natural pest control recipes?

[shonman]

Thanks, BogFrog! Lovely passionflower......

[Laila]

Spider mites seem invincible......does anyone have a remedy they have tried that works, absolutely for sure??

I noticed my mimosa hostilis was being invaded with red spider mites today.

It seems to happen each year on this property in July/August.

Today I conquered the mite!

I grabbed a saucepan and added

1 cup water

1 tspn cinnamon

1 tspn cloves

1/4 garlic clove

Because the Internet said spider mites hate this.

I added 4 basil leaves because Jamie Olivers kids stickers reckon flies hate basil?

Then I added a sprig of citronella grass for obvious reasons.

Brought it to boil

Cooled it

Sprayed it on the plant

Now there isn't a sign of mites and the plant seems to look much happier

I'll report back and do the post of shame if they return..

[LokStok]

^

i dont think that will kill the eggs.

Hit your hostilis again with it in 4 days, then again 4 days after that to make sure.

[franky]

Yep key to getting over red s mite is 3 sprays within the 10 days to get over their ridiculously quick life cycles.

for gnats the simplest way is picking a suitable media for the plant your growing as well as having a good watering regime as the key to no gnats is allowing the top ~1/3rd of the media dry out.

even if you have an infestation let the top layer dry out for a day or two and gnats will do. This is where proper media chose comes in, for q plant that needs to stay wet more often think about having less of an organic base as it will just become anarobic and offer a great enviorment for the gnats

[frozenthunderbolt]

insect genocide formula:
- soak 1 crushed garlic clove and 1 crushed chilli in 2 cups of water for a few days.
- add 5 drops each of rosemary, cedarwood, peppermint, and orange essential oils.
-

Use vodka not water - it will pull more from the chili and garlic, and it will also dissolve the essential oils into solution rather than them sitting on top of the water. You could also add a little detergent/soap to make it stick better

[frozenthunderbolt]

If you have issues with fruit flies put some acetone (nail polish remover) in a bottle/jar about 60:40 NPR to water and leave it where the flies are - they will fly in a drown themselves.

Better still cut the top off a beer bottle and flip it upside down to go into the left over bit of bottle and put the mix inside; the funnel and smaller gap makes it harder for them to escape.

[Laila]

^

i dont think that will kill the eggs.

Hit your hostilis again with it in 4 days, then again 4 days after that to make sure.

Will do, thanks. I'm suprised it has worked. can't deny results ;)