauce and water in a spray bottle.

You can make a pure smothering oily mixture. Blend together ½ cup of liquid or grated pure soap in 1 cup of vegetable oil. Any inexpensive salad oil from supermarket is fine. Use a blender or beat by hand and it will become a thick white consistency. To use, mix 1 tablespoon with 1 litre of warm water and spray every bit of plant where you find the pests you're after.

Fish Fertiliser is another useful jack-of-all trades deterrent for unwanteds, such as mites, caterpillars and even nematodes. It seems some gardeners, orchardists and farmers noticed that when they sprayed their plants with fish fertiliser, the pests held their noses, packed up and left, spreading the word as they did so.

Exactly why it works is not yet clear but there are a couple of possibilities:

• fish fertilizer is oily, this smothers nematodes and mites
• butterflies and moths find their host plants by their acute sense of smell. So they are not going to hang around breeding caterpillars when the smell of cauliflowers or apples is masked by fish!

Be considerate of your neighbours though, as they might not like the fishy aroma that lingers around for a day or so.